enboe Posted January 5, 2018 Share #1 Posted January 5, 2018 Advertisement (gone after registration) Cold medicines can put strange thoughts in your head. What do folks think about a limited release of a new M-A variant with an L39 lens mount. Call it the M-L typ 39. Modify the frame preview to be manually positionable between the three settings with a stiff decent to minimize risk of accidental movement, or perhaps a lock via a central push button in the center of the preview lever. Silver chrome and Black lacquer finishes only, please. The market is to provide a body of highest quality compatible with the many legacy and 3rd party L39-mount lenses. No fiddling with adapters to bring up the right frame lines. Bright, modern viewfinder and rangefinder. Oh, and very little engineering and development cost. Anyone in? Eric 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted January 5, 2018 Posted January 5, 2018 Hi enboe, Take a look here Polling interest in a new model M-L(39). I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
01af Posted January 5, 2018 Share #2 Posted January 5, 2018 No fiddling with adapters to bring up the right frame lines. [...] Anyone in? No. There's nothing wrong with adapters. Avoiding them wouldn't bring any advantage that's worth losing the ability to use M lenses. So: crazy idea, and a non-starter. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kwesi Posted January 5, 2018 Share #3 Posted January 5, 2018 silly, silly, silly. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ganzosrevenge Posted January 5, 2018 Share #4 Posted January 5, 2018 If you're going to go that route, why not do a iiih? It could look like a iiif or iiig and be the size of one, have the features of an M7 / MP / MA, be LTM, and actually look nice with the late 90s / early 2000s summicron / summilux releases. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
250swb Posted January 5, 2018 Share #5 Posted January 5, 2018 About as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike. As for 'fiddling' with M adapters, you could probably buy 500 of them for the price of this new camera body, so that is one for each of your L39 lenses plus a couple left over as spare. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
willeica Posted January 5, 2018 Share #6 Posted January 5, 2018 Even with a collection of some 40 to 50 LTM lenses I would not want this. As somebody said, there are plenty of adapters around and, indeed, LTM cameras which only need a CLA. Every Leica enthusiast needs to use an LTM model at least once and to become a 'real Leica photographer' you need to try using an early one with no rangefinder. There is nothing more liberating than having no focus aid or exposure mechanism on your camera and still get good shots with a camera that fits in your pocket. William Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelwj Posted January 5, 2018 Share #7 Posted January 5, 2018 Advