Pro tip: The $80 digital microscope that saved a Leica M3 repair

Had a customer bring in a Leica M3 with a slow second curtain. Could not see the issue with my loupe. Bought a cheap digital microscope online for about eighty bucks. Hooked it up to my laptop and saw a tiny bit of old grease gumming up a pivot pin. Cleaned it in ten minutes. Without that scope, I would have spent hours guessing. Anyone else use a digital scope for tricky shutter jobs?

4 comments

4 Comments

sandra_moore302mo ago

Totally get that. Those cheap scopes are a lifesaver for spotting gunk in tight spots. What brand did you end up going with?

johnson.eva7d ago

And that Depstech one, does the app let you actually mark up or measure stuff on the screen, or is it just a barebones viewer? I've been burned by a scope that had a good picture but no way to annotate where I found the crack, which makes it kinda useless for telling the plumber later. That's the thing I'd really want to nail down before buying, you know?

grace_kelly452mo ago

Grabbed a Depstech one off Amazon, works way better than expected. The app's kinda clunky but the camera quality is solid for the price.

pat_harris2mo ago

Yeah, @grace_kelly45, that's exactly it... the app is always the weak spot with those. I've got a no-name one from a few years back, and the picture is shockingly clear for seeing inside walls, but man, trying to save a screenshot is like a three-step puzzle every time.