Found some Leicas etc. at a yard sale today....

[gben]

 
    Went to a yard sale this morning and bought three old cameras plus some other stuff all in one box for $60:
 

     
 

    
 
   
 

   
 

     The 1951 Leica IIIf has a torn curtain, the 1959 Leica M3 is sticky at some shutter speeds and has a Canon 85mm tele w/Canon turret finder and filters, and I have not tested the Kodak as it has film in it from 1964 on exposure #7 and I am wondering if I can take the rest of the roll and have it processed somewhere.... sorry it is a fixed-lens job but I got it with the Leicas so I thought it was relevant.
 
      Anyone know where I can get a nice quality new shutter curtain for the IIIf?
 
         Benjamin

[truls]

Nice find, it looks well taken care of, despite the curtain fault.

[Stephen]

Any half decent camera repair shop will have the curtain cloth or spares, but with Leica it may pay to find a Leica specialist, (always get price quotes), and have it serviced properly. And if you want, approach Leica themselves to get it serviced, but it will be very costly.

The cloth is not special as such, any light grade black light proof will work. The troubles start with re-timing the repaired shutter! The tear rather indicates it has not exactly been well looked after, and may have other wear and tear issues to deal with.

The film is processable, there are specialist on line advertisers in the UK and the USA.

The main thing to check for is fungus in the various lenses, do this ASAP it might be curable if not left. Further attack can be stopped with dry storage. Often long boxed items have been stored in damp garages or stores and fungus can get into the best lenses.

Stephen.

[mickeyobe]

I was going to comment but I am too jealous.

You sure drive a hard bargain.
Keep up the good work.

Mickey

[Deleted]

That just isn't fair.

[gben]

     I bought it from the daughter of the original owner, she and her siblings were selling off their deceases parent's belongings. The cameras tell a neat story I think. Their father bought a new Leica IIIf in 1951 and it had the Elmar lens. He added a f2 Summitar and the Cannon 85mm Serenar and it's finder quickly. Around 1955 he added the Leica tele lens and it's finder, then in 1959 he bought a new M3 body and put adapters on the Cannon and Summitar lenses so they would fit it. Of course he had an assortment of filters and a flash unit etc..
 
    So although the cameras are now non-functional from sitting for decades, they are still fun to look at and examine and clean up. Maybe someday I will be able to afford to have one of them serviced professionally, but that is not right now as I think that service costs around $300US + parts, which I don't have laying around extra.
 
    The M3 still has it's "L" seal intact, so I don't think it has ever been serviced since new, it is very clean looking as if he did not use it much. Even the IIIf does not look to have much wear from use.
 
     I wish I had a proper M-mount lens from about 1959 for the M3 body, but any decent 50mm lens for it goes for a very high price so it is not in the cards either.   
 

     I took the Leica accessory finder for the wide and tele lenses apart today as when you looked through it there was a lot of dirt and dust etc.. I cleaned the lenses and the prisms and now it looks much better. A small bit of separation when you look through it at some angles but for the price I paid I will never be able to complain about any of it.
 
       It seems like all the old Compur shutter cameras out there age much better than Leicas do........
 
  

[philbirch]

Jul 13, 2014 23:31:08 GMT -5 gben said:

     I bought it from the daughter of the original owner, she and her siblings were selling off their deceases parent's belongings. The cameras tell a neat story I think. Their father bought a new Leica IIIf in 1951 and it had the Elmar lens. He added a f2 Summitar and the Cannon 85mm Serenar and it's finder quickly. Around 1955 he added the Leica tele lens and it's finder, then in 1959 he bought a new M3 body and put adapters on the Cannon and Summitar lenses so they would fit it. Of course he had an assortment of filters and a flash unit etc..
 
    So although the cameras are now non-functional from sitting for decades, they are still fun to look at and examine and clean up. Maybe someday I will be able to afford to have one of them serviced professionally, but that is not right now as I think that service costs around $300US + parts, which I don't have laying around extra.
 
    The M3 still has it's "L" seal intact, so I don't think it has ever been serviced since new, it is very clean looking as if he did not use it much. Even the IIIf does not look to have much wear from use.
 
     I wish I had a proper M-mount lens from about 1959 for the M3 body, but any decent 50mm lens for it goes for a very high price so it is not in the cards either.   
 

     I took the Leica accessory finder for the wide and tele lenses apart today as when you looked through it there was a lot of dirt and dust etc.. I cleaned the lenses and the prisms and now it looks much better. A small bit of separation when you look through it at some angles but for the price I paid I will never be able to complain about any of it.
 
       It seems like all the old Compur shutter cameras out there age much better than Leicas do........
 
  

I wonder if its the storage conditions that's caused this. Any Leica owners I have known have looked after their cameras and can afford the occasional service.

[gben]

     Well the guy actually died about ten years ago, so maybe his kids or wife did not treat the stuff too well.
 
     I have treated the ready-case and the f1.9 serenar case with neatsfoot oil a bit so they are in much better shape now.
 
       I have learned that the f1.9 Serenar was a 1951 lens, so he may have bought it with the IIIf camera. Also I looked at the papers and it looks like the f2 Summitar lens was the one with the IIIf camera when it was new, odd that he would also get the f3.5 elmar? The Elmar's serial number shows it is from 1950.
 
       He would have had to get the accessory finder along with the 135mm lens in 1955. So he had all the stuff and the last thing he added was the M3 body in 1959 along with two adapter rings which he screwed onto the Summitar and Canon 85mm.
 
      I can not find any marks on the M3 body to show it was hardly ever used, not a scratch or any other sort of mark on it anywhere, odd. Since his daughter I bought the cameras from seemed to know almost nothing about them and sold them for a song and a dance, maybe he did not use them too much after he had children in the late 50s and early 60s........