Leica M, hole in shutter? Easy as pie to fix!

[photobizzz]

After reading up about fixing shutter holes on the internet I just fixed mine, fast and easy.

There were 2 holes in my shutter from someone pointing the camera at the sun, (prior to me) I had my wife go to Home Depot and buy me a can of "Brush-On Electrical Tape" in black. (Make sure it is black!) It comes in small tubes but they didint have any so I have a large can (size of pvc pipe glue) of black goo. I took a small wooden match and dabbed a bit on the hole, smoothed it out as much as possible, repeat on the other side of the shutter, and let it dry 24hrs! The stuff dries rubbery (like the shutter curtain) and is guranteed not to dry out or crack. I will probably send my M3 to Youxin Ye when I get back to the states for a shutter replacement anyway, but for a quick and cheap fix this cant be beat.

I would recommend that you do not wind the camera or release the shutter for 24 hrs to insure that you do not get any wet goo inside your shutter.

*disclaimer* This worked great for me, but do not promise that you will not accidentally put your finger through your shutter if you are ham fisted or un-coordinated!

[Damaso]

Thanks for the tip!

[photobizzz]

I think the paint is a good idea too but one of the burn holes was pretty big so I dont know if it would have worked for that one. I will be shooting my first roll with the M3 today, I cant wait for my 35 Summaron and 28 Ultron to arrive, I think the Silver CV 28 with external VF will look nice on the M3. I also have a Leica Meter MR for it on the way too. I ordered a clear top/bottom plate protector set too, hopefully it will keep the meter from scratching the top plate. I am looking forward to using this M3 for a long time and maybe passing it to my son when he gets older.

[Spider67]

Yes there are countries where liquid electrical tape is unheard of.....sad story.
I used textile colour but still there was to much curtain in the holes!

[seanbonner]

I just did the same thing and fixed the shutter on my M7 perfectly. Super easy fix!

[peterm1]

I agree its easy and have done the same using the same product. The only issue I found is that its pretty thick and gluggy so you have to be careful about how you apply it. A toothpick worked for me. But it works well on small pinholes.

I also had a camera that had some wider spread damage - the blind was, I suppose, on its way out and was letting light thru more generally - there were several areas. Even though I could not see any specific holes, tears or cracks. Its possible I did the damage myself when I had to retreive some torn film from the camera and (I suspect) the film scraped against the blind, shaving some of the rubber off it but not tearing or otherwise damaging it. To prolong the shutters life as the rubber otherwise did not seem to be cracking as it does when it gets old and perished, I used Pebeo Marbelling ink for fabrics. The black one of course. This is brushed on and results in a thin rubbery finish. It can be used on wider areas of damage without gumming the shutter up like the liquid electical tape would as its just too thick for anything more than a pinhole. Just be careful not to recock the shutter for a few days till it begins to dry and then cock fire and recock it regularly for the next week or so till it really dries. A hair drier might also speed up drying. I suspect his would not work quite so well for a pin hole unless its a very small one but is brilliant for that other situation. Never the less its very cheap to buy and could be worth trying if you have no other option for fixing pinhole.

The pebeo product seems to be readily available in art supply stores. Here is a link http://www.opulencesilksanddyes.com/...ng_paints.html

[Rob-F]

Yes it is good stuff. In my area, Home Depot sells it as "liquid electrical tape."

[mikemc_photo]

remember to cap your lens when not shooting as no mirror means you can still burn that hole....

[rick oleson]

I've used that stuff for pinholes (ie, cracked rubber coating on the curtain) to buy time until I could change the curtains - it can keep them going for a long time in some cases. For burn holes that were a little too big, what I've done is to use a paper punch to cut out a little circle from the zipper hem of a film changing bag, and glue that over the hole with contact cement. That lasts pretty much forever.

[Roger Hicks]

Does anyone know if there's an equivalent available in Europe? I have a distinctly pious-looking Exakta shutter.

Cheers,

R.

[redisburning]

Originally Posted by Roger Hicks

Does anyone know if there's an equivalent available in Europe? I have a distinctly pious-looking Exakta shutter.

Cheers,

R.

lol Im sorry Roger but I had to save this.

this is without question the most humorous typo I have ever seen.

wish I could help you with the liquid electrical tape though.

[CNNY]

Not a typo, just humour.

[Roger Hicks]

Originally Posted by CNNY

Not a typo, just humour.

Quite. Pious-looking = holey or holy.

Cheers,

R.

[ferider]

Originally Posted by Roger Hicks

Does anyone know if there's an equivalent available in Europe? I have a distinctly pious-looking Exakta shutter.

Cheers,

R.

My bottle (used for two Leicas) is made by Gardner Bender, Roger, represented by several online stores: http://www.gardnerbender.com/where_t...locations.html. They use Wire Logic as European Distributor.

There seem to be similar European products, like Permatex or Permafix, the latter you can get on amazon.uk, for instance. But I haven't used those.

[Roger Hicks]

Originally Posted by ferider

My bottle (used for two Leicas) is made by Gardner Bender, Roger, represented by several online stores: http://www.gardnerbender.com/where_t...locations.html. They use Wire Logic as European Distributor.

There seem to be similar European products, like Permatex or Permafix, the latter you can get on amazon.uk, for instance. But I haven't used those.

Dear Roland,

Great! Thanks!

Cheers,

R.

