Painted IIIf

I received my black painted IIIf from Mr. Shintaro Yuginuma of Japan this week. Attached are a few images of it. I

have no lens yet, as I am away from home base, but I am quite anxious to put my black V-C 50mm Nokton, or 28 or

35mm screw thread lenses on it, with Cosina viewfinders, and go out shooting.

 

It has been a long wait in my case (1 and 1/2 years), but I happily had a second body in the meantime. I I think his

work is very good indeed. His camera re-assembly was a bit less good (shutter release not as smooth as it was,

possibly eassilty adjusted). For you to judge.

 

If you intend using his service, I would suggest trying to get a definitive time to delivery date estimate beforehand,

and/or ask him if you can make a small up front payment and pay the rest when it is ready

to send.<div></div>

I've added two other photos of the camera to my Portfolio at http://www.photo.net/photos/aplumpton

What a great looking machine, thanks for showing us.

 

How do you like the 135/2,8? I think it's a cool lens. The last time I shot it was lying on grass in New Mexico playing with my dog, waiting for a humming bird to stop by a flower at 2.8. The K64 was really poorly composed,awesome color and b bo bok boke background.

His painting job is just so so, judge from the photos.

Dan, what do you mean so so?

 

The paint finish and "fill in" work look stunning !

Arthur, You should get rid of the plastic and buy a genuine black finish body cap.

A beauty, Arthur. Enjoy it.

Looks very nice, and am I right in thinking that the delay is because he paints these as a hobby rather than as a full time occupation?

 

He's certainly done a much better job than whoever re-painted the black Leica III I purchased a few years ago. The finish on that one is really matt with no fill in on the engraving - probably due to the amount of black paint in it! Oh and whoever did it didn't disassemble it - just painted around the dials and knobs.

 

Guess I'll just have to wear it through to the brass.

Shintaro's paint finish is as good or better than the original black-paint finishes from the manufacturer.

 

And it will take a long time to get the camera back. He does this in his spare time.

 

My Black Painted Nikon SP took a year. He knocked some ugly dents out of the top plate and bezel. Now, it looks mint.

Your IIIf really looks nice in black. What is Mr. Shintaro charging to go from chrome to black on a LTM ?

Looks fun! The possibilities are virtually endless ... Here are some examples and a description of the process from

<i><a

href="http://www.angelfire.com/biz/Leica/page3.html" >CRR in England (link)</a></i>

Arthur, that is a genuinely "prettty' IIIf. I'm curious, though. I suspect that the camera "is" actually a "black dial" IIIf due to the 1/30 second

shutter speed. It has now become a "white dial" IIIf. Did you consider the loss of "identity" before you had it painted?

 

It's so beautiful. I have a IIIf RD ST that would look really nice in black enamel, and the synchronization dial would still be red, but I would

worry about damage. Are you going to continue using it?

 

Johnnycake

Arthur, in an honest effort to identify whether your camera was a IIIf BD or a IIIf RD, I searched this site using the visible

serial #447057,

 

http://www.cameraquest.com/ltmnum.htm

 

The camera with that serial number began as a IIc in the years 1948-1951 and was 'upgraded' at some point. Was it

upgraded to a IIIf BD (1/30s) or a IIIf RD (w/1/30s)? I have never seen a IIIf RD with 1/30s. It might have been 'upgraded' in stages.

 

This doesn't really make any difference as your camera is still a beauty.

 

Johnnycake

Thanks all for your kind comments.

 

Brian, Chris and Allan, I believe that Mr. Yuginuma is a professional photographer (he apparently took over his dad's

business) who consequently has only limited time for his second activity. The job cost me $500, more than what I

paid for my fairly clean IIIf. At about $1000 all told, I now have a compact black Leica LTM (even with a sacreligious

white cap, Vivek), which is going to see much more street action now, together with a few modern but inexpensive

LTM lenses that I have for it and the M body.

 

Michael, I think the 135 f2.8 is a really fine lens having little full aperture vignetting and as good close-up as distant

performance. Unfortunately, I have to put it up for sale (currently on PN classified) with some Leica accessories, to

rationalize my equipment base (I do mainly wide angle and normal focal length work).

 

Back to Shintaro's work, I think he does really fine work, and this despite the delay. I have expressed my pleasure to

him.

