That time a vintage Leica fell off my bench mid-repair at a flea market swap meet

I was at this big camera swap in Portland last spring, elbows deep in a sticky shutter on a 1950s Leica IIIf. Suddenly the whole body slipped out of my clamp and hit the concrete floor with a sound that made everyone around me wince. The owner saw it happen and just laughed, said it already had a dent anyway, but I learned to always double-check my vise grip tension before touching a slippery chrome body. Now I keep a rubber mat under all my repairs, no exceptions. Has anyone else had a nearly heart-stopping drop like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

gavin_kim18d ago

Yeah man, you ever have a buddy who learned the hard way? My friend Dave dropped a Nikon F2 off his tailgate at a parking lot swap. Thing hit the asphalt, dented the corner of the top plate, and the prism rattled loose inside. He just picked it up, put it back together, and it still works fine. But now he stores all his gear in a padded tool box with foam cutouts. Never seen him set a camera down without a towel under it since.

harperp2417d agoProlific Poster

Honestly I gotta push back on this a little. I've seen guys drop way worse stuff and it just keeps ticking. My buddy dropped a Canon AE-1 down a flight of stairs at a flea market. It rolled like five times, hit the concrete floor hard. He picked it up, the battery door flew off, but the camera still shoots fine to this day. He doesn't wrap it in bubble wrap or keep it in a padded case. He just throws it in his bag with his lunch and a jacket. I think people get way too precious about their gear. These old film cameras were built like tanks for a reason.

jessem5918d ago

Damn that's wild. Your buddy Dave sounds super careful now but honestly that's smart, I think once you wreck something nice once you just get paranoid forever. I've seen guys wrap their gear in bubble wrap like it's a newborn baby after one bad drop.