Re: [Leica] M6 shutter-release problem

[Henning Wulff <henningw@archiphoto.com>]

>Hi,
>
>I have a problem with the shutter release of a used M6 that I just 
>bought by mail. The camera looks good and seems to be in excellent 
>working order except for the problem that I am about to describe, so 
>I would rather solve the problem and keep the camera than cancel the 
>deal and ship the camera back.
>
>Now for the problem: If I depress the shutter release button slowly, 
>the shutter triggers when the button is in a very low position, or 
>it does not trigger at all, even when the button is pushed all the 
>way down. Sometimes, I can push the button all the way down, and 
>then the shutter releases after one or two seconds. Sometimes, I can 
>depress the button fully and keep it there until I get tired of it 
>without releasing the shutter. If instead I give the button a fast 
>and vigorous push, the shutter always releases, but the trigger 
>point still seems to be quite low. (The problem here is that at slow 
>shutter speeds, it may be difficult to handhold the camera steadily 
>in combination with the vigorous pressing of the release button.) 
>Using a cable release, the problem persists but does not occur as 
>frequently.
>
>Also, the motion of the release button is sometimes a bit jerky when 
>I try to depress it softly, as if it needed to be lubricated. (This 
>depends somewhat on the angle of the pressure.)
>
>The impression I get is that some spring-loaded part does not move 
>as freely as it should, maybe because of dirt. The camera otherwise 
>looks very clean though, and it is not too old (produced in 1994 
>according to the serial-number table at cameraquest.com).
>
>I found a post in the LUG archives where Henning J. Wulff stated in 
>response to a question about the release point of an M6 that: "There 
>is a long arm under the cover under the baseplate which controls how 
>far down you have to push the release before it fires. A small 
>adjustment here is what you need."
>
>Does anyone know if this is a simple adjustment that I, carefully, 
>could do as a user with a reasonable understanding of mechanics but 
>modest experience in camera repair? Would any special tools be 
>needed? Would I run a high risk of destroying something.
>
>If the best solution is to have the camera professionaly cleaned and 
>lubricated, would it be a complicated operation? As I said, 
>everything else seems to work perfectly, so I would rather not pay 
>for having the camera taken apart completely if not absolutely 
>necessary.
>
>I would be grateful for any answers or suggestions.
>
>With best regards,
>
>Otto Giesenfeld

It's fairly simple, and if your camera has nothing else that needs 
looking at, then you might do it yourself if you are handy and have a 
good set of small tools. If you take off the cover (with the film 
loading diagram, you will see a long spring arm that moves down with 
the shutter button. It engages the actual release mechanism by 
sliding along a sloped piece right by the winder cog. You will see 
that the lateral position of this long spring arm is what governs the 
release point, and the two big screws held by loktite near the other 
end (film cassette end) hold the spring arm in place. You will have 
to loosen these two screws, move the spring arm very slightly, and 
retighten and re-loktite these screws. I should only take an 
experienced technician 5 minutes to do the job, as no other 
disassembly is required.

Hope this helps.

- -- 
    *            Henning J. Wulff
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