 

Johnnycake, your analysis of the upgrade (could it not be a IIf to a IIIf conversion?) is appreciated. I don't remember

what the colour of the 1/30 sec. setting was before, but it is not very important to me as I intend to use the black IIIf

quite a lot; I had it painted primarily to make it a little less obstrusive. I guess it would make a nice camera to

display, but this was not really my intention (it's not a good collector's camera as the shutter has been repaired but

works fine, and it is not in its original non-IIIf state).

Hi, Arthur. The labels "BD" [black dial] and "RD" [red dial] do not refer to the shutter speed dial on the top nor do they

refer to the 1/30 sec setting. The labels BD/RD refer to the color of the infill of the numbers, 0 through 20, of the flash

synchronization dial. The flash synchronization dial is below and surrounds the top-plate shutter speed dial.

 

Your camera almost certainly started out as a IIc. It most certainly could have been first upgraded to a IIf, adding

electronic flash synchronization, and then to a IIIf, adding slow shutter speeds, or vice versa. Pictures of the back of

the camera might be interesting as the IIc had, in particular, a different configuration of vf/rf windows. The windows were

separate on every IIc/IIIc that I have ever seen; they were combined on the IIf/IIIf. Unless, of course, the top-plate was

replaced with the IIf/IIIf top-plate at some time when it was upgraded.

 

Leitz could cobbled together new/used parts from new/old stock. However, I don't know what their policy was regarding

the pre-existing serial number. I have read that when Leitz replaced the top-plate, requiring re-engraving, they added an

additional 'symbol' after the serial number to indicate that the top-plate had been replaced. The configuration of your

camera serial number is 'conventional.'

 

The modular design of the Barnack-Leicas was ahead of it's time. As new features were added to new models, many

older models would be returned to Wetzlar and updated. Contrast the economy of that capacity with the rapid

'obsolescence' of contemporary digital cameras. I have never heard of a Nikon D2X being upgraded to a Nikon D3. It's

just too bad that Leica did not/could not continue that capacity with the M-series thru the M8. [imagine. You send in

your M4-2 and have it upgraded to an M8!]

 

It's a beautiful camera. It will be a great street camera unless, of course, you and your camera are spotted by a

Leicaphile!

 

Johnnycake

Thanks for the very interesting information, Johnnycake. The viewfinder is combined. I didn't show the back, as it has

a well worn VF plastic surround that Shinataru wanted to replace (free) for me, but I had found a new or lightly used

one in the meantime. I will replace this when I get home and start to use the IIIf.

 

I guess the M8 is a whole new ball game, but Leica Canada (onetime) or Leica NJ servicing was doing an M4-2 to

M4-P upgrade with the 6 framelines (some consider it a downgrade due to the complexity of seeing two frames at

once (28+90 and 50+75) in two of the three frame selector positions. But the Barnack cameras were nicely

upgradable, although too bad it took the IIIg and then the M series to introduce a larger VF (like on the Contax and

Nikon S2 RF cameras).

 

Not too many Leicaphiles where I live, but I would be glad if they introduce themselves on the street. Otherwise, I

should get by fairly unobstrusively with other subjects.

Arthur, that is a beautiful camera you have there. I don't think I would ever care to make that kind of investment

towards my IIIf RD, but I really enjoy seeing the results when someone else decides to do it.

 

Joneycake mentioned Leica being the only manufacturer that has made an upgradable camera. In a sense, Leica

HAS contined this with the M8. What other camera do you know where you can get a shutter upgrade? That alone is

amazing for any camera manufacturer in this day and age.

Mark, I don't think I would want to paint a nice IIIf RD either, but my chrome II (upgraded c or f, not sure) was not

getting as much use as my more layed back looking black M camera, and it is not as highly valued in its chrome

state as an RD. If the repaint doesn't look as good in a few years I guess I will not be too concerned. It should still

do the job.

 

Good point about the M8.2 (chuckle). They ought to have gotten the shutter right with the M8; the sapphire screen

can be equalled by a few dollars purchase of a plastic protector.

<p>It looks like a new camera, but I am leery about how it will hold up over time. I'd want to carry it in a soft half case, which would sort of defeat the whole idea. I agree w/ your scheme of wanting to pay the big balance when the work is actually finished rather than up front. A paycheck is a powerful motivator. Something tells me the wait times would be a lot shorter.</p>