Hi, Many years ago my father owned a Leica M3. After he died, 'cos I was young and stupid, I sold it (to a dealer, for a pittance). Now I am at least older... However, I still have the hot-shoe mount Leica M light meter. It gives no indication of life. There are some contacts on the side, so presumably it has an internal Ni-Cd, but I have no (and don't ever recall my father having) a charger. It hasn't been used for at least 27 years... Questions: 1. does anyone know what this thing is worth? 2. Anyone know about the type of charger required? 3. How do I open it up to find out if the internals are a mess of decomposing battery goo? I've tried removing the three obvious screws on the base, but it showed no inclination to open. I pulled off the shutter-speed adjust wheel & the hot shoe plate but there were no extra screws. I'm not keen to use a chisel :-) Thanks a bunch, Graham

-- Graham Byrnes (graham29@tpg.com.au), January 13, 2002

Answers

There should be some lettering on the meter... probably MR or posiibly MC. Then if you can describe the activation button, if there is one, we can help you decipher what you have.

;) Cheers,

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), January 13, 2002.

Most likely a dead Meter MC, which does not take any batteries, and has little or no value if in non working condition.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), January 13, 2002.

Graham, does your meter have a multi-lens window on the front (Leica- Meter MC). Or does it have a small lens only about 1/4 inch square inside a black surround (Leica Meter MR). I don't recall a Leica- Meter with rechargeable Nicads. If the contacts you meant are long metal strips on the front beside the window, then you have an MC. Those contacts are for the accessory light-booting cell. On the end of the MC meter, in the picture on P. 15 of my Leica Manual, there is a little round opening. I don't know what it is, but I don't know why it would be a contact, since the meter requires no external electrical connections. More likely an assembly screw, like on my MR. There are no contacts visible on my MR.

So let us know what the metering lens looks like, maybe we can tell you more.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), January 13, 2002.

Thanks guys for the responses so far. Yes, there is a multi-lens metering window, about 1" by 1/4", covered by an aluminium flap with a small slot for daylight metering. My suspicion was that it was a self-powered meter, so I guess it's the MC: I don't have it with me, but I remember it as marked only "Leica Meter M". The contacts I mentioned are on the end that would be at the far left side of the camera, like a narrow, vertically oriented hot-shoe slot. In the base of the slot are 3(?) gold plated contacts, one about 3mm diameter, the others about 1mm.

Ok, so if it's not worth much money, it might still be fun to try to fix. So I'm still open to suggestions on how to get it apart (without damage: it's too nicely engineered). I guess the problem though is a burnt out CdS cell, which probably makes it unfixable... :-( Cheers, Graham

-- Graham Byrnes (graham29@tpg.com.au), January 14, 2002.

Your meter is neither a 'MC' or 'MR' but an earlier selenium cell 'M' meter. MC&MR types did not have the front spring mounted cover. The side contacts are for connection of a seperate booster cell.In non working condition it is worth very little.

-- David Seaman (Lincolnshire,England) (david@leicam.freeserve.co.uk), January 14, 2002.

To get it working send it to one these two places:

Quality Light-Metric

Attention: Mr George Milton

7060 Hollywood Boulevard Suite 415

Los Angeles, California 90028

323-467-2265

http://www.angelfire.com/biz/Leica/page4.html

-- John Collier (jbcollier@powersurfr.com), January 14, 2002.