How Not To Treat a Leica

So, my wife is having a garage sale today. I went through my camera

closet and gave her a few odds and ends to sell. A couple of hours

after the sale started she came in the house and said there was a

guy out there who wanted to know if I knew how to get a lens off a

Leica M5. Now normally, when she has garage sales I sit in the

house on the computer- I hate garage sales. But I must admit, this

piqued my interest.

 

I went outside and he was an elderly gentleman, at least in his

upper 70's or early 80's. He told me he had a Leica M5 at home with

some lenses and it had been in has attic since 1978. He bought it

off a buddy who needed some money and since he purchased it, he had

never taken a picture with it. He said he did not know much about

cameras. I told him I could show him how to take the lens off and

he told me he lived close by and he would go get it.

 

When he brought it back it was amazing. The whole rig was in a hard

shell Leica bag. He had an M5 a 35mm, 50mm 1.4, and 135mm Summilux

lenses. He also had the eyes for the 135. He had the original

manual and all the paperwork. But the entire system was just a

mess. He had never taken the camera and lenses down from the attic

to exercise the shutter, etc in all those years. The f-stop rings

moved like they had glue on them. The lenses were cloudy, like

looking through a fog. The exterior of the camera was rusting

almost everywhere from being in a hot, humid attic for 28 years. The

camera still had film in it and when I opened the back, the film had

melted directly onto the pressure plate. I mean, you could not

seperate the film from the plate. And of course he wanted to know

how much it was worth!!

 

The entire kit was in shambles. I don't think I've ever seen a

camera and lenses in such bad shape. Made me almost feel like

crying. Oh, and I did get the lens off, but when I did, the lens

release button stayed in so I'm not even sure if the lens would

remount properly.

Sorry, should have been Summalux lenses, I believe.

I think I would have cried... What did he say in his defense?

 

BTW... 135 Summilux? I'm sure you didn't mean it.

 

I think I would have offered to buy it off him, and see to get it restored to usable shape... although, now that I think about it, the heat and cold must have done some really nice job on the camera circuits and it's probably not even good for parts.

 

It really is a sad story...

Franco, what circuits?

Circuits for the built in meter. Sad story.

That sort of environment would likely have ruined the galvanometer (meter) in the light metering circuit. Although I don't think there's that much steel on the exterior of an M5, hard to understand rust.

 

Not sure about the body, but the lenses can probably be saved with a CLA. That depends on whether they got hot enough to ruin the optical cement.

 

So how much did that fire-damaged M* on eBay sell for?

Franco, I did not know what to say to the guy. It crossed my mind to offer to buy it but I'm telling you, I don't know if it would have been worth it. He acted as though it was no big deal, just wanted to know where he could take it to try and sell it. I gave him a phone number of reuptable camera store that deals in Leicas and a contact name and told him to give them a call. I tried to explain to him that the camera was in pretty rough shape but he seemed not to understand what I was talking about. It was just a weird experience.

<i>Not sure about the body, but the lenses can probably be saved with a CLA. That depends on whether they got hot enough to ruin the optical cement.</i></p>I understand a person talking out his arse to impress children and old ladies but whatever would possess someone to do it amongst people who know bangers from bollocks. If at all, a good craftsman would have the least bother sorting out the body. Optical cement wouldn't be bothered by the temperature in an attic, however the combination of heat, humidity, darkness and enclosure within a leather holdall provides an ideal breeding-ground for fungus, which after that many years will have destroyed the coatings and etched into the glass. It would be miraculous if the lenses weren't beyond hope.

i can understand the wide range of knowledge amongst the various participants on the forum. what i don't understand is the (unfortunately) wide range of civility that is demonstated.

<I>"wide range of civility that is demonstated"</I>

<P>

It's as though Jay never left.

time for DAG, no?

Someone on ebay may advertise : "I don't know much about cameras. Here is an old camera with lenses someone gave me. Sold AS IS. No clue what such an old camera is worth."

I would have beaten the sh*t out of him for (a) buying it in the first place and then (b) never even using the damn thing. Damn gent... Maybe he (the gent) sold it to him in that condition anyhow... har, har, har

Oh, get a grip. It was just some camera equipment, albeit nice equipment (not as if he had something really rare like a Zeiss Ikon Contaflex TLR). Sounds to me like the guy helped his buddy out by buying the stuff in the 1st place. Not everybody can be expected to be an expert (maybe that's changing w/people watching "Antiques Roadshow").

Rick, I understand... it must have been an awkward moment. Maybe this guy bought the gear off his friend just to help him out and didn't mean to use it ever.

 

In any case, it's a really sad thing to do to any piece of equipment. Twenty eight years of total abandonment in an attic surely leave a mark on anything.

On the other hand, here's the chance to push back entropy and disorder in the universe and get that baby fixed! At least Leicas are economically viable to fix.

 

You could answer his question by evaluating the condition of his equipment cosmetically and then determining what it would cost to fix. Maybe he'd fix it or sell it to you for a good price and you could fix it. I'd use ebay and KEH to evaluate what it would be worth if it were working.

 

It is sad when you see a good camera in that condition but the worse it is the better I feel when I get it working again. My IIIf BD was purchased by me at a camera show for a very good price because it was in very sad shape. My tech, Mark Hama in Atlanta put it back in perfect condition and it's been working great ever since.

As to the apparent rust on the body, I'll take a guess that the Vulcanite peeled off to expose the glue that held it on. When a vulcanite patch falls off my M2, the exposed surface underneath looks a little like rust. But since it's a non-ferrous metal, I think that what looks like rust is an adhesive.