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Leica IIIc/f


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<p>I am tossing up whether to purchase a Leica III and I have a question about the little lever on the bottom of the rewind knob. People say that this is to focus the rangefinder.<br>

At the moment I shoot Nikon film cameras and I use a +0.5 diopter to make sure that my focusing is accurate. Does this lever achieve the same result? If not, can I purchase a diopter for the Leica III?</p>

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<p>Franco,</p>

<p>The Leica III does NOT have a focusable rangefinder. The IIIc and the IIIf does.<br>

The focusability has nothing to do with the viewfinder, only the rangefinder. They are totally separate images. <br>

Only when you get to the IIIg and the M Leicas do you get a combined RF and VF image.<br>

I hope I have un-confused you!</p>

<p>Jerry</p>

<p> </p>

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<p>If you are shooting Nikon film rangefinders, you may find that you are crossing over the great divide here.<br /> Once upon a time, there were Leicas and there were Contaxes. The Nikon RFs are essentially (aside from the shutter) Contaxes. <br /> I have used a Leica III model in field work, and I discovered that I am definitely a Contax person.<br>

My Leica III tendencies are more than satisfied by my all red FED, but it that were not true, I'd personally prefer a Canon RF to a Leica III.</p>

<p>If I haven't convinced you, you may find this helpful: http://jay.fedka.com/index_files/Page345.htm</p>

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<p>Francisco - the lever you refer to does indeed focus the RANGEFINDER, not the viewfinder. The reason the focus is so accurate on these particular camera bodies is that the rangefinder has a 1.5x magnification (think of it as a telescope), so that it increases the effective length between the rangefinder windows, making it longer than almost any other rangefinder out there. The drawback is that the viewing ports are small, and many people need to squint to use them properly, and as mentioned above, the rangefinder and viewfinder are separate from one another.</p>
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<p>It can certainly be confusing. The III has a tab around the RF peep hole that allows you to focus the RF image. The later models have the lever under the rewind knob like you mentioned (does the same thing). While the peep holes are small, the cameras are very easy for me to focus, and I wear bi-focals. On these I generally shoot them w/o my glasses because you can get your eye closer to that small sight hole, and the RF image is very easy to see because of the 1.5 magnification factor. The actual viewing hole on the other side is surprisingly bright and clear because it has the RF in that separate window. If you get one, I recommend a Summar if it's clean (use a hood), or a collapsible Summicron. You will see a definite sharpness increase over your Nikon glass, but these are somewhat slow to shoot, and not because of the separate peep holes. That you get used to quickly, but the fact that it's a knob wind makes it slow.</p>
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<p>Jerry, the III was the first Leica with what was called a R/F telescope and which could be focussed. If I remember right, the IIIb was the first model to have the focus control at the base of the rewind knob rather than around the R/F eye-piece.<br>

Francisco, the telescope is now called a dioptre adjustment. In their literature Leitz said it was meant to adjust to eyesight peculiarities.</p>

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<p>To correct what Jerry said above, the IIIG doesn't have a combined rangefinder and viewfinder. It still has two separate peep holes like the others, and it has the little RF diopter control under the rewind knob. What the IIIG offers is parallax corrected framelines for the 50mm and 90mm lenses. The 90mm is indicated by little corner points instead of full framelines.</p>

<p>The 1.5X magnification gives the Leica LTM cameras a longer effective baselength than an M with 0.72 finder. That works great for focusing accuracy. The only downside is that there is no adjustment on the rangefinder sensor arm to tailor the minimum focus, as with the M cameras. That means that some lenses may be off focus near the minimum focus, even if they are perfect near infinity. I asked Don Goldberg (DAG) about this, and he said that was one of the major changes that they corrected when they switched to the M3. However, Leica manufacturing tolerances are so tight that almost all of my lenses focus properly at minimum focus if they haven't been abused.</p>

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<p>I just picked up a Leica IIIF and thought this was going to be a nightmare to use. Once you get passed the meter it is very easy. Luckily for me I had a small filter over one of the rangefinder lenses. The viewfinder though small was clear and bright: Focus, Frame then Press. The difference was that the aperture was preset prior unlike working with most other manual cameras where you set the shutter first then read the meter to adjust the f-stop & focus at the same time. No bright lights or lines are visible in the frame or needles to match up. </p>
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<p>The small lever below the rewind knob on the Leica III series cameras is a diopter adjustment. It corrects for vision shortcomings on the part of the camera users so that he/she will be able to focus without wearing eyeglasses. (I am such a person and find this to be quite a convenience).<br>

The M-series Leicas and the R-Leicas require an auxiliary lens, fitted to the viewfinder eyepiece, to accomplish the same correction. These Leitz correction lenses are rare birds these days. It is possible to fabricate a perfectly functional correction lens from dollar store reading glasses, but that is a topic for another day.<br>

In short, just fiddle the little lever under the rewind knob on you Leica IIIx until the view is sharp to your eye then go out into the world and take the great photographs.</p>

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