roger_michel Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 went to a great leica auction at christies south kens yesterday. among the lots i picked up was (#323) a minty MDa body. It has a feature that i have not seen before: a small "punch" built into the back door for marking (???) the film or something. there is a corredponding hole in the gate. has the usual insert channel in gate as well. anybody know what this is all about?? great auction -- GREAT prices. the MD/MDa/MD-2 is a great match for any of the voigt superwides. very cool camera, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
________1 Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 Wonder if that's something called pin registration? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awahlster Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 I have seen a Canon F-1N set-up in this manner to make the registration of double/multiple exposures perfect. Is it possible that this Leica could have been modified for the same reason? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Blackwell Images Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 The MD cameras were made primarily for medical use (on a visoflex). The slots you're referring to were for strips that were able to slip through a slot on the bottom plate to mark information on the film (sort of a poor-man's data back). If your MDa doesn�t have a slot in the base plate (you would know what I was talking about if it was there), then it�s been replaced with a standard M base plate. “When you come to a fork in the road, take it ...” – Yogi Berra Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roger_michel Posted December 3, 2003 Author Share Posted December 3, 2003 no -- this is nothing to do with the id strips. it is possible it is part of a pin registration system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roger_michel Posted December 3, 2003 Author Share Posted December 3, 2003 2 other points: the only other camera that i know of with the hole punch is the "premodel m3," which has exactly the same punch. also, as a point of interest, the MD was the original "hammertone" leica. it was prepared in that finish to match leitz microscopes of the period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iwmac Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 The MD series has to do with copy work. The 'punch' has to do with data marking as Bill Blackwell commented, and there is a special baseplate for the camera that allows the strips to be insereted. It has utterly nothing to do with pin registration, that has to do with the basic gearing and winding on of the film. The MD series are basically 'blind Leicas', no view, or rangefinder, so for the true purist with a wide angle lens and add on viewfinder, they are perfect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roger_michel Posted December 4, 2003 Author Share Posted December 4, 2003 ian -- the punch may have been used for film marking as you say -- although it seems redundant in view of the strip marker facility. i have been told, however, that negative sandwiches are not uncommon in microscopy, both to increase density for low contrast subjects and for comparative purposes. i have received an email from a fellow who actually remembers using a punch system for this purpose. while this is not a typical pin registration system (that usually uses more reference points), it might have worked for less critical situations. anyway, the punch, like the punch in the ten premodel m3s, remains somthing of a mystery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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