Fontenelle archives 47 ; A Leica "500"

[Pecole]

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In February, 1983, a renowned, second-generation Leica dealer from Brussels offered me a curious "hybrid" : a superbly crafted Leica "500" made from a IIf chassis nº 571392. The story I was told, behind this curiosity was quite interesting. In 1954 or 55, a Belgian street and beach photographer had his Leica 250 stolen. He was desperate not to be able to buy a new one, since Leitz had terminated the production of this model, even on special order. The Leitz importer suggested him to have the IIf he used for personal shots, rebuilt as a 250, but the price was prohibitive. A next proposal was to have a "250-like" without some refinements like the cassettes, to what the photographer added a requirement that would not raise the cost : since it would in any case be necessary to load and unload the film in the darkroom, why not to enlarge the chambers so as to accept 20 metres of negative or 500 frames? The work was agreed, and performed by the importer's Leica repair tecnicians. It seems that Leitz even agreed to produce the special winding and rewind knobs and the frame counter dial, what is believable when looking at the quality of same.

James Lager also recognised the exceptional quality of the work, and selected two of my photos - namely the first and the fifth thereunder - to be published in his Illustrated History - Volume I - Cameras (page 119).

Discover now the details in the illustrations .

 

1 to 3 are self-explanatory.

 

4. illustrates the frame counter dial.

 

5. shows the base open and the two spools

 

6. the winding mechanism

 

7. the locking bar in the rewind-side of the bottom cover

 

8. here is a comparison with the winding knobs, frame counters and strap lugs of a "real" 250

 

9. compared sizes of the "500" and Leica 250 GG nº 349003

 

10. same comparison from top

 

You can also compare the quality of the work on this transformation with that of the "250

from Standard" we illustrated in Fontenelle archives 46, yesterday.

[jc_braconi]

The Leitz importer suggested him to have the IIf he used for personal shots, rebuilt as a 250, but the price was prohibitive. A next proposal was to have a "250-like" without some refinements like the cassettes, to what the photographer added a requirement that would not raise the cost : since it would in any case be necessary to load and unload the film in the darkroom, why not to enlarge the chambers so as to accept 20 metres of negative or 500 frames? The work was agreed, and performed by the importer's Leica repair tecnicians.

 

Interesting to know who (the importer's Leica repair technicians) was (were) able to make this kind of job