old leica luftwaffe camera, can any one tell if it is real??

Okay, I am doing this research for my computer illiterate dad who is

in Canada, while I am in Australia. So, I am going to give as many

details as possible on the 35mm ('rangefinder', I think) camera that

he has. He has given me the following details over the phone, I will

put them in no particular order:

Ernst Leitz

Wetzlar Germany

Leica

DRP

serial number: Nr357729

Auf Zu (on bottom I think)

It has the 'Luftwaffe' insignia, with a swastika in a wreath

I think it has a Z on the speed dial (and not a B) but it might be

the other way around.

The body is what he described as "browny-bronze polished hammer-

tone" while the buttons, dials, etc. are polished brass.

The shutter button is solid and has not got a cable release thread.

The lens has not got cm, but only mm (so it is a 50mm)

 

Any help is appreciated, I think that it is a copy, but from what

dad says, 'a very good copy, and possibly still worth something.'

Any help would be great, email me on hotmail or c.sandys-

brooke@student.qut.edu.au (I check this more regularly). Cheers Cori

This is defintively a copy or rather a fake. The german government started buying Leicas with the Leica III which has a slow-speed dial. I have never heard of Luftwaffe Leicas in bronze coating, usually they are painted grey (due to lack of chrome).

 

Strange enough people pay $$$ for these fakes on ebay (they sell for EUR 100 to 150 over here in Germany). They are made from FED1 or Zorki1 Leica copies. If they work they are decent cameras but there is no reason to pay extra for some brass/bronze plating and crude engraving.

Any bronze screw mount Leica is likely to be fake.

 

Possibly worth $200.

Fake. Only a very few naval Leicas had the eagle and swastika, and the "browny-bronze" finish is wrong. It's probably Russian.

When contemplating a putative Nazi kitsch "Leica", or indeed any dodgy bottom-loading "Leica", start by looking at the tip of the rangefinder adjustment cam: the prong in the camera that adjusts the rangefinder as the lens is focused. If there's a little wheel, it may be a Leica; if not, it isn't. (I'd rather be seen with a Holga than with a camera with swastikas; am I unusual?)

What's wrong with Holgas?

<a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00A5v4">A thread on Luftwaffen IIIc</a> from Nov 2004. The *bay items have long since been removed so you won't be able to see the cameras referred to. There are a few other threads on wartime Leicas- do a search.

The best test for it is to look at the top edge of the RF housing. If the line is un-interrupted it just may be authentic, but if the line bulges around the middle window then it is likely a fake made from a Fed or a Zorkii. Another test is to examine the RF follower in the camera. If it is a round roller it is likely a true Leica but if it is fixed and triangular it is probably a Fed or Zorkii. The shutter release with a cable release thread is also a dead give away. Real Leicas did not have this feature.

The RF follower test is more accurate - some very early FEDs had that little step above the rectangular window, too. But I have never seen one of them converted to an army Leica, and even in their original condition these early FEDs are rare (and expensive) collectors items.

It's a Russian fake. Leica never made military cameras that had that gaudy brass finish and no Luftwaffe cameras had swastika's on them or wreathes. These are not even remotely similar to a real leitz Luftwaffe camera. But it may still be worth $ 100 or 125 maybe. It is most certainly not a very good copy, it looks nothing similar to a Leica.

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is this original ?<div></div>

Hi,

 

I had a gray body Leica many years ago. It looked very much like the camera show. The metal was as I said

painted a medium gray.

 

There was no winged swaztika symbol. There was a small metal arrowhead that was on the border of the filmplate.

This I was told used in matching ariel photograps for map making. These little metal arrowheads would be above the

image area so the would leave an immpresion/image on each frame that was shot on the long side, centered on the

frame just on the edge.

 

 

I actually had no idea this was a luftwaffe camera as it had no indication other than the greay paint. Regarding the

little arrow head shaped markers...I filed them down so I could get a normal looking frame edge when taking a

photograph. The camera I had also came with a viewfinder that attched to the top of the camera It was a cone

shape with the smaller end at the front , the eye piece was wider end. Adjusted for: 35,45,90mm lens?

 

The original Leica Lenses were I believe a 45mm or a 50mm/ normal and a 90mm tele....I bought a Nikkor

35mm that fit on the body.

 

It was a wonderful, compact and quiet camera. There was a little flaking from inside a lens of the black paint of the

tubing walls. Had it looked at and repaired

 

A Swiss born camera repair tech told me "it was a rare camera, maybe Luftwaffe", this was back about 1970.

 

I looked it up in the late seventies or early eighties and it was valued at about $3 to $4K

 

I had paid $75 for the the body, two lenses and the manual adjustable to lenses viewfinder about 1969.

 

I sold it for the same price about 1973 and thru in the Nikkor....all very foolishly.

 

I think you have a Russian knock off...fake. It does not appear to have quite the craftsmanship of my original. I've

never seen a yellow metal finish like that. My camera had not military markings. I did purchase it from a Navy

family and it was examined by a European camera repair tech.

 

The image/prints or slides had a wonderful even quality. Not a razor sharp as a Nikon, yet had a very special lens

quality that was very desireable.

 

Ed Duquette

Lakewood, NJ

<p>@ nikos servos. Are the pictures you posted the real or the fake thing?</p>

<p>Not a Luftwaffe, but perhaps an Afrikakorps Leica, belonging to General Rommel:<br /> <img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2518/3983524691_cd7cbf5a67.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="282" /></p>