Got schooled on a Leica M3 at a flea market in Portland

I was at the Saturday market on the waterfront about two years back, just browsing. An older guy had a table with a bunch of old gear, including an M3 that looked clean but the shutter was stuck. I offered him $40 for it as a parts body, thinking the curtain was shot. He took it, then spent the next ten minutes showing me how to gently work the advance lever while pressing the shutter button to free up old, hardened grease without tearing anything. He said he'd been a Leica tech in Germany in the 70s. That trick has saved me from cracking open at least five similar bodies since then. Do you guys have any other simple field fixes for sticky mechanical shutters?

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3 Comments

margaret_gonzalez257mo ago

Wait he sold you a working M3 for forty bucks? That's insane.

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thompson.nathan7mo ago

Look at it from the seller's side. He had it sitting in his garage for years and just wanted it gone fast. To him, it was old junk taking up space. Sometimes people don't know what they have, or they just don't care. A quick forty in the hand beats waiting around for the right buyer.

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gavin_hill277mo ago

Exactly, like @thompson.nathan said, a quick sale is all some folks want. I got a vintage table saw for twenty bucks last fall because the guy's wife told him to clear the driveway. He was just happy it was gone in ten minutes. People value space and time over stuff sitting around.

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