Leica IIF: Personal Camera Service After 20 Years of Non-Use
Originally posted on Instagram. Notes from the repair bench, kept here as a searchable archive. View the original on Instagram
Although I don’t generally service Leica cameras any longer for my business, I have a small collection of various models in my personal collection that I need to keep afloat with repairs from time to time. This camera is a Leica IIF (budget model without slow speeds and highest speed of 1/500) that I purchased in 1984 needing new shutter curtains. The photos show the camera on my bench during a minor service after 20 years of non-use. I am very happy to get the shutter speed of 1/500 to 1.91ms across the aperture as shown.
Getting back to history: After a much younger me installed new curtains in early 1984 I was ready to use it in the field. The camera came with a 50mm f/3.5 Elmar lens and I added a brightline finder as the original viewfinder on the Leica is not too great, especially if you wear glasses.That summer we had a huge rainstorm, not common here in the desert and many streets flooded. Putting on some wading boots I walked through the streets until I came across a flooded underpass. As this kid climbed upon a mostly submerged lamp post, I captured an image of him doing a swan dive into the water below (last photo).