[Farside]

In my ancient Zweiverschluss, there is a focal-plane blind shutter of miserable and cracked appearance, which leaked light like the Titanic's hull. Being short of liquid electrical tape (whossat, then? is the refrain of local electrical stockists) I improvised with a 50/50 mix of easily available substances.
Take PVA [1] and black acrylic poster paint, mix them, apply them with a stubby but wide brush, let dry for a day, then cock and fire the shutter many times, let dry again, and do the other section.
I did this repair four years ago and it's still perfectly light-tight.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvinyl_acetate
Found in building supply stores as a binder for concrete floors. Can be bought in 500ml, 1L, 5L cans, dirt cheaply.
I now see the wiki entry mentions Elmer's Glue - in 2008, it didn't, and Elmer's Glue is unknown this side of the pond, although other paper glues are available, but I simply wasn't sure what was in them - PVA, otoh, was well-known to me.

[Vince Lupo]

For pinholes I've used a fabric marker (it's used to decorate t-shirts etc), and it seems to hold up pretty well. I had a Reflex-Korelle 6x6 that had pinholes all over both shutter curtains, and though it took a while to fill them all in, I managed to fix them and made both curtains light-tight.

Here is an example of the kind of marker I used: http://www.michaels.com/Uchida-DecoF...efault,pd.html

[Sparrow]

... when latex is used commercially to back-coat fabric once dried it's dressed with French Chalk to remove any residual tack ... if I were using latex on a shutter blind I think I would do the same

[rick oleson]

One more random note on this ..... Liquid Electrical Tape is also available in spray cans. For a curtain that has multiple cracks/pinholes, you can mask off the back of the camera and spray the entire working area of the curtain through the film aperture. I've done this with a Pentacon Six: http://www.flickr.com/photos/2626274...n/photostream/

[Fraser]

I repaired a curtain on one of my Canon New F1s with some tinfoil and black paint, just a temporary repair that was 20 years ago.

[rick oleson]

OK, you win, Fraser. : ) =

[Vintage35]

at least 2 layers on each side. It goes on thick but when it dries it is very thin, almost opaque. a second layer helps keep light out. I would just cover the hole with the first layer, then go a little bigger on the second layer to "feather" it so it's not too thick.

[jbharrill1]

Does anyone have a method of checking for pinholes other than running a role of film through and checking the results after processing? When there is a burned hole in the curtain is it pretty easy to spot or do you need to do a little more digging than just looking at the curtain. I believe I've read somewhere that you can take the lens off and take the bottom off and shine a flashlight and see if there are holes. Is this true? the rubber curtain seems like it would block the flashlight from shining all the way through.

[Sarcophilus Harrisii]

Originally Posted by jbharrill1

Does anyone have a method of checking for pinholes other than running a role of film through and checking the results after processing? When there is a burned hole in the curtain is it pretty easy to spot or do you need to do a little more digging than just looking at the curtain. I believe I've read somewhere that you can take the lens off and take the bottom off and shine a flashlight and see if there are holes. Is this true? the rubber curtain seems like it would block the flashlight from shining all the way through.

I have read that placing a sheet of sheer white copy paper into the film gate of a Leica before checking for proper shutter function can aid visibility, so it may be worth trying before inspecting for light leaks, if it is a model that does not permit you to see “through” the film gate. Not being a Leica user (I prefer Contax, errm, no pinholes get burnt in brass curtains) I have never tried this personally.

Checking for light leaks is ideally best done at night in a very dark room after giving your eyes a few minutes to adjust. It can be tedious but I found it enabled me to successfully locate various light leaks in a very long Linhof bellows in conjunction with a small torch.
Cheers
Brett

[Sega]

I've repaired one in the past using a dot of PVA and a sharpie, I can't remember which Camera it was though, never got around to looking at one that snapped though to see if I could fix it (Black 1980 Zenit E Olympic edition).

For leak checks I sit in a completely dark room and use a super bright LED light while slowly cocking the shutter.
Bellows I fully extend them to stop anything from being hidden by being loose or folded, I only own one camera (Kodak but forget model) of this type now and its pushing 100 so I don't use it for more than display despite it on last check being in full order.

[Graybeard]

Originally Posted by photobizzz

After reading up about fixing shutter holes on the internet I just fixed mine, fast and easy.

There were 2 holes in my shutter from someone pointing the camera at the sun, (prior to me) I had my wife go to Home Depot and buy me a can of "Brush-On Electrical Tape" in black. (Make sure it is black!) It comes in small tubes but they didint have any so I have a large can (size of pvc pipe glue) of black goo. I took a small wooden match and dabbed a bit on the hole, smoothed it out as much as possible, repeat on the other side of the shutter, and let it dry 24hrs! The stuff dries rubbery (like the shutter curtain) and is guranteed not to dry out or crack. I will probably send my M3 to Youxin Ye when I get back to the states for a shutter replacement anyway, but for a quick and cheap fix this cant be beat.

I would recommend that you do not wind the camera or release the shutter for 24 hrs to insure that you do not get any wet goo inside your shutter.

*disclaimer* This worked great for me, but do not promise that you will not accidentally put your finger through your shutter if you are ham fisted or un-coordinated!

The "liquid electrical tape" is genuinely useful stuff.

The large format fraternity has been using it for years to repair bellows light leaks - nasty little pinholes occur at the fold corners of otherwise perfectly useable bellows.

I used the Home Depot sourced stuff to repair the bellows on an Ansco 5x7. Still going strong after seven years (the patch that is, the rest of this maple camera as been going strong since 1955.)

Good light all-