Takeup spool compatibility

[willeica]

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Thanks Tom. The spool in the middle looks exactly the same as the spool that came with my Leotax K. It is now less stiff than when I first got it and it now goes in and out quite easily. With its Topcor lens it is a really lovely camera that gives away nothing to its Leica contemporaries.

 

William

[wlaidlaw]

I have ended up buying a beautiful condition serviced Leotax F where the seller is going to include an extra spring loaded spool, for about the same price that two SVOOP Leica spools would have cost me. I have plenty of spare LTM lenses to use on the Leotax body. I thought the Canon 5cm/f1.8 might be a good fit. 

 

Wilson

[wlaidlaw]

This is the Leotax I bought, just come back after a rangefinder repair. It had had a CLA just before I bought it but the horizontal image convergence at infinity was way off and the adjustment behind the blanking plug at the bottom corner of the VF, was doing nothing, so obviously had become disconnected. All now correct after second visit to repairer in the Ukraine. In fact it is so nice and as the camera was in effect "free" with the two spring loaded take up spools I bought it for, I am going to keep it. I had a look on my lens shelf and decided that a 1952 Canon (Hiroshi) 5cm/f1,8 was the "right" lens for it. I am just running a roll of Fomapan 200 through it to check that it works as well as it looks. 

 

Wilson

 

 

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[CharlesM]

I recently bought a Leica ilic, and to my displeasure it came without a take up spool. I see that these spools are hard to find and cost like a third of what I paid for the camera. I don't even have a lens yet.

But I just ordered a combo of a lens and spool for a good deal. I have no idea if the spool will fit as it is from a fed 1 camera. For the lens and spool I paid 50 bucks so if it doesn't fit, it's not a huge loss.

Does anyone know if a fed 1 take up spool will fit in a Leica ilic? I know that the feds are basically copies of Barnak leicas.

[TomB_tx]

1 hour ago, CharlesM said:

Does anyone know if a fed 1 take up spool will fit in a Leica ilic? I know that the feds are basically copies of Barnak leicas.

The spool from my Fed1 will fit a Leica IIIc. The later Zorki/Fed I have has a plastic spool that will not fit Leica.

[wlaidlaw]

The very best spools are those for a Leotax RF camera. These fit Leica and Reid and Sigrist cameras other than the IIIg. The advantage is that they have a spring loaded pop up knurled spool removal sleeve, which is located with a bayonet release inside the spool. This saves breaking finger nails trying to get a sticky Leica spool out. I bought a fully restored Leotax K with 3 spools for under £100, intending to keep the spools and sell the Leotax with a Leica or Reid spool. However it was so beautifully restored in the Ukraine, that I just could not part with it and it now sits with a correct period Canon 5cm/f1.8 "Hiroshi" Serenar chrome lens on it, on my shelf for non-Leica cameras, alongside my Contax IIa, Minox C, Rolleiflex 3003 and Combat Graflex RF. 

Wilson

[TomB_tx]

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On 3/4/2024 at 7:05 AM, TomB_tx said:

The spool from my Fed1 will fit a Leica IIIc. The later Zorki/Fed I have has a plastic spool that will not fit Leica.

Looking closer at my FED1 spool, it is identical to a Leica spool. My memory is hazy, but I may have put a Leica spool in the FED... At least that shows they should be compatible.

[Jerry Attrik]

A bit of useless information.  I have two Leica iiif One BD the other RD. One has a 'pop-up' the other rigid.  The inner spring on the 'rigid' spool is tight and like other Leicamen I was forever damaging finger nails and skin.  So I cheat!.  Found a short length of bamboo which was a tight fit over the knurled end of the 'rigid' spool, cut it into along a diameter, leaving me with two channels.  Cleaned out the fuzz from the bamboo, cleaned the mating faces of the two and cut 'V' grooves, near one end across the  two halves. A short bit of rounded wood set in the V's and an elastic band to hole the assembly together mostly around the outer part of the short end.  Bingo... a pair of nippers to grip the knurled thimble of the 'rigid' spool and its grip on the shaft was no match for my nipper.