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

[nitroplait]

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Dark and rainy day today so I couldn't get enough DOF to have both in focus. I have shown the II not too long ago in another thread, but if you want to see it in focus, you can click here. 

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[willeica]

On 2/14/2022 at 2:59 PM, Ambro51 said:

....looks like something Dr. Seuss dreamed up!  🙂

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You are reminding me of the times I read Dr Seuss for my grandson when he was little. I had to invent special voices for things like this. Early 1960s Nikons with gigantic motor drives were even more spectacular, resembling the 'Transformers' also beloved by my grandson back then. 

 

3 hours ago, nitroplait said:

Interesting. The front ring looks very modern. All my LTM lenses are in "cm". Didn't know it was "mm" prior to that. I thought that mm focal length notation was newer. Live and learn.

The earliest Elmars were 50mm. This one also has features such as the curved inner lip on the front rim and has no 7 metre mark on the distance scale and it is consistent with the features for lenses on the first variant from SN 1170 to SN 2400 (approx) described in Angela von Einem's book on the 10 Variants of the Leica I A with Elmar lens. 

Jerzy and I could probably bore you to death on Elmar variations. Van Hasbroeck describes 25 variants in his book, but we found a lot more. We decided not to proceed as the research was getting out of hand. One to do when we have enough time, which may be never. New examples of strange Elmar variants emerge all of the time. 

William 

[Guest]

On 2/12/2022 at 3:26 PM, Studienkamera said:

This relatively early Leica II (73xxx) arrived today in better than expected condition.

Postscript: today, on 17 February 2022, I learned from Leica Customer Service that my Leica II was delivered on 17 February 1932. Nice coincidence.

[willeica]

53 minutes ago, Studienkamera said:

Postscript: today, on 17 February 2022, I learned from Leica Customer Service that my Leica II was delivered on 17 February 1932. Nice coincidence.

I hope you bought the camera a birthday cake.

I have a Leica II which was delivered to a dealer in Dublin in April 1932 and which is engraved with the name and address of the dealer. 87 years later I used the same camera to photograph the building from which was sold in 1932. Alas the Leica dealer was long since gone and a cheap make up shop called Urban Decay was in the building .

I have a sharkskin Leica IIIc which was delivered exactly 3 days before I was. I asked a friend of mine to use it to photograph me on my 70th birthday.

I have a Balda Super Baldina which my late father bought on 31 January 1940 - I have the bill of sale. On 30 January 2022 I was doing a Zoom presentation on German cameras for the Photographic Collectors Club of Great Britain and, of course, I had to show it, just shy of its 82nd birthday.

Yes, cameras deserve to have birthdays, just like their owners.

William 

PS I also have a brass lens which was finished here in Dublin on 23rd January 1875. I have the production record for it. So, in about another 3 years I will be buying it a cake for its 150th birthday. It can still take mighty fine photos with the right mount and camera. 

Edited February 16, 2022 by willeica

[Guest]

1 hour ago, willeica said:

I hope you bought the camera a birthday cake. 

Not a cake, but we will be watching "Dinner for One" later to celebrate her 90th birthday:

I like your anecdotes. Unfortunately, the location of delivery was not known for my camera. I was hoping it was originally delivered to Australia.

[Pyrogallol]

7 hours ago, willeica said:

I hope you bought the camera a birthday cake.

I have a Leica II which was delivered to a dealer in Dublin in April 1932 and which is engraved with the name and address of the dealer. 87 years later I used the same camera to photograph the building from which was sold in 1932. Alas the Leica dealer was long since gone and a cheap make up shop called Urban Decay was in the building .

I have a sharkskin Leica IIIc which was delivered exactly 3 days before I was. I asked a friend of mine to use it to photograph me on my 70th birthday.

I have a Balda Super Baldina which my late father bought on 31 January 1940 - I have the bill of sale. On 30 January 2022 I was doing a Zoom presentation on German cameras for the Photographic Collectors Club of Great Britain and, of course, I had to show it, just shy of its 82nd birthday.

Yes, cameras deserve to have birthdays, just like their owners.

William 

PS I also have a brass lens which was finished here in Dublin on 23rd January 1875. I have the production record for it. So, in about another 3 years I will be buying it a cake for its 150th birthday. It can still take mighty fine photos with the right mount and camera. 

A Grubb lens for sale here

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134025440629?hash=item1f3489ed75:g:z4oAAOSw44piC89x

[LocalHero1953]

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Just arrived: Leica Standard 1936 and Elmar 5cm 1935.

