I recently picked up a nice IIIf red dial for £125 - too cheap to miss. I was warned by the dealer that it was an 'as seen sale' and that he thought there was problem with the curtain fully returning after exposure. I bought it and a very clean uncoated 1938 50/3.5 from a different dealer. Playing with the camera actually freed up the curtain's return problem and I shot a roll of film. The results were surprisingly good - except the shutter curtain obviously has some pin holes. On the day I shot the film the morning was very overcast and and dull. Under these conditions the pin holes produced just a few small white dots approximately 3mm in diameter on a 6x4 print. Later on the day became clear and bright and shooting towards the sun produced great swathes of flare-like splashes across the print, especially if there was a substatial amount of time between winding on and shooting, i.e. extending the time for light leak. Incidentally, the large flares of light originated from the same spot as those in the morning so I am confident that it was not lens flare. I've examined the curtain carefully and the holes are too small to be seen, so they really are small.

My question is this - are there any simple 'repairs' I can carry out to the curtain myself that might help. I don't relly want to spend much on this camera. It's nice, but with two M6s and an R8 I'm really only looking for some fun with the IIIf.

Anyone with a good home grown DIY fix for pin-hole light leak?

Thanks

Matt

-- Matthew Pulzer (matt@pulzer.org), February 28, 2002

Answers

With pin holes as soon as you take off the lens cap the film starts to get exposed with the light passing thru the holes in the curtain. The longer the cap is off the brighter and larger the white spots on the prints. HERE is an example of pin holes. IIIc Elmar 90/4

-- Gerry Widen (gwiden@alliancepartners.org), February 28, 2002.

If the pinholes are tiny, I've seen emergency repairs made with teeny- tiny dots of fingernail polish. It actually lasted several years.

-- Bill (bmitch@cmcast.net), February 28, 2002.

Of course, getting the shutters patched by a repair person would be the best way to go, but I have "patched" one of my M3 shutters with flat black modeling paint. Very tiny holes, very little paint. It's still working today.

-- chris a williams (LeicaChris@worldnet.att.net), February 28, 2002.

The best solution I've seen is Shoe Goo (black) applied gently with the flat end of a toothpick directly to the hole and smoothed into the fabric around the hole, on both front and back surfaces. Leave the camera bottom off to allow drying overnight, and you'll be good to go in the morning. Shoe Goo (which can be bought at any decent shoe store, sometimes even in the hardware section of your supermarket right next to the Kiwi shoe polish) is good stuff because it's flexible when dry, so it's not likely to come off with the repeated rolling and straightening of the M shutter at work. I repaired two holes this way in one of my M6s four years ago and it's still working like a charm today.

-- Anon Terry (anonht@yahoo.com), March 01, 2002.

Gerry,

I've never seen a picture of a pinhole-leica before, but it looks like snow in July - maybe I should get myself one, the effect is quite nice ;-)

-- Kai Blanke (kai.blanke@iname.com), March 01, 2002.