Walker,
The camera has no viewfinder or rangefinder.

Hi, It just so happened that I got curious about using an old Elmar lens and a gentleman on PN had one for sale there, so I bought it. This was followed by an out-of-the-blue pm to me by another gentleman who read here in this website about the possibility that I let my mintish Canon VI-L go, and he sent me a pm offering a trade of some sort. We have until the end of this month to decide whether we both want to finalize the trade or reverse it. Unless I am mistaken, the Elmar also comes from the late 30's or so. Your guess that the two accessory shoes could have been meant for a rangefinder and a viewfinder makes a lot of sense. I have a rangefinder (German) somewhere ...

According to my reference book, the first 5,0000 Standard models were made in black. They ran from serial number 101,001 ~ 106,000 and were from the date beginning 21.10.32 (21 Oct, 1932). I'm not certain how many Standard models were made but after the first run, the majority were made in chrome so black in your serial number range is not common.

The Standard was almost the same as the Leica I, Model C except for the pull-up rewind knob which it shared with the Model II that was the first model with a rangefinder.

Sold as only the body, the black Standard was coded ALVOO and with with the Elmar lens it was coded AROOG. Chrome models were coded ALVOO CHROM and AROOG CHROM.

Walker

I only have one classic Leica screw mount camera.

It's spolied rotten.

Above, Summitar (coated), Canon 50/1.8, J-3, Collapsible Nikkor 5cm/2, Elmar

Except for the Elmar, all of the lenses can be seen in the bottom portion of the main viewfinder. None of them are "bad", can barely be seen. The Canon 50/1.5 blocked less of the VF than any of the first four shown here.

More lenses on this IIIf, scroll down about 1/2 way.

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/foru...+iiif+summarit

And a close-up of the Nikkor and Summicron.

I think I may work on my problem today. I received a rebate check from some Christmas stuff I bought.

Well at least you have some 50's to use on it.

The Canon 50/1.5 is perfect on the IIIc or IIIf.

My IIIf is actually a IIIc that was factory converted. This is the camera that I got in the brown paper "Grab-Bag" at a pro camera store for $50.

One day (but not during March, 2006 !) I will try to buy a clean Canon 50/1.5 to check it out against my other 10-12 different 50mm lenses.

Where????????????

Oh, the 50/1.5. I was thinking IIIc or IIIf

> Sweeney, that's got to be one of the cleanest Barnacks onboard here. Looks great!

This is how it came back from Essex. Before it went up, the RF image was unusable, had one shutter speed, and the chrome was "dingy". I was going to CLA it and sell it. It came back like this, crystal clear viewfinder, perfect split image, and working great. Needless to say I could not sell it!

My found money is still in hand, I was out bid... :(

There is another cutie closing tomorrow though, so I will give it another shot.

Ok I feel complete now. I have my Summitar f=5cm mounted on y IIIc topped off with my Leica 35-135 viewfinder.

nice outdoor shot john.
the finder looks as big as the lens.

Brian: Did Essex also clean up the chrome?

Here's my IIIa with Komura finder, and jsut arrived Summaron f3.5 from Kyle.

lkgroup
einolu
NicolasD
Lookin' good ya'll! Great gear!

Someone please close this thread... I'm trying to resist GAS... :rolleyes:

IIf in red
 

I just dressed my IIf in a tight red leather dress but I am not sure. I liked the skin on my M2 better, it was more varied in colour. Both are Aki's wine red snake.
So I will play with het in red and see if love grows. The black beauty spot in place of the slow speed dial causes a voice in my head repeating: black - black - black is the traditional way, keep it like that.
Still, I'm not sure.

What do you think?

red
 

Walker, Leo's III looks more red dial than mine, it must be cleaner. Not like any black dial I know...
Nice to see the finder again, Leo!

You know Walker, when I got it from Youxin he said it had been convered from a IIIc to a IIIf and I never really new what was convereted so i called it a IIIc. How can you tell, what is different between the two models?

Rob, the finder matches really well on this camera. I use the 35mm lens a lot and when I use a 50 I just leave the finder on the camera. The only time it comes off is when I transfer it to use on one of my Kiev's.

leo

My economic leica outfit.
 

:bang:
It has a radioactive cron and a mint SBOOI.

Hi Leo,

The IIIf will have the flash connection on the back and the sync delay dial around the base of the shutter speed dial with the numbers from 0~20. The color of the sync delay numbers will be either black or red which will determine if it's a Black Dial or Red Dial. Unless the factory somehow made a mistake, the Black Dial will always have the old shutter speeds of 1/30, 1/40, 1/60 while the Red Dial will be 1/25, 1/50 & 1/75. Not only do the numbers in your picture appear to be black (to me) but your shutter speed dial on the front clearly says 1/30.

The IIIc and the IIIf Black Dial share a common shutter I believe while the Red Dial not only changed the shutter speed sequence but also has a "lighter" and improved shutter. In my opinion, there's little to choose between them and the Black Dial works just as well as the Red Dial.

Walker

Charles, I can't tell from the picture if your Leica is a III, IIIa or IIIb but whichever it is, it's a beauty!!

Walker

The most obvious difference is the larger shutter speed dial on the IIIf. Then there's the synch ring under that, along with the PC outlet on the rear of the camera.

I am going home, it should be there waiting for me. My Elmar is ready, I just need to screw it in. All I need is to load some TriX and head out of my door. It is a beautiful day out too. No reason to stay at work today, or, too many reasons to leave early.