Has anyone else seen this auction? The flash contacts on it look just like the ones on my Tower/Nicca type 3... Is this just an aftermarket addition? The ring around the shutter release is different to my Tower, the slow speed dial is also different, and the surround to the viewfinder window is also a different shape... I just havent seen a leica like this before...
That viewfinder window looks wrong to me. Why did the seller post such dark photos?
Anyway, this one was more tempting and I already have two IIIf's.
__________________
- Andrew in Austin, Texas -
35mm Gear Bessa R, Leica II, - IIIf RD/ST, - IIIg, - M3
Medium Format Fuji GW 690III / Minolta Autocord
MF Folders Agfa Record III and Super Isolette / Voigtlander Perkeo II and Bessa II
Digital a D300 with a some primes
There must of been a cottage industry converting IIIa's to accept a flash.
__________________
- Andrew in Austin, Texas -
35mm Gear Bessa R, Leica II, - IIIf RD/ST, - IIIg, - M3
Medium Format Fuji GW 690III / Minolta Autocord
MF Folders Agfa Record III and Super Isolette / Voigtlander Perkeo II and Bessa II
Digital a D300 with a some primes
There must of been a cottage industry converting IIIa's to accept a flash.
Many users of non-synched cameras had their cameras modified by independent repairists. Many camera shops offered this service in the late 1940s to 1950s, and perhaps until later. This allowed cameras like the III/IIIa (and any pre-IIIf Leica) to be used with flash without using the clumsy add-on flash synchronisers like the Geiss-Kontakt . Leitz also offered synch conversion services for their older cameras, making them converted IIIf cameras complete with the synchro dial. A factory converted IIIa would likely be called a "IIIasyn "
Jay
__________________
不管黑猫白猫能抓到老鼠就是好猫。("Black Cat, White Cat, if it can catch mice, is a Good Cat"-Deng Xiaoping 邓小平 )
I owned a Leica IIIb very similar to this many years ago. It was an aftermarket modification made in Austin, Texas by a repairman in about 1940 to a camera sold to the Texas Health Department. The Leica repairman who did a CLA for me even remembered the name of the initial modifier and said that he had seen others like it.
It is a fairly simple modification inside the body to achieve the flash synchonization. The double prong connector is a Graflex connector. I'm sure it was done in many other places as well.
. Leitz also offered synch conversion services for their older cameras, making them converted IIIf cameras complete with the synchro dial. A factory converted IIIa would likely be called a "IIIasyn "
Linear Mode
