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

[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.

[bill]

Present!

I have adopted a IIIc with 35mm Elmar and 50mm Summitar. I have just acquired an OKARO for it and a VIDOM is on the way, although that was a bit of an impulse buy and may not "survive" in use.

My screwmount philosophy is simple; I work for a technology company. I drive a car with not just sat-nav and a 'phone but it's own IP address. I carry a smartphone that has more processing power than was used to put a man on the Moon. All the music I can ever listen to is in my pocket.

The IIIc is an antedote to all that. It is "acoustic photography"... "photography unplugged". Call it what you will. It is just me and a precision instrument, a roll of black and white and a world full of photo opportunities. Heaven.

Regards,

Bill

[Rona|d]

IIIa (1938)
Summar (1937)
SBOOI
FISON

[Paul Hart]

IIIf rd/da + collapsible Summicron + red dial Elmar 50/3,5.

[sender]

I still occasionally (OK rarely) use my III (with Summar) and IIIF (with 3.5 50 mm Elmar RD. The Summar can be soft, but the Elmar is great. Some very sharp shots were taken with the 90 mm Elmar as well. I particularly like the 90 mm viewfinder which has bright line frames and a life-size image so you can keep both eyes open. Great for action.

[ritomo]

Hello,I have IIIf Red dial with Self-timer + Leicavit + Summarit 50/1.5 + Red-scale Elmar 50/3.5. Regards,

[square_one]

Gee, I'm driving a 2004 O whose shutter dial sits on a little visible pin and must have the lens covered before each advance.

Am I allowed in?

Or will I be uncounted because I have a Barnack that is neither old nor screwable?

Well, at least now - should I be scorned - I can hit the local Bar!

Bruce

[steed]

Count me in proudly! IIIf with Summitar, IIIb with Summar. Both superb picture takers. Lets keep things alive.

[n6re1210]

Hello,I have IIIf Black dial Summarit 50/1.5 Randy

[Gordon Coale]

I have a sharkskin IIIc from 1949. My Grandfather gave it to me back in the 1970s. (Some pictures of my grandfather with the Leica.) The shutter acted up in the late 1970s and it sat on a shelf for 27 years. I took it off the shelf a couple of years ago to find that the shutter curtains now also had pinholes. But shooting that test roll was a revelation. I had forgotten. A year ago it had a CLA and new shutter curtains and is as a sweet a shooter as I could want. The Summitar still needs a CLA and haze removal. That's next.

I've been wanting a Leica Standard. They are so elemental, but way beyond my budget, so I bought a former Soviet Union Zorki 1 with a bad rangefinder and am turning it into a Zorki Standard. It has a 35/2.8 Jupiter 12 and an Industar 50/3.5 Elmar clone. There is a thread over at the Rangefinder Forum covering that project.

[thomasw_]

Hello,

Here to be counted. My IIIc is like Bill's. That said, honesty demands I admit that only some of my shots are like Bill's.

[wizard]

Count me in, too. If, IIIf and IIIg plus 35, 50, 90 and 135 lenses. They are all in working condition, and I do use them once in a while if I am after that retro feeling. Mechanically, they are a joy to use.

I also use the LTM lenses on a Voigtländer Bessa R, with excellent results.

Andy

[Theodor Heinrichsohn]

