LTM users, its time to stand up and be counted!

[ironfly]

Originally Posted by wizard

If I am in the Barnack mood, this is what I use (for those not that familiar with LTM Leicas, it's a late If with red-scale Elmar 50mm). Great little camera, slips in the pocket of one's coat easily. The finder is what I would call the best 50mm finder ever, 1:1 size and extremely bright.

Cheers,

Andy

and its 2 sister:

a If early model, a Ig, 2 Elmar (one red scale)

[Rona|d]

IIIa relaxing in the wintersun (MP/E100GX/75cron?):

[Rona|d]

IIIa/Summar at work in Prague:

[Rona|d]

...

[johane]

Leica II mostly used with a Summicron ASPH 35mm "Limited edition" or a Summicron 50mm also from the new "Limited edition" batch of M39 lenses. (And sometimes with CV lenses :-)

/Johan E

[kordovan]

OK.
1.III a ( 1938)
2.Summitar (1938) 50/2 uncoated ( I love very much),
perfect condition
use them whenever I can.

[jc_braconi]

James,
At the end... which one of your 50 Elmar's won the contest ?
Cheers...

[earleygallery]

Originally Posted by jc_braconi

James,
At the end... which one of your 50 Elmar's won the contest ?
Cheers...

That's still to be decided as I haven't yet been able to shoot with them all. The couple of days I've had spare time have been very dull weather wise, and I want to shoot with them outdoors with colour film. Maybe one day this week if I take the gear to work with me...

Watch this space!

[pvsrv]

Count me in as well!

I am the proud caretaker of a IIIf with Elmar 50mm, Summitar 50mm, f2.0 and a Elmar 90 mm, f4 along with various lenses from Voigtlander to give me a little more flexibility. I love the quiet shutter release and the silky feel of the IIIf. My father won the camera in a poker game in Korea back in 1953.

[jc_braconi]

James !
I think you delayed this time, as long as possible, to forget you said, you 'ill sold the worst, because you love them all !!!
(I can understand)
Teeez.

[jc_braconi]

Originally Posted by jc_braconi

you 'ill sold the worst.

"you 'ill sell the worst"
No edit button available ! why ?

Andy, can you, please, remove my posts ? Thanks a lot !
Cheers

[luigi bertolotti]

Originally Posted by earleygallery

Now that we have this excellent new section on the forum lets have a head count of current LTM or screw camera owners/users.

I have a lllf red dial model (well two if I count the broken one which I will get repaired one day). This was my first Leica which I bought in 1982 when I was 16.

It had a spell of inactivity mainly due to the very soft images from the Summar lens it had - which was also rather foggy. Then along came the VC lenses and I started using it for street photography with the 25mm Skopar.

After that I bought a 5cm Elmar, the lens I always wanted for it and I was very pleasantly surprised with the first roll I shot - the images were so sharp and this was with a '42 vintage lens. Now I'm using the lllf more than ever and have just bought some more Elmar glass for it.

My head has been already counted but... to be precise, I have also a IIc besides the IIIf I quoted; I prefer to use the IIIf. LTM gear is often fascinating by itself: as an example, during the years I put together a small collection of ONE lens : the Elmar 90 f4 : 7 pieces all significantly different each to other:
- "Fat"
- "All black"
- "All chrome"
- "Vulkan and chrome wide front rim"
- Ditto, "narrow front rim"
- "E-39 filter"
- "3-elements"

- Plus the "collapsible"...bayonet mount of course... and the Elmar C 90 for CL.

Would like to post a pcture of this set... I wait to have the M8 to have a file directly generated for attach... would consider offensive take such a picture with a 3 Mpixel HP...

[colorflow]

I must confess I have not used these for quite a while. Went on to M3, M6 and now even the M8. Should probably sell some to someone who will really use them.

