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Misalignment and baseplates


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A friend of mine new to Leica LTMs has an early IIIf with what he believes is a IIIc baseplate (he is out of town, so I can't take a good look at it). He has been having trouble with misaligned film, i.e. the film is not going in perfectly straight. He has heard a lot about earlier LTMs being designed strictly for the longer Leica reloadable cartridges, and that he'd need a spacer to make modern cartridges fit properly.

I've had a 1938 IIIa and a 1951 IIIf for a long time, both without the stabilizing arm on the side of the baseplate. I've never had any trouble with misaligned film on either camera. The spacers that hold the cartridge against the baseplate on the IIIa and the IIlf look identical.

I suspect he might not be pushing the wind-on spool in far enough, but I'm not there to show him how to load the camera properly. Can someone advise me?

An unrelated probably stupid question: My IIIa has a single stud to hold one side of the baseplate. My IIIf had a second stud on the opposite side of the camera. What is the purpose of this second stud? Does this have anything to do with holding a Leicavit?

I'd appreciate any enlightenment!

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Hello nooky hesum,

 

Welcome to the Forum.

 

The second stud is not necessay for the Leicavit. It was provided for aligning the camera w/ some copying devices. You, as you must know, never needed this second stud. Leitz offered a sevice to add this second stud for those who required it after they began producing M's w/o it. I think the M4 was the first M w/o a second stud altho the MDa produced alongside it still had both. The MDa was the laboratory/Visoflex version of the M4 w/o range/viewfinder, etc. The MD-2 which replaced the MDa did not have the second stud.

 

Best Regards,

 

Michael

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  • 3 weeks later...

A 111F will have a bracket attached to the base that goes up into the film channel near the magazine end. Its purpose is to keep the film up high as preloaded magazines/cassettes are shorter than then they are supposed to be, about 1/16" or less. If you use the proper Leica brass cassettes, they are the correct length and film stays where it is supposed to be.

 

My 111c bottom will fit my 111F, however the 111F bottom will not go on the 111c. The bracket seems to interfere with something.

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  • 2 months later...
My 111c bottom will fit my 111F, however the 111F bottom will not go on the 111c. The bracket seems to interfere with something.

 

Hi,

 

I have a question along these lines...

 

I have a IIIc that was converted long ago to a IIIf.

 

The baseplate is in poor repair (bad gouge) and has the smaller diameter tripod thread.

 

I would like to replace it but I am not certain that I indeed have the original IIIc baseplate (I assume that I do) or if the baseplate may have been changed to the IIIf baseplate at the time of the conversion.

 

Based on your post, I assume I should look for another IIIc baseplate to be safe?

 

Is there a quick, simple way to differentiate between the baseplates?

 

Thanks!

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