Very intersting thread. I have and use - occasionally - Leica II with 50/2.5 Hektor, IIIg with Leicavit and rigid Summicron 50/2, 21/4, 28/6.3 coated, 28/5.6, 35 Elmar and Summaron, 50/3.5 coated, 72 Hektor, 85 Summarex black, 90 Thambar, 90 Elmar 3 element, 105 Mountain Elmar, 135 Elmar. Also a Zeiss Biogon 21/4.5 converted to Leica screw thread. Finders, Visoflex II, IIa, III, 65 Elmar, 125 Hektor, 180/2.8 Elmarit, 200 Telyt and Telyt V, 280, 400 and 560 etc.
Also own and use more frequently M3, M4, M5, M6, M7( and a few days ago M8) with lenses from 15 Hologon, 28mm Elmarit 9 element 1st version, Summicron 35/2, Summicron 50/2 collapible, Summicron 50 dual focus, Summarit 50, Summilux 50 2nd version, Noctilux 1.2 and 1.0, 75 Summilux, 90 Summicron 1st version and and 90 Elmarit 1st version etc.
My main interest has been b&w (Kodak Tech Pan, now alas gone) and did my own developing and enlarging with Leitz Focomat IIc until some time ago, when I gave it up beccause of a change of address and lack of suitable room.
Otherwise, mainly slides (Kodachrome 25 (gone as well), Velvia 50 and 100.
Have thousands of slides, mainly of countries in the Far East.
Completely new to digital world, struggling with Capture 1 LE with lousy results. In the past my main interest in old glass has been and remains the way old lenses draw on modern films. Am most fascinated by what I have seen after a few tries with old lenses on the M8.
Teddy H.

[flatfour]

I have and use a Chrome III with Summar, a black III with a nickel Summar,a Leica 1 with fixed Elmar, and a brassy worn out III with chrome/brass Summar I keep in the glovebox of the car - all loaded with Ilford XP2. REAL CAMERAS

[flatfour]

This is a shot taken of my screwmount gear about ten years ago. The symchronised black III was stolen with its lens both of which I have now replaced and the 1A I only aquired about five years ago. Most of the items shown have their original boxes and tissue - which I am led to believe is fairly important. I use it all on and off now and again just for the fun of it.

[ckli]

Count me in, I have a IIIc with Summitar. For it's smaller size, I think it fits my hands perfectly. I'm still searching for a more compact Elmar 50mm to make it more pocketable.
It's such a fun camera to use and it has become my favourite toy!

[garyp]

Yep, got a sharkskin IIIC which may wife gave me as present when our youngest was born.
The attached 50 Summarit still takes a decent pic, but, I really don't take it out as much as I should. Great little camera.

[nealf]

Thomas,

If that's a picture of your III, it's not a IIIc, it is most likely a IIIa or if the top shutter speed is 1/500 a III

NF

A
IIIa
IIIb
IIIc/f
IIIg

[gyoung]

I have a chrome III, which I acquired from the estate of my wife's uncle when he died. It was bought originally in 1938 by this man's friend and used until the war. The owner was killed in the early part of the war and his mother gave the camera to my wifes uncle who kept it unused for the rest of his life. I have all 14 rolls of film taken in 1938/39 with it, and the box, instructions, cable release and even the little exposure guide card tucked into the case. The camera is in mint condition and came with an uncoated 3.5 Elmar, which had some internal problems through age.
When I retired acouple of years ago I decided it was time the III came out of retirement, it went to Malcolm Taylor for overhaul, and attention to the lens. The rear cemented pair of elements were actually coming uncemented so they were replaced by a good pair which he had in stock, but I left the lens uncoated for comparison with later lenses, it produces fine results as far as sharpness is concerned, but the colour rendering is odd compared to coated lenses.
I also have two other leica screw lenses to use on it. A 2.8/50 Elmar, and a 135/4 Elmar which was originally bought in 1968 (secondhand) with my M3. There are also some Voigtlander lenses (15/4.5, 25/4, 28/1.9 and 35/2.5) which get used on it as well as on the bayonet cameras (M6ttl, M3, and Voigt. R2)

Gerry Young

[jkelly]

Hi, I have a IIIa, Summar, Summitar, Elmar 90/4, and Canon Sererar 35/3.2. I use these lenses interchangably with my M3 via adaptors. I love the IIIa, though. I just recently got its slow speeds working properly, and I use it much more often. The Summar, surprisingly, although it has cleaning marks, is just as sharp as my other lenses although it does have its own unique signature. Here's a couple from this weekend; IIIa, Summitar, Tri-x, developed in D-76. The second shot was handheld with the IIIa at 1/5 second.