Is this a flaw of my M3 rangefinder?

All, I bought a nice M3 on eBay recently. Lovely camera. But .... When I look

through the rangefinder in the opposite direction, most of the area is grey,

but the very top part is lighter/transparent (about 0.5mm). Almost like if

something inside slipped down a bit. Looking through the normal direction

everything is fine. Is this a sign of a coming problem?

 

Also I noted that it is much more difficult to focus under low light.

The "second" image is nearly invisible when the object is dark. I tried a few

times with M2 and M3 and the M3 is definitely harder to focus. But I trust this

is irrelevant to the first issue. Your experience, oppinion?

 

Thank you, Pavel

I never looked thru one backwards. There is a problem with the rangefinder if one image is dim. There is dirt/oil on part of it or something more serious. If in good condition, it is the best RF they ever made.

 

Return it and stay off E Bay.

Or send it DAG or Golden Touch and hve it cleaned/adjusted/repaired and enjoy it for anothe 20 years.

#1 You have already paid for a camera in working condition.

 

#2 By the time DAG or Sherry get to it, it will be too late to return it and who knows what else they will find wrong.

 

#3 Some of the defects are unreparable or extremely costly so much so you really got to love that particular camera.

 

Send it back. Try again from a reputable source. Stay off E bay.

Ron,

 

I am trying to contact the seller for past few days with no luck :-(. So far my experience with eBay was more or less good. I always read all negative feedbacks and generally dont buy if the feedback is worse than 99,5%. Olso I dont buy from people who sell also other things next to camera gear.

 

Perhaps it is not a flaw, I dont know, that is why I asked the question.

 

But you are the second person advicing not to buy Leica on eBay. I fly to the US early January, so perhaps I will try to visit some shops in New York or Philadelphia. Do you know any good ones there?

 

You know, Europe has much higher prices.

 

Pavel

Oh yes, the sagging dollar!

Off the top of my head, in NY try Tamarkin, Photovillage, B&H and Adorama. (All in Manhattan) They're all reliable and they all have websites where you can get their addresses and a feel for the items available and the prices. I've bought from them all, and from Photovillage and B&H both via mail and in person. There's probably a few more, but these will have enough equipment to keep you busy for an entire day or day and a half. Great personal one-on-one service from Rich at photovillage, plus a Leica-only shop and museum inside the small store.

George,

 

I know B&H and Adorama from before. Do they also sell second hand? I was not aware of that.

 

Thanks for help. P.

You probably have a separation in the beam splitter in your rangefinder. As someone stated, it is an expensive repair. You could use it with a wide lens and just zone focus. If you send it back, don't count on seeing your camera or your money again. You bought it, it's yours. Better to ues it as is or send it for a CLA if you can stomach spending as much to fix it as you did to buy it.

Did you pay via PayPal? Initiate a dispute straight away. Then settle for a refund, sacrificing

the postage if necessary, and buy a CLA'd camera from someone like Youxin Ye. More or less

the same happened to me on a $550 M3; I spent a lot of time arguing with a seller who

basically argued 'whaddya expect fomr a 50 year old camera'. Then I finally paid $100 less,

for a functionally perfect (but cosmetically worn) example from Youxin.

Paul,

 

Seems like a good idea. Yes I paid via PayPal. I guess the dispute needs to be initiated in PayPal rather than in eBay, correct? Thank you.

Do of course contact the seller first, or in parallel. There's always a possibility they were

unaaware the VF was faulty. <p>

 

With my camera, I took a photo through the viewfinder, and took a comparison photo

through another Leica, to document how poor the RF secondary image was. Then I got an

estimate of how much it cost to fix; essentially, all you need is for someone else to

confirm the VF is essentially unusable. <p>

 

Be very careful as you go through the PayPal complaints process; it's very restrictive. I

believe there's an opton marked "product not as described' , which is what you need to

select. I am assuming the seller marked the camera as in working order; even if they

didn't, the onus is still on them to declare any obvious faults, which this sounds to be.

<p>

 

The other option, if you used PayPal via credit card, is to contact your credit card issuer;

they are usually FAR more helpful to the buyer than are PayPal. <p>

Have you contacted the seller? What did they say? <p>

Paul,

 

I did try to contact the seller a couple of times, but no reply. I filed at PayPal as you suggested.

 

I also took the camera to a friend of mine, who uses Leicas for a long time, and he thought that the camera is usable. He also tested the times and checked the shutter and said it is in nice shape. He could not explain the two colors of the viewfinder when looking the other direction.

 

As to focusing he did not thing it is much worse than on his cameras.

 

I will wait for the reply of the seller and then make a decision.

Hi Pavel. Maybe you're getting upset over nothing. Can you take a picture of the viewfinder window that shows the problem? Also, here is a quote from Don Goldberg re M3 rangefinders

 

 

I can re-cement M3 main prisms, however, it sounds like yours is not all that bad. Many M3 main prisms have a border of "glaze" around their main prism & optically it's as good as new. When & if the prism starts de-cementing into the main prism area then it's a good idea to re-cement ? which costs $US 200.00.

 

This is the link to the page I got the quote from. Stu

 

http://nemeng.com/leica/002be.shtml

Stuart, here is a picture.

Hi Pavel,

 

seems like the internal two-way mirror got dislodged. This is a silver coated mirror that allows for seeing through if looked upon in a 90 degree angle, but will also project the rangefinder image onto your eye since that image hits the mirror under a different angle.

 

Since the mirror got dislodged, this causes the brighter line at the top of your viewfinder: you're actually looking through the finder without looking through the mirror there.

 

Costly? I'm not sure. The M3 has the most elaborate and complex viewfinder ever made by Leica, but refitting a mirror might be cheap...

 

Did your seller state anything on shipping damage? This might have been a result of shipping. I would not jump to conclusions on the sellers intentions, although he should respond to your questions. I do sell on eBay myself and take great pride in my feedbacks and service provided. Trouble is, how do you tell the EvilBayers from the ExcellentBayers? No clue there...

 

Hope this helps somewhat. Happy Holidays all!