HELP re: removing pc flash connector adapter

[Jamie Pillers]

I just received my first Leica M camera.. a very nice M3. It came with one of those little metal pc flash connector adapers plugged into the 'lightning bolt' socket. I'd like to replace it with one of the little plastic plugs. I tugged on the adapter a bit but it doesn't want to budge. It turns freely but it won't come out of the socket.

I don't want to damage anything here. So... is there some trick to removing the adapter? Or do I just need to tug harder? Thanks for any help you can give.

[rlouzan]

Just tug harder!

[Jamie Pillers]

I won't break anything? Promise? :-)

[Pickett Wilson]

Yeah, just give it a good yank. It'll pop out!

[CLE-RF]

The plug has a little groove all around, the socket on the camera has a little steel spring that clicks into it and should recede when you pull the plug out.

A little dab of silicone spray applied with a Q-tip should probably loosen stuff up enough to allow the spring to slip out of the groove when pulling. Wobbling a tiny bit when pulling the plug might further speed things up.

As with most things: 'if in doubt, don't do it', and you'll be fine!

[Jamie Pillers]

Hey... it popped out! Feels like when I had to give a bit of a yank on my daughter's tooth that was trying to fall out. :-) Thanks everyone.

[Al Kaplan]

Dirt and corrosion can make that wire clip want to stay put! That adapter might have been in there for forty years or more. Save the adapter. They're not as easy to find these days as they once were and buying a flash cord with the correct fitting is nearly impossible.

[Jamie Pillers]

Yep... put it away in the "Small Important Parts" box. Now question is, will I remember its there?

[Al Kaplan]

You won't have to remember where you put it if you just leave it on the camera! If you have a plastic plug fetish then get a black M4 style plug and stick it in the adapter.

[Pickett Wilson]

Since I'm left eyed, I can't use the stupid on the back of the camera flash sync anyway. If I used flash on M's, I'd have them moved somewhere else. I am convinced the designers of the M were trying to prevent the use of flash on the cameras by locating the sync sockets there!

[Al Kaplan]

Back in the fifties and sixties a lot of photographers were getting their III-C bodies "upgraded" into III-F bodies by Leitz, complete with that "red dial" synch selector gizmo. Many local repair shops just added an X-synch PC socket and I remember seeing some where it was on the camera front.