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A flea market find....


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During one of my weekly flea market hunts, I came upon a treasure…. Before I even had time to find out what was in the bag, the seller shouted “that’s ten bucks!”. I briefly noticed the shape of a Leica body so, I quickly closed the bag, gave the man his $10.00 and hurried home to investigate.

 

Most of the equipment looks as if pulled out of a hungry dog’s mouth and the IIIf shutter needs work but, the glass is clean and that is all that counts. Well - it was ten bucks…….

 

The first photo shows the whole loot, the large lens is a Visoflex-fit Kilfitt Kilar 150mm f:3.5. In the last photo is the detail of the ‘pièce de résistance…… a Canadian IIIf actually engraved as such.

 

I just had to share this one…..

 

Cheers,

 

Jan

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A bit sad, come to think of it. Somebody who clearly knew about photography lovingly assembled this kit, and it ends up on a fleamarket instead of being cherished by his heirs.

Great find, I feel a bout of envy coming on...;)

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I would say that the way this was purchased, in conjunction with the gear that came with it as a complete set, makes a fake unlikely. It looks pretty original (without having specialized knowledge of this model) on the photograph as well.

Production number 200 with the camera number in the correct range - congratulations are in order I think.

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Canadian IIIf !!! Compliments for your INDECENT lucky find...:)

 

Can you post some pics of the VIOOH ? Seems to me it also has something uncommon... but may be wrong...

And I am curios to look at Kilfitt' rendering... they had a certain fame of good lenses.... my dealer has in his display window a nice Kilfitt 400 with a fine wooden "Leica gun" (also from Kilfitt)... an item he does NOT sell and that, anytime I go in his shop, I look at with desire...

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Canadian IIIf !!! Compliments for your INDECENT lucky find...:) Can you post some pics of the VIOOH ? Seems to me it also has something uncommon... but may be wrong...

And I am curios to look at Kilfitt' rendering... they had a certain fame of good lenses.......

 

Thanks for the compliments, Luigi. It was simply luck of being at he right place at the right time. There were few 'hungry souls' hovering above me when I was checking the contents of the bag, hoping that I would let go of it. I had to shield the contents of the bag with my body to make it more difficult for anybody else to see what was in it. When I heard the seller shout the price, I paid immediately and closed the bag so quickly, that I did not discover I had a Canadian IIIf until I got home!

 

As to the VIOOH - nothing special about it (ser. no. 62690), parallax scale in feet, marked focal lengths 35-50-85-90-135 so, just a run of the mill unit in rather sorry state. The Kilfitt Kilar should be interesting, it does indeed have stellar reputation and I may just give it a try on the Visoflex. To fit Viso III, one has to use an OUBIO, as the lens was designed to fit the Kilfitt reflex housing, which has greater front flange to rear flange distance than Visoflex I. With the OUBIO, the combination focuses past infinity - I have not done any measurements yet to find out what extension tube would bring it to correct register.

 

Cheers,

 

Jan

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I would say that the way this was purchased, in conjunction with the gear that came with it as a complete set, makes a fake unlikely....... Production number 200 with the camera number in the correct range - congratulations are in order I think.....

 

Thanks, Jaap.

 

I am certain that the camera is real - have seen a couple of Canadian IIIf's in the very distant past. The finish is original and as you say - the purchase venue eliminates the camera being a fake. I am sure it came from an unclaimed storage locker - the Lowepro bag it was in smelled of rot and mildew. Fortunately, no fungus in the lenses.....

 

Cheers,

 

Jan

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