Question About Leica M2 Operation

[chuckroast]

As noted elsewhere in these forums, I've come into possession of a pretty nice M2 that was just CLAed/repaired by DAG a couple months ago. I am new to M bodies so ...

"Pretty nice" means that its very clean inside and out, but has a few dings in the upper housing of the camera. Nothing serious or too deep, and nothing that would impede the use of the camera as best as I can tell. The viewfinder is spotless with a clear focusing patch, it focuses perfectly with my LTM Summicron w/adapter ring and the internal cosmetics are generally very good to excellent.

There is one thing that I'm not sure about. I'm not clear whether this is normal or a sign of further adjustment being needed. When the film advance lever is fully returned to the top of the body - that is, pushed in all the way - it just barely touches the shutter speed dial which then rubs against it as it is turned to select speed. Moving the lever back even just slightly, relieves this problem. When the film advance lever is all the way "in", it is also in contact with the back right side of the flash shoe.

Is this normal for these cameras? The advance lever appears to be identical to the ones I see in pictures of other M2 on eBay.

 

[mshchem]

I just checked my M2, nice camera, not mint, there's just the very slightest gap between the advance lever and the shutter speed dial, it looks like it's touching but it's not. Same with the cold shoe. M3 is almost as close.
I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[btaylor]

Just checked my M2, the lever is in exactly the same position as yours. Never paid any attention to this before, and I will continue to ignore it! No functional effect at all.

 

[chuckroast]

I just checked my M2, nice camera, not mint, there's just the very slightest gap between the advance lever and the shutter speed dial, it looks like it's touching but it's not. Same with the cold shoe. M3 is almost as close.
I wouldn't worry about it.

Yeah, I think you're right. Poking around at other pix of these cameras on the net suggests there is a slight variability - almost imperceptible - in where the tip of the advance lever lands. I'm not gonna worry about it.

Assuming the test roll works out OK, I got a really good deal on the DAG did over $500 worth of work on this thing, and I paid $1250 for it. Apart from a few dings on the upper housing as mentioned, it's shockingly clean for a 63 year old camera. It fires beautifully and that's all that matters.

 

[mshchem]

Sounds like a good deal. Great camera!

 

[250swb]

On my M2 the film advance lever touches the back edge of the hot shoe but not the shutter speed dial, it looks like it does but the dial can be turned without any metal on metal rubbing sound.

 

[madNbad]

If you move the advance lever to the half cocked position, it will unlock the film count dial and make it easier to set.

 

[brbo]

Don't worry. On mine the advance lever touches the lower part (smooth and I think slightly larger in diameter than the upper knurled part) of the shutter dial so I don't feel any grinding or rubbing if I turning shutter dial with advance lever in rest state (which I would never do anyway).

Leica M3 has a shorter advance lever (but maybe not all versions?) that doesn't touch the hot shoe, but it rests against the lower smooth part of the shutter dial. I guess that was the way Leica did it at the time.

 

[NB23]

The M2 has short, and lomg, winding lever.

This is why the more people answer, the more contradictory it will become.

 

[jimjm]

My M2 is the same. The lever almost touches the shutter dial but it's never been a problem or concern.

 

[Saganich]

There may be variation in winding lever length for early M2. Early M3's, MP's have short winding levers then by around '57 parts started becoming more interchangeable between M2 and M3 likely driving other design decisions. The longer throw was probably better for single stroke, which became standard around then. I have a '57 DS M3 with short wind lever that is just about perfect for the double stroke.

 

[chuckroast]

Well, it seems that my new (to me anyway) M2 works pretty nicely. I did a quick test roll and then took it for a more serious maiden voyage. Scans of silver prints made from those negatives:

https://www.tundraware.com/Photography/Gallery/Silver/media/large/20240113-1-17-Two_Of_A_Kind.jpg
https://www.tundraware.com/Photography/Gallery/Silver/media/large/20240113-1-19-Sugar_Coated.jpg
https://www.tundraware.com/Photography/Gallery/Silver/media/large/20240113-1-24-Snow_Glade.jpg

 

[jimjm]

Congrats, these look really nice! The first few rolls with my M2 I shot in daylight using Sunny-16 (maybe 11) and every frame was correctly exposed.
Depending on how much you shoot, you'll probably just need a basic CLA every 20 years or so.
Was this with the Summicron 50/2? One of my favorite lenses.

 

[chuckroast]

Congrats, these look really nice! The first few rolls with my M2 I shot in daylight using Sunny-16 (maybe 11) and every frame was correctly exposed.
Depending on how much you shoot, you'll probably just need a basic CLA every 20 years or so.
Was this with the Summicron 50/2? One of my favorite lenses.

Yes, a 50mm Summicron with a Leica LTM to M converter