mframes

I love my Leica M2. I’ve had it a long time. Using it has become almost second nature to me. I can zone focus the two lenses I use with it with reasonable accuracy and speed. It’s small and quick to use. It’s dependable. It’s built like a tank. When it’s not around my neck, I’m usually sleeping. I carry it everywhere. It gets dirty and dusty. It gets used constantly. I’ve taken some of my favourite photos with it. I will have it until I die and I hope my son will use it when I’m long gone. Imagine me then, with an accidental flick of a towel, seeing my treasured camera catapulted skyward while on holiday in Menorca in June last year, only to watch it plummet back to Earth bouncing lens first off the concrete side of a swimming pool, down some steps and sinking to the bottom of a meter of chlorinated water. I just stood there. I stood at the other end of the swimming pool and watched the horror unfold. I played it down, of course. Don’t worry. Accidents happen. It’s just an object. Inside I was crying.

I had no idea if it could be repaired. Yes, it’s a mechanical camera with no electronics, but metal and chlorine? Small, impeccably engineered parts. Blunt force trauma. Shock. Extensive vibration. Water. I had no idea what the damage was, except only to my wallet should I try and get it repaired. I knew that a repair likely wouldn’t return it to the camera it was, either. Sure it might work at some shutter speeds, but it wouldn’t be as reliable again, or as smooth. From the moment I fished it out of the pool and watched the water pour out, I was reconciling myself to never being able to shoot another frame with it again. Best case – the camera body may be repairable to some degree, but the lens was surely a lost cause. It hit the deck with such a solid clunk I was damn sure it was toast, despite not actually appearing to be too badly damaged (clearly the Zeiss 50mm planar is tough). Maybe, just maybe, the wizard who has repaired my cameras for me over the years could work his magic and bring it all back to life. But what life?

“Have examined the lens / body, the lens has cleaned ok with only a very faint mark in a coating so would be fine to use, with the body though due to the internal corrosion a lasting repair is not possible, things like the internal springs in the shutter rollers that maintain the correct tension are rusted, the only people who might work on it are Leica themselves but most items that have been in water are deemed beyond economical repair by workshops”. There it was – in black and white: (surprising) great news and (very) bad news. Decision time.

So off it went to some ex-Leitz engineers known for their master craftsmanship. I accepted their quote, assuring myself it would be worth it. One can’t rush work like this. I was more than happy to wait, and wait I did. Nearly six months later, it came back having been completely stripped down and rebuilt. It felt that good that I can only imagine that’s how it was in the hand shortly after it rolled off the production line in 1958. I was elated. But…

After processing the first roll of film shot in it since the repair, I could see a problem that existed before the accident – in some shots (usually with a bright light source somewhere in the frame), there was a vertical line of banding about a quarter in from the left hand side of the frame. I never figured out what caused it, or what made it worse in some photographs compared to others. I assumed it was some sort of light leakage through the viewfinder or rangefinder window. It was always a nasty surprise to see, as it had a tendency to spoil the image making it unfixable in post. In some shots taken after the repair, there was a new addition to this effect only it was on the right hand side of the frame. Some shots exhibited both. The fact that the camera had been disassembled, rebuilt (and presumably tested) and these effects were present, made me question things. Another big problem post-repair was shutter capping. Before the accident 1/1000s wasn’t usable, but 1/500s, 1/250s, 1/125s and lower speeds were. Now there was capping at 1/500s, too. I was over the moon to get the camera back but surely it should be right, right?

So back it went, and to cut a long story short, it was disassembled again, recalibrated, cleaned, had some film put through it (I have the negatives of some great black and white shots of Manchester streets) and it’s back. And it feels bloody amazing to use. My negs looks good, even at 1/1000s. It’s fixed and it lives. Is it the end of its story? Hopefully not :-)

Leica M2 939173
Camera dropped into swimming pool. Has been looked at by previous engineer who advised beyond repair. Prior to being dropped into swimming pool had light leaks. We underestimated the amount of restoration work required on this camera. Camera dismantled. Baffle removed. Baffle cleaned and repainted matt black. Baffle (plush) strips replaced. Camera chassis stripped of parts, any sign of rust/corrosion cleaned-up. Cleaned shutter area. Main drum, spring take-up rollers and guides checked for the presence of corrosion, cleaned and lubricated. Slow-speed escapement ultrasonically cleaned and bearings lubricated. Cams and blind release catches, cleaned and lubricated. Shutter curtains checked for light leaks/curling. Curtains contaminated & replaced. Slit width and tensions reset. Transport mechanism cleaned and lube. Advance block clean and lube, forward clutch checked. Advance lever damped to prevent crashing into speed dial. Frame counter checked. Speed dial operation checked. Detent mech lubricated. Advance clutch tension adjusted. Rewind mechanism lubricated and checked. Sprocket timing checked to ensure neg frames fall between sprocket holes. Gear timing checked. Reverse function checked. Brake cleaned and new friction disc fitted. Flash sync contacts cleaned and reset. Shutter release travel adjusted and checked. Frame counter adjusted and checked. Other parts replaced: Wavy washer, frame counter seal and film door seal. Rangefinder chassis replaced due to various rust and corrosion. Optics transferred to new unit. Main prism fiited to replacement chassis, jigged and calibrated. Rangefinder optics cleaned including brightline mask. Brightline mask water damaged, replaced with salvaged part. ** Please note that salvaged mask has a couple of tiny spots within the patch. These are not dirt/dust and they do not affect the performance of the rangefinder. Rangefinder calibrated. Parallax checked and correct frameline operation checked (35, 50, 90). Preview adjusted and tested. Seal affixed. Vulcanite checked and minor faults fixed. Film door checked, bottom plate catch lubricated and adjusted. ‘W’ seal applied after final RF calibration. Camera reassembled, cleaned and tested. Returned 18th Dec 23 due to light leaks. Film tested. Returned 16th Jan 24, capping or bouncing. Work carried out to rectify the issues, including major restoration of the main shutter drum assembly. Further corrosion found.