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How to store leica

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randy6

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How to store leica, Should the shutter be cocked, should it be on a low or high shutter speed?
 
I would personally leave the shutter uncocked (fired), shutter speed doesn't matter. I have heard people say that the curtians are tensioned equally regardless of being un/cocked, and if that's the case it doesn't much matter how you store it as long as it isn't in a humid or extreme temperature environment.
 
Store it where you're reminded to pick it up and give it regular exercise at all shutter speeds.

Lee
 
Shutter cocked

in your hand

otherwise sell it to someone who will store it properly :smile:
 
I always leave all my cameras in the uncocked position. That's simply because I don't want to wind up with a "waste shot" because I trip the shutter while picking up the camera.

How could the speed setting matter at all?
 
How could the speed setting matter at all?

It probably doesn't with a Leica, but on some leaf shutters the high speeds are produced with an extra heavy spring (you can usually feel the extra spring tensioning when you set the shutter on the top one or two speeds, if this is the case), and it probably isn't a great idea to store such a shutter on the highest speed.
 
On a M6 setting it on B turns the meter off. Means that if it's in a bag or something and the shutter gets part depressed it wont drain the battery.
 
If you need to put it in storage for a long time I would store it fired, unloaded, in a good case with Silica-Gel to protect from water. If at all possoble fire it at least a couple times a month to keep it lubed. I store my MP fired, in a small padded case, in the kitchen, loaded with Tri-X, ready to go any time. I want to see how much use I can give it before I die. If I shoot two rolls a month until my mid 80's that is about 30,000 exposures. That is nowhere close to wearing out o Leica.
 
Uncocked, battery removed, wrapped in silk and that wrapped in a ziplock baggy. Finally, put it in a box and seal it with packaging tape. :D
 
Definitely add some silica gel. When I moved my cameras from overseas, I told the moving company that I wanted to pack them myself. The moving company gave me hundreds of silica gel packs.

I put one silica gel pack in the back, another in the shutter box with the lens removed. Then two more inside a ZIP-lock bag. That went into another ZIP-lock bag and then taped shut with packing tape.

They then went onto a container ship, and I saw them about eight weeks later. But I didn't unpack them right away because I took a job in another city. Some didn't get unpacked until last year (three years after I packed them). I'm glad I was careful about getting them ready for a lengthy -- although unexpected -- storage.
 
Short answer - Tupperware-type container with a silica gel sachet (maybe two). MUCH easier to take the camera out when needed and then re-seal it. But - I just bought a Leica R3 which had spent quite a few years in a humidity-controlled cabinet, it was in great shape but the plastic support pad on the neckstrap was totally embrittled, which I think shows that finding ideal storage conditions for EVERY kind of material in a camera is not easy - low humidity can also cause grease to dry out.

Regards,

David
 
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