Can anyone comment on the 'vulcanite'? It has little wear or markings, but has a slight brown-yellow colour. Is this a re-cover, or was there an original finish like this?

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[willeica]

6 hours ago, Pyrogallol said:

A Grubb lens for sale here

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134025440629?hash=item1f3489ed75:g:z4oAAOSw44piC89x

Thanks, I saw this. A friend is interested in this. It is a high serial number (5215) for a Grubb Doublet and seems worn, but well made. I have 5045 another Grubb Aplanatic Doublet sold through Watsons and 5250 (the highest Grubb SN seen to date), an aluminium Aplanatic with rare features such as an orange coated lens element and diaphragm aperture. Yesterday I purchased a picture of a comet taken with a Grubb 5 1/2 inch Doublet in 1902. 

16 minutes ago, LocalHero1953 said:

Just arrived: Leica Standard 1936 and Elmar 5cm 1935.

Can anyone comment on the 'vulcanite'? It has little wear or markings, but has a slight brown-yellow colour. Is this a re-cover, or was there an original finish like this?

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This is not uncommon in cameras from the 1930s. It looks like tan material that was dyed black. See my III from 1935 which was a 'suspect camera' for my 'Swiss Roll' photos.

Sometimes you will also see a greenish hue, as in my Leica Standard below.

William 

 

[LocalHero1953]

37 minutes ago, willeica said:

Thanks, I saw this. A friend is interested in this. It is a high serial number (5215) for a Grubb Doublet and seems worn, but well made. I have 5045 another Grubb Aplanatic Doublet sold through Watsons and 5250 (the highest Grubb SN seen to date), an aluminium Aplanatic with rare features such as an orange coated lens element and diaphragm aperture. Yesterday I purchased a picture of a comet taken with a Grubb 5 1/2 inch Doublet in 1902. 

This is not uncommon in cameras from the 1930s. It looks like tan material that was dyed black. See my III from 1935 which was a 'suspect camera' for my 'Swiss Roll' photos.

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Sometimes you will also see a greenish hue, as in my Leica Standard below.

William 

 

Thank you - that's helpful. I don't find it particularly attractive, but if it's original I would think twice about replacing it.

[wlaidlaw]

The vulcanite on my grandfather's 1934 Model II had turned a nasty shade of camouflage blotchy greenish brown. I don't know what the Leica repairer in Nice used but it was worse than ever when it came back but now shiny camouflage! I first used a product for cleaning rubber rollers in printers and copiers to get off many years of finger grease, the wax the repairer had put on and assorted congealed dirt (Rubber Roller Restorer - available from Mr. Bezos). That at least brought it back to a uniform brown, similar to Paul's above. I then used very small amounts of Simoniz SAPP0082A which is designed to restore faded and whitened rubber and plastic surfaces to the original black. It is not dead black now but at least a very very dark brown. It came out a bit shiny initially but using it calmed the gloss down very quickly. 

Wilson

[nitroplait]

2 hours ago, LocalHero1953 said:

Just arrived: Leica Standard 1936 and Elmar 5cm 1935.

Can anyone comment on the 'vulcanite'? It has little wear or markings, but has a slight brown-yellow colour. Is this a re-cover, or was there an original finish like this?

Here's a 1936/37 Leica III. Hard to believe that it was once black:

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[LocalHero1953]

35 minutes ago, wlaidlaw said:

The vulcanite on my grandfather's 1934 Model II had turned a nasty shade of camouflage blotchy greenish brown. I don't know what the Leica repairer in Nice used but it was worse than ever when it came back but now shiny camouflage! I first used a product for cleaning rubber rollers in printers and copiers to get off many years of finger grease, the wax the repairer had put on and assorted congealed dirt (Rubber Roller Restorer - available from Mr. Bezos). That at least brought it back to a uniform brown, similar to Paul's above. I then used very small amounts of Simoniz SAPP0082A which is designed to restore faded and whitened rubber and plastic surfaces to the original black. It is not dead black now but at least a very very dark brown. It came out a bit shiny initially but using it calmed the gloss down very quickly. 

Wilson

Interesting - if you look at the first of my pictures, you can see a brown stain on the exposure counter - it looks like someone carelessly used a varnish, though I can't shift it with a finger nail. Perhaps someone has tried to even out the colour, or stain it, in the past.

[Pyrogallol]

I have two with the faded green/sepia vulcanite, I quite like it.

