Re: HELP: Hole in M3 Shutter Curtain!!!

["Kamal M. Malek" <kmmalek@MIT.EDU>]

At 12:30 PM 6/3/96 -0600, you wrote:
>>I just noticed a rather large hole in the shutter curtain of my M3. Needless
>>to say, I was horrified at the discovery. In addtition, I suspect that it is
>>the result of a shoddy CLA job I had done a couple of years ago.
>
>Don't assume that the hole resulted from shoddy work. Because there is
>nothing between the lens and shutter on an M camera, it is possible to
>(inadvertently) _burn_ a hole in the shutter curtain if the lens is left
>pointing directly at the sun for a long period of time (just like a
>magnifying glass burning a hole in a piece of paper).
>


Thanks to Dang Huang and Nicholas Hartmann for their helpful  responses;
after recently finding out that Nikon no longer has replacement parts for
one of my favorite cameras (the F2), it is a great relief to hear that M3
will not have to be relegated to the status of non-functional decoration.

I had read previously about the possibility of the sun burning a hole in the
curtain; the reason I was suspecting a sloppy CLA job is that the curtain
appears to have two groups of interconnected spots on it that look like
dried-up droplets of some liquid. The hole is in the middle of the largest
of these "droplets".  I realize that from the sound of it, it is possible
that a number of spots were burned in the curtain, and that the most severe
of them burned all the way through; however, these "droplets" really look
like liquid was dribbled there. Could it have been some cleaning agent or
some lubricant? The final clue is that there is a similar brownish spot on
the flat-black finished curved metal surface in front of the curtain; it
looks like another droplet. 

Other aspects of the CLA job were questionable too. I had the back flap of
the camera reskinned at the same time, as a small piece (3mm) of the
original material had flaking off at one of the edges. The result was
horrendous. First, in the process of removing the old material, the black
paint on the metal frame was scratched, down to the bare metal in one spot.
Second, the material used did not match the original in texture (I had
specifically requested that that part of the job only be done in case they
could match the material!). Finally, the new piece of material was not
centered in the metal frame; the material is bunched up on one side of the
ASA reminder dial, and there is a gap on the other side. Now, keep in mind
that this whole thing was done in order to remove what was a slight cosmetic
blemish in the first place! I'm sorry for going on and on about what some
will feel is a petty problem, but I have been upset as this outcome for the
last several years, and I had to say it.

I'm sure I will get some responses from some people on this forum telling me
that I should be using my Leica to take pictures instead of treating it like
some objet d'art, but this M3 was bought by my father and it was the 35mm I
learned photography with; so it holds a lot of sentimental value for me. 

Kamal Malek