Shutter speed

[kenneth_bruno]

Greetings,

 

When should the shutter speed be selected on a Leica IIIf: before winding the film or after?

 

My best,

Ken

[michael_darnton1]

Definitely after.

[john_shriver]

No harm to setting it either way, but the pointer only lines up correctly when it's wound.

 

Some of the last Canon bottom loader LTM rangefinders had a pointer in the middle of the dial that rotated, so you could set the speed (and read it) at any time.

[kenneth_bruno]

Hmmm.........I set the shutter speed to 'B' both before and after winding the film. It worked as it should when set before, not after. This is contrary even to what the manual suggest. Could this indicate a problem?

I greatly appreciate your replies.

My best,

Ken

[Troll]

This is a very strange post.<P>Of course you can change the focal plane shutter speed dial setting at any time by lifting it and turning it to a different setting, but it only shows the correct speed that is set AFTER it has been wound.<P>If, on the other hand, you are speaking of the front slow speed dial, then you can set it at any time PROVIDED that the focal plane shutter dial is set to the lowest speed (not B).

[Rob F.]

"It worked as it should when set before, not after."

 

---The clue to solving this may be to clarify your understanding of how it should work. When set to B (bulb) the shutter should open and stay open until you let go of the button; whereupon it should close. Is that what you got?

[kenneth_bruno]

Rob,

Yes, the shutter stayed open until I let go of the button. When I wound the film and then set the shutter to 'B', it did not operate in this way.

I just developed the film and the exposures are excellent. However, my instinct after making an exposure is to immediately advance the film to the next frame. This might be a problem here as it would seem that setting the shutter speed after would not be correct.

When I shot this test roll, I made sure to set the shutter first before winding the film. Perhaps a second test is in order whereby I set the shutter speed after.

My best,

Ken

[Rob F.]

Well, definitely let us know how the next roll turns out. This is more than a little atypical.

 

How do you know where the speeds are when you set them before winding? The speed being set won't line up with the index mark with that method. Are you lining the engraved speed up with the index mark? If you are, and you get the right exposure, I wonder if the speeds are off. Unless the camera has had a CLA within the past 15 or 20 years, they would have every right to be off.

[kenneth_bruno]

Rob,

The speed index marks line up perfectly before winding. They do not line up very well after the film has been wound. Being more than 50 years old, who knows what this camera has been through. I will have it fine tuned and maybe whoever gives it the once over can figure it out. The bottom line is that it seems to take good pictures and functions well (though I haven't shot at all speeds yet) with the rangefinder/viewfinder being clear and bright. Just sort of throws me off; I have to remember to set the shutter speed first before winding.

My best,

Ken

[winfried_buechsenschuetz1]

I still have problems with understanding how you can set the shutter speed BEFORE winding on a srew-mount Leica when the pointer points to a completely different setting than AFTER winding? Maybe some of the marks line up more precisely BEFORE winding - but the pointer will be set at completely different settings.

 

The bottom line ist, the speed dial of screw-mount Leicas can be moved at any time, before and after winding, but will give correct readings only after winding. The reading of the shutter speed dial before winding is just a random figure.

 

BTW, it is the same with all Leica copies, except some of the russian clones which have a single speed dial for slow and fast speeds. On these, the speed dial should be moved after winding only.

[kenneth_bruno]

Strange as it may seem, the shutter speed on this camera has to be set before winding. Not sure why this is but it is. I shot a second roll of film where I set the shutter speed after winding and most, if not all of the exposures, are way off. So.........not sure what this all means . Maybe it was 'altered' for a reason some time ago or maybe it was just plain not put back together correctly!

Regards,

Ken

[john_shriver]

Ken, your shutter speed dial is not attached to the camera in the proper orientation. While I don't remember exactly how a IIIf dial mounts on the camera, it either is just put in place and three set-screws tightened, or it is screwed into place and one set-screw tightened. If it was put back in the wrong orientation, or the set-screws have allowed it to slip relative to the shutter drum, it would wind up mis-aligned. This would be trivial for any repair-person with any experience in mechanical cameras to correct. (You don't need a "Leica Expert".)

[Rob F.]

I think John nailed it. It occured to me that the dial could be on wrong, but then I thought, there must be a registration key under it, so it can only fit in the correct position. But somehow or other, someone got it on wrong. Two minutes with a jeweler's screwdriver should do it.

[Troll]

I just checked my IIIf, and with the shutter not wound there is NO SPEED NUMBER except 1/1000 which lines up with the mark (this becomes "B" when wound). I think that John has it right, but it doesn't need to be fixed so long as you always remember to set the speed before winding.