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[willeica]

7 hours ago, LocalHero1953 said:

Thank you - that's helpful. I don't find it particularly attractive, but if it's original I would think twice about replacing it.

The two cameras which I show above are very attractive 'in the flesh'.  Your one looks very nice to my eyes. I can assure you that such colours are not uncommon in Leicas from the 1930s. To expect perfect condition in an 80 - 90 year old camera is the height of optimism and my first suspicion when I see one which is perfect or near perfect is that the camera has been 'dolled up' . I think that old cameras look much better with a bit of wear. With the number of vintage Leica cameras I have, I have every possible condition in my collection and they are all equally loved.

William 

[LocalHero1953]

1 minute ago, willeica said:

The two cameras which I show above are very attractive 'in the flesh'.  Your one looks very nice to my eyes. I can assure you that such colours are not uncommon in Leicas from the 1930s. To expect perfect condition in an 80 - 90 year old camera is the height of optimism and my first suspicion when I see one which is perfect or near perfect is that the camera has been 'dolled up' . I think that old cameras look much better with a bit of wear. With the number of vintage Leica cameras I have, I have every possible condition in my collection and they are all equally loved.

William 

Oh, I'm not doubting you, and I won't touch it! The skin is in very good physical condition, and other than brassing around the bits you touch to operate it, it is very clean. I suspect it has been in a case for much of it's life - the base plate (which has the last four digits of the serial no. scratched inside) has few marks.

[mikemgb]

 Bought this IIIa and Summar in October of 2016, I’ve wondered since then if the two had always been together so a couple of days ago I finally got round to emailing Leica for information. According to their records the camera was delivered on November 3rd 1937, while the lens was delivered 29th May 1937, neither record had a place listed. From this I’m guessing they were not originally sold together since they delivered 6 months apart. 
 

I’m also assuming that “delivered” would be the day it was shipped from the factory?

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[romualdo]

On 2/13/2022 at 11:28 AM, romualdo said:

You're not wrong about that. Your II looks gorgeous - there's something aesthetically pleasing (at least to me) with the black paint/nickel combo

Here's my recent acquisition (from Melbourne), an early III BP/nickel (probably second batch) with 7 o'clock nickel Elmar 

 

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contacted Leica last week & got this response (within 24hrs) - body & lens delivery dates just over 3 months apart

many thanks for your request

According to our old delivery books the serial 110658 was delivered on 24.06.1933

And the serial 139761 was delivered on 11.03.1933.

The place of delivery and recipient is not noted, only serial and date.

There is no entry in the old maintenance/ repair books for both serials.

Edited February 18, 2022 by romualdo

[nf3996]

19 hours ago, wlaidlaw said:

The vulcanite on my grandfather's 1934 Model II had turned a nasty shade of camouflage blotchy greenish brown. I don't know what the Leica repairer in Nice used but it was worse than ever when it came back but now shiny camouflage! I first used a product for cleaning rubber rollers in printers and copiers to get off many years of finger grease, the wax the repairer had put on and assorted congealed dirt (Rubber Roller Restorer - available from Mr. Bezos). That at least brought it back to a uniform brown, similar to Paul's above. I then used very small amounts of Simoniz SAPP0082A which is designed to restore faded and whitened rubber and plastic surfaces to the original black. It is not dead black now but at least a very very dark brown. It came out a bit shiny initially but using it calmed the gloss down very quickly. 

Wilson

I have a Leica IIIa from 1938 with incredibly shiny vulcanite. Normally I'd put that down to years of handling, but this particular camera has an almost intact Wallace Heaton decal/transfer on the back that is perfectly matte, no shine at all. I wonder if Wallace Heaton treated the vulcanite with something before applying the decal.

Alan

[romanus53]

some of my Leicas show brownish Vulkanit on front and black on the back, I think the UV from sunlight caused this "damage"

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Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[wlaidlaw]

2 hours ago, nf3996 said:

I have a Leica IIIa from 1938 with incredibly shiny vulcanite. Normally I'd put that down to years of handling, but this particular camera has an almost intact Wallace Heaton decal/transfer on the back that is perfectly matte, no shine at all. I wonder if Wallace Heaton treated the vulcanite with something before applying the decal.

Alan

I also have a IIIa bought from Wallace Heaton but from 1937. It does not have shiny vulcanite, so I would suspect a subsequent owner may have used something like dashboard restorer/polish on it. 

Wilson

 

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