tom5

My 1938 (as I remember) IIIa is definately Vulcanite, not leather. When I glued back the pieces that dried out and fell off, the glue melted the rubber a little. After I get around to getting the IIIa serviced, I'm going to try Cameraleather, either from a kit, if one is available then, or by having them do the installation of a new cover.

 

Off this topic - My IIIa seems to work well on all shutter speeds except 1/1000, at which there is absolutely no opening of the curtain. The curtain moves but no light goes through at 1/1000. The shutter dial goes into a notch at 1/1000 but doesn't seat down very far. I'm wondering if someone put an older 1/500 shutter in it or if the 1/1000 can fail without the other speeds showing a serious problem. Any ideas? Or, probably best to send it to DAG for an overhaul anyway.

I remember in the late 1960's that I ordered an adapter for an Alpa. When it didn't show up after months and months of wait, I called Karl Heitz, the distributor. They told me that an entire shipment of Alpa equipment was stolen in New York before it could be delivered to Heitz.

Some assume that Bucharest is going to be dark and dim. It is, of course, not at the latitude of Florida, but last year, it was quite nicely illuminated with just a bit of snow still on the ground in the parks and countryside.

Today, I took my brand new LHSA M6 out for a walk on our university

campus. I was taking some pictures by the student union and one of my

students, a computer wiz, saw me and remarked that I was using a

really old camera. I answered that I was shooting the very first roll

of film in a brand new Leica camera. He simply could not believe me.

The camera had to be very old indeed!

I have a Summitar that I bought with a IIIc some years ago. When I bought an M6, I started using it on that too. Several people have remarked how pleasing are portraits taken with that lens, especially in black and white. I like it better than my coated Elmar 50mm.

 

The IIIc is a real gem too - I found that the small shutter speed dial is easy to read and doesn't bump into the Voigtlander finders, whereas the larger dial on my IIIf requires that I raise the finder. Otherwise, I can't lift the shutter speed dial without hitting the finder. Another reason to use the IIIc.

As far as price, 100Y/$ would make the price about $380.

The US $ is doing quite a bit better than 100Y but the

price is still going to be over $300.

 

Of course, in the OLD days, when the US $ received 250

to 350 Y, the price would have been very reasonable.

I must admit that when I was in Rio a year ago, I never went out with a camera bag or a large camera. I too often use a small Leica .. my favorite is the IIIc with an Elmar (or now my Voigtlander 28mm.). I can actually fit such a camera in large front pants pockets. Sometimes I take a point and shoot camera. Wandering around with a camera in a pocket and just a little cash in another front pocket is real freedom! Maybe it is the way I'm dressed or walk but I've never had serious problems, including travel in some rather rough areas of the world. But, then, I do take warnings seriously, prepare for the worst, and then find problems seem to be less likely to happen.

 

I did see a guy with an M6 outfit in a little Leica case at Corcovado and took a long hard gulp. He was dressed very preppy looking and seemed to be the perfect target for theft. I'd rather try to blend in .

I was in Rio a year ago. I think security is much better now. Beach areas like Ipanema are now patrolled better than they used to be. I was quite careful and kept my cameras in a rough bag or under my arm. But, I didn't have a sense that I had to be more careful than in any big city.

Charles - I have a Nikonos IV-A and always thought that the lens was great. Recently some people told me that the 35mm f/2.5 was a "dog" ("bad" for non-native English speakers). Glad to hear that you concur with my opinon.

I'm with you, Vikram. I bought a 0.58 M6TTL a year ago (rangefinder still aligned though). I was thinking of buying a scanner but I'm waiting a bit and putting the cash into a 0.72 M6TTL at Rich Pinto's Leica Day sale. The M7 seems nice but the M6TTL new, passport prices are excellent and I'm not going to miss this opportunity.

 

I agree about the disease aspect of Leicas. My problem is that I have two types of Leica disease - screwmount and M! Fortunately, I've been able to avoid the R form of the disease .... so far!!!

I've used BWC Chrome Labs on Miami Beach. It has been a couple of years since I gave them Kodachrome so I don't know if they still process it. But, several years ago, my understanding was that they ran the ONLY east coast (USA) processing line for Kodachrome. They are at 800-292-3664 or 305-534-4454. You can send them film by mail as well as drop off.

I wonder how many LHSA black paint M6TTL cameras were made. I may

have seen some information at one time, but can't find it now. I

suspect that there are several thousand 0.72 and many fewer 0.85 but I

really don't know. Just curious and wondering if any numbers are

available.

