Hi all. Some of my pictures shot in daylight at high shutter speeeds without flash look overexposed on one side (or underexposed on the other side, depending how you look at it). What do you think is happening?
See the low bandwidth pictures here

Thanks in advance for any help/opinions you might have.

-- Fred Sun (redsky3@yahoo.com), May 31, 2002

Answers

Looks like a sticky shutter... Time for a CLA I think.

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), May 31, 2002.

Which camera?

The underexposure is occurring at the beginning of the shutter movement (unless you were holding the camera upside-down for bracing)...

...so it looks like the 2nd curtain is slowing down as it move across the frame - or the first curtain is speeding up.

It probably doesn't matter which - in either case something needs cleaning or adjusting.

When I had a screw-mount (IIIc) body it did a similar trick, but reversed - the second curtain was catching up to the first curtain, so the exposure faded out on the right instead of increasing.

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), June 01, 2002.

I had a similar thing happen to a (then new) Canon F-1. It turned out to be shutter bounce. Is this a new or older camera?

-- Marc Williams (mwilliams111313MI@comcast.net), June 01, 2002.

Normally the M shutter gives about 1/3 to 2/3 stop exposure variance across the frame at 1/1000 but it's relatively even and gradual so in most shots it isn't readily apparent. In your case, the shutter is sticking and jerking, as evidenced by the sharp line of demarcation. It needs service.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), June 01, 2002.

I had the EXACT same thing happen to one of my m6's (only it was my fault). I took the top plate off my camer, one thing led to another and when I had gotten it all back together it produced pictures the same as your.

$200 bucks later at the Focal Point in Denver and the following explanation of a "cam that controls the release timing of the two shutter curtains at higher shutter speeds" and the problem was fixed.

Didn't take any parts for me (I just managed to screw up the adjustment of this cam-thing while poking around in my camera). But if you'res just SUDDENLY stated doing this, it may be a broken part.

It will ONLY affect the higher shutter speeds (1/250 or faster) if indeed this is the problem because as it was explained to me by "John the Repair Guy", this little dohickey controls the "width of the slit" of the curtain as it travels across the film plain.

In any case, it's fixable, but be prepared to shell out a bit of dough for the privilige.

Good luck b~

-- Bob (bobflores@attbi.com), June 01, 2002.

There is indeed an adjustment for the 500/1000 speeds under the top plate (actually, on M6's it's accessible through the hole under the little black plastic plug behind the shutter dial) but the curtain travel timing is not there, it's under the film loading diagram inside the bottom of the camera. Your poking around under the top plate and the shutter malfunction were coincidental.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), June 01, 2002.

Thank you everyone for your responses. The camera is a 1967 user M2 that has been worked on some time in its life. I've shot more than thirty rolls of film with the camera and haven't noticed anything wrong with the shutter until now because almost all my Leica shots are in low light/low shutter speeds/indoors. I'll hold off on the CLA for as long as I can since I rarely use the top speeds and everything else seems to work fine. $350 buys a lot of film and processing. 8-)

-- Fred Sun (redsky3@yahoo.com), June 01, 2002.

I think you can do better than $350 for a fix. Sherry charges $165 for an overhaul, plus parts, which bring it closer to $200.

I doubt your camera needs an overhaul, and you might get out for much less.

-- Charles (cbarcellona@telocity.com), June 01, 2002.