IIIF RD/ST
IIIF RD/ST, 50 Elmar 3.5 RD, with Leicavit all painted black by Shintaro san
IIIG with Leicavit
50 Elmar 3.5 chrome
50Elmar 2.8
50 Summitar
50 Collapsible Summicron
35 Summaron
90 Elmar
105 Nikon f2.5
100 Canon f/4

Alan

[tyrone.s]

After a short experience using a Fed 1 I acquired my first Leica in early January. It's a IIIf red dial with a red dial Elmar 50/3.5. It was actually a flukey find as I was on my Honeymoon thinking "Leica" somewhere way back in my head (hey you take a lot of photo's when you travel) when my wife and I (on a 2 day stop over in Seoul at the end of our journey) went into an underground / under intersection shopping arcade. It was this crazy little space that's all terrazzo concrete and 1970's fit out. And what do we see? A Leica shop and I'm real temped by an early III (and my wife's going "buy it, buy it" btw ) but it's a bit too expensive for the condition ... the guy doesn't speak English ... wasn't looking to buy a camera today ... perhaps ... and the guy doesn't take VISA and so on.

So we go off to 'think about it' and we end up in another little underground arcade and what do you know? Another little Leica shop - and this guy speaks a little English and has three IIIf's and I can choose any 5cm lens / any body combination that I like for a fixed price - so I pick the best lens and the best body that I can see (I wasn't thinking about matching serial numbers) and I slap down the old VISA card which was crucial for this deal to happen as I can't withdraw more than a thousand Australian dollars a day from my savings account and Seoul is expensive and I will drink the odd cup of coffee and my wife likes to eat. And so off we go, all smiles.

And how did that first roll of film turn out? Absolutely shocking! Don't believe that film is safe going through x-ray machines. Digital yes - film no. But the second roll ... Aaah delightful!

[bill]

Welcome Tyrone, and what a great story! Please post some pictures with your "find".

Regards,

Bill

[dlove5]

I have my grandfather's IIIa that my grandmother gave me over 30 years ago when I was in high school. It got a lot of use including a four year stint taking yearbook pictures for a small private high school I taught at. At the time my favorite lens was a beautiful chrome Summicron 90 that I had bought in college using money that was supposed to go toward my education! The IIIa was semi-retired for an M2 about 15 years ago. That is until I dropped the M2 while changing film 9 years ago dislocating the mirror. I have used the IIIa off and on since then as my second camera usually equiping it with a 35mm or 50mm lens.

My current LTM lineup includes:

IIIa - never has been serviced. Rangefinder getting dim and 1/1000 has a bit of shutter cutoff.

IIIf - belonged to a friend. Needs CLA before I use it much. Shutter speeds inconsistent.

35 Elmar 3.5 chrome
35 Canon Serenar 2.8
50 Nikkor 1.4
85 Canon Serenar 2.0
90 Elmar
105 Novoflex Noflexar 3.5 Macro
135 Hektor 4.5

Here I am with the IIIa and 50 Nikkor probably taking a picture of my wife with her digital camera last summer near Porland, Maine. The lens hanging off to the side is a Pentax 200mm attached to a Spotmatic IIa that belonged to my other grandfather. I'm a bit of a Pentax screwmount oddball as well. And yes, I do have Pentax to LTM adapters.
dlovemaine.JPG

[gdmiv]

I often use my IIIf with one of Tom A's Barnack Rapidwinders. Either with a Summitar, or more often a VC 21 mm. It is such a mechanical joy I frequently leave
the M7 at home

Doug

[harmsr]

OK, I admit it also. I am addicted to my iiif.

Besides loving its mechanical precision feel, it makes me think about lighting and exposure vs. always trusting a meter and letting the camera tell me what it wants to do.

Here is my iiif with col. Summicron and other accessories. I also like using this lens on the M5 with bayonet adaptor. My other fun lens for this one is 50 2.8 Elmar.

Best,

Ray

[Canfred]

Here are two of my better looking LTM .
I just added the M3 as it is the same lens.
Astia Apro Macro Elmarit 100 R9
Cheers Manfred

[earleygallery]

Manfred, some very fine examples! The lllf looks like new.

My local dealer tells me that he as a boxed/new & unused lllf in his collection!