I'm thinking about buying a LHSA body - I'm wondering about the durability of the finish. I had a black Nikon Ftn (till it was removed from my house by a burgler) and still have a black Nikon FM2. Both show/showed slight brassing on the corners but held up remarkably well otherwise. I wonder if the LHSA finish will be as durable or if it is inferior to the black on brass finish of the Nikons, etc.

When I was planning my M6 purchase of a year ago, I remember some

people saying that when loading, film catches a little on a edge of a

film rail and one has to jiggle the film a bit. This was attributed

to a change in design from earlier cameras which were claimed to have

a smoother edge on the film rails.

 

Sure, enough, I found that film loading, while otherwise easy, requires

a little care pushing the film in.

 

I wonder if the M7 corrected this little annoyance. Or perhaps,

nobody but me notices the film hanging up a bit when loading.

The lighting bolt is there to let you know that if you fool around with that part of the camera without consulting the instruction book, a bolt of lighting will come out of the sky, with most serious consequences.

I also bought from Mr. Gandy, two transactions and absolutely no problems. I did have some uncertainty about whether a case I received was for the Voigtlander 12mm or 15/25 series. Mr. Gandy was very helpful and responded promptly to back and forth emails. I'm very satisfied.

I wonder if anyone has comparative data on how the 75mm Summilux M

compares with the Nikon 85mm f/1.4 D series optic. I'm primarily

interested in how the optics compare. Thanks.

VueScan is great because the developer keeps coming out with

new versions to adapt to additional scanners and problems.

Sometimes the updates come weekly! It isn't a plugin but it

works well and if there is a problem, a fix will almost certainly be

right around the bend. For $40, it is a bargain.

I love the story about small insects. My own story, not about Leica is that I took my Nikon F3 and FM2 to Costa Rica some years ago and noticed that both had some tiny insect like creatures walking across the viewing screen. These were really tiny and every so often one would walk across the viewing screen. No problem on the film though but I often wonder (well, not too often) what a tiny insect would have have felt if it sat on the shutter when it was tripped!

 

A month or so in Silica Gel cured the problem. I threw away the camera bag as it seems that the insects were living in the bag and just out for a walk in the camera!

This is a whole lot better than the picture of the same site I took about 10 years ago at the same site. Of course, it was about 45 degrees © and near noon. Yours is good!

I have several screwmount Leicas. The IIIc is ideal for use with auxilary finders as the shutter speed dial is small and doesn't hit finder bodies when lifted. Voigtlander 15 and 25 finders and an old Zeiss 28 finder have various degrees of interference with raising the larger shutter speed dial on the IIIf.

 

I gave a moment's thought to getting the M multifinder but noticed from the pictures that it has a locking ring which seems like it might hang over the finder shoe enough to block the IIIf shutter knob from raising. And, then I read comments on this forum which were not positive about the multifinder. Too bad .. I have 21, 25, and soon to arrive 28 Voigtlanders.

 

I can't say about the IIIg but you might want to try to check out any new finder before buying.

Yes, from Gandy's pictures, the Nokton does seem to cover a

corner of the LTM viewfinder. My only reservation about the

Voigtlander 50 f/2.5 came from a statement (rumor) on this

forum that Puts (spelling) sent his sample back because of

decentering problems. But, he loved the 50 f/3.5 Voigtlander and

has been rather kind to some of the Voigtlander lenses.

 

I've had really good luck with the several Voigtlanders I have and

would really like to hear from those who have given the new

28mm and 50mm (f/2.5) a good optical workout. Thanks to the

forum for all the useful comments. I have a lot of information

and helpful opinion now.

I hadn't thought about buying two lenses. But, Jay's suggestion

of a reasonably priced M lens and purchase of the Nokton for the

LTM cameras might just be the best solution. Thanks everyone

I have several LTM Leicas, some Voigtlander ultrawides, and a Summitar

and Elmar 50mm (both coated). I don't have a 50mm lens for my M6.

 

I'm hoping to get a modern design 50mm in LTM and which I could use on

my M6. The limited edition Summicron 50 in LTM would be great but I

missed getting one when they appeared and now they are really hard to

find and pricey. A Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 sounds great but these

aren't available separately from the Bessa T. The Voigtlander 50

f/2.5 might work nicely but I heard on this forum that it might not be

such a great lens.

 

Any suggestions? I love my Summitar for its "look" but a modern

design like the Summicron 50mm would be great to have. It is just

that I can't find one, probably don't want to pay $$$$$ for it, and it

might just be too heavy in chrome.

I too use the 28 and 35 as my primary lenses, so far on one M6

body. Hopefully, this situation will change in the next year and I'll

have the 28 on my M6 0.58 and the 35 mostly on a new camera ..

M7? M2? hmmmmm .. we shall see.