Leica 1a still working fine

Just got back from a holiday in South Africa where I took my Leica 1a loaded with Ilford XP2. Everything seems to

work as it should. Not bad for a camera 84 years old.

I'll try again.<div></div>

<p>Anthony--wow!<br>

Great photo!<br>

What lens? Very sharp and contrasty..<br>

Paul</p>

 

<p>Great pic there is nothing like shooting with an old Leica I love mine..Dont display just use it as it was meant to be..</p>

Paul - the fixed non-interchangeable Elmar. 5cm. This is the camera.<div></div>

<p>Anthony--thanks for the info.<br>

Clearly, I don't know the old Leicas!<br>

Thanks again.<br>

Paul</p>

I don't have a Leica Ia, but I have two IIIf, one is a black dial and red dial the other one. This cameras are from 1951 and 1952, and the only work that I've had to do is change the curtain.

I have the same version of the Elmar too and I must say, that it's my prefer!

<p>Tony, nice crisp image. Has a very 30's feel to it. Did you do your own developing and what is the film? The Elmar 50 can do a great job even if it is uncoated. I agree with Drew, I still use an uncoated Elmar 50 with hood on a IIIc. This model Leica was my Dad's first Leica, bought used, and a whole lot of rolls went through it from 1935 until 1961. Wish I still had it.</p>

<p>Add a surround for the shutter button and it will be complete. The Elmar can be used without a range-finder in the free shoe.</p>

Christopher - I mentioned in my first entry that I use Ilford XP2 (developed in Tetenal Colortec C41) I like the latitude of the film for 100ASA to 400 ASA without altering development. As it is chromogenic there is virtually no grain even at 400ASA. I never shoot below 1/200 sec with XP2.

<p>Thanks Tony, I missed your info in my first read. No grain and 1/200th sure worked well together. I've yet to use XP2 but with results like yours I'll give it a try. Mukel is right, no need for a rangefinder unless you are working very close opened up. I still have an Instamatic 500 that has a marking for the film plane, so I had a carpet thread marked off in inches tied into the strap mount so I can accurately measure for close ups. Stopped down it worked pretty well, even within 2'.</p>

Christopher - my Leica 1A is the close focus model which focuses down to 18 inches - and it works well at that range. None of my other Leicas will do that..

Anthony: Congrats! Looks like you got a hazefree one? Is this a four digit sr nr? Does it have the little plugged up hole in the back: always intrigued me. Was that meant as an entrance hole for a tool? How easily does the lens come off?

<p>Love the old Leica screwmounts -- got 6 of 'em!!!!!!</p>

<p>Jean-Marie, the plugged hole on the back of the camera body was used for setting proper infinity focus utilizing shims behind the lens mount. This was accomplished with an instrument that utilized an aerial image. Once infinity focus was achieved the hole was plugged. If the lens is removed and the shutter held open with a bulb or time setting you would also see a matching hole in the pressure plate.</p>

RICK Enigma solved! Thank you. I have used a Leica II (94XXX) that had the plug as well. Does it mean that Leica I bodies were used after the camera was discontinued? And do all Leica I bodies have this hole? Looks like that when the camera's 'jacket' gets renewed, the plug can be disappears under the new cover?

<p>Oeps, 'can be disappears under' should read 'can be disguised under'. Sorry, me Anglish are not usually that bad! :}()</p>

<p>Tony, your 1a story is a real trip back for me. Dad's was also a close focus version. He did a lot of Kodachrome 35 batch testing with the camera and I still have boxes of close up baby and rose slides. I'm amazed how well Kodachrome color held up since the late 30's. Just think of the Kodachrome gems that must be in National Geographic's archive vault. Jean-Marie and Rick, if I read the post correctly, Tony's 1a close focus 50 Elmar is specifically matched to his camera body and is permanently mounted, it is not an LTM body or lens, those came a little later.</p>

<p>Christopher - Was the close focus a special/rare/more expensive variant? I only know the 3,5cm elmar close focus which is rather uncommon. I suppose this a 4 digit sr nr? When the 'fixed' lens is removed for cleaning would that affect its performance?</p>

<p>Although I don't own a close focusing Elmar 50, my understanding of the Leitz close focusing capability works as follows. Both the lens camera mount helix and the matching lens focusing mount are designed and built so that the lens can be extended further out of the camera mount. For instance if the lens mount could be rotated several degrees more than the standard mount the lens optical unit would extend further. You would then be able to focus as Tony mentioned inside of the standard Elmar's 2' or more minimum focus distance. However as you focus closer, your depth of field shrinks and you will need to stop down to maintain or gain back lost depth of field. Very close focusing with standard lenses may introduce other optical problems due to field curvature, distortion and vignetting. Leitz addressed close focusing photography with both the Visoflex system and the post WWII Dual Range Summicron lens and it's close focusing mount. However the early Visoflex system was introduced several years after the Leica 1a and requires an LTM body. Tony is fortunate in having a "built in" close focusing solution, early though it is in Leica history. </p>

Thanks Christopher - Elmars could also be used on enlargers. I wonder if the close focus feature was perhaps designed with that particular function in mind. Just a thought.

Elmars were just a good all purpose design; good for infinity, good for close ups etc. The 65mm Elmar for Visoflex functions pretty much as well as most good macro lenses, as well as an all purpose lens. Erwin Puts, if I read him correctly, doesn't seem to think the lens quality changes much over what must have been around 35 years, despite computing for different lens glasses, and it was of a lens type that gained less from coating.

 

The close focusing Elmar just couldnt be used on a Leica II with rangefinder, which could only get it down to one metre without a nooky

 

It is excellent for a camera that old

<p>JAMES - Hi again, just talked to your double :) I thought I found a close up version of a 3,5cm Elmar once on the internet. Now that you say that the rangefinder couldn't handle this I wonder... Maybe I mistook its name (EKURZ) for 'close up/short' in German? Do you know perhaps anything about this type 3,5cm lens?</p>

<p>EKURZ was just the catalogue name I think. It is possible they made some pre RF 35mm Elmar lenses in 1930 (screw thread with no RF cam) to focus closer than 1m, but I doubt it, and it wouldn't have been EKURZ but LEDTF.<br>

The 35mm RF lenses with spectacles for the M3 all focused to .7 metre.<br>

cheers</p>

<p>Did find the link to the 3,5cm close focus (0.5m). You were right again: it belongs to a non-standardized Leica I. www.mir.com.my/br/photography. There is currently one available on the big bay with reasonable pics.</p>