What camera is this?

[i._g.]

Yesterday night I was with a friend who showed me an old Leica that

belonged to his father. I quickly searched the web to find what model

it is but could not find anything that looked like it...

 

I have no photos (although I could make some if really needed) but

here's a description:

 

On the top plate was written:

Leica Nr. 648584

DRP

Ernst Leitz

GmbH

Wetzlar

Germany

 

 

The lens was Leitz Elmaf f=5cm opening from 3.5 to 22. It has a

specific metallic lens shade that was held in place by a small screw

and on which Elmar 5cm was written.

 

The shutter dial was interesting, it had markings for Bulb, 1-25 50 75

100 200 500 and 1000. A second small dial on the front of the camera

had markings T 1 2 5 25 15 and 10 (in that order). I concluded that I

have to use the 1-25 on the top dial for the value of the bottom dial

to be taken into consideration.

 

The viewfinder was made of two parts: one through which you would see

the frame, but without the usual rangefinder patch at the center, and

another one, to its left, with the split image for focusing. I found

that using these two viewfinders removed some of the stress of having

a nicely focused image as once you went back to framing the shot you

couldn't know if it's in focus or not. ;-)

 

I shot a roll of Tmax400 in it (all I had with me) but lighting was

really poor and I had no lightmeter... I'll try to develop it by

pushing it two stops but I don't expect much.

 

By the way, if anybody knows how much such a camera could sell for (it

shows clear marks of usage wear and tear), I'd be interested, although

it's not the main topic (and it's not my camera anyway ;-)

 

Leica has made huge progress since this model to the current

production... :-)

[raymond_tai]

It should be an IIIf Red Dial. With the lens it should go for around $450 depending on condition. When I take mine out and about some stranger always ask whether it was the latest digicam. I eventually get tired of it and reply yes.

[gordon_ho]

From the serial number, looks like it is a Leica IIIf from 1953.

[i._g.]

Thanks Raymond and Gordon.

 

Indeed, looking at pictures on the web I believe it's a IIIf - black dial.

[thomas_krantz3]

Can't be a black dial since it had different shutter sequence running 30 40 60 100 200

[skip_williams]

There are some cameras with shutter speed sequences that "should be" red dials, but aren't. I had a black dial IIIf that had red dial speeds last year.

 

Look very closely at the color of the flash synchronization numbers surrounding the shutter speed dial. They are either black or red. As noted by the poster above, the "right" shutter speeds for a red dial are the later, 50, 75, 100 speeds. Collectors pay more for cameras that are "right", even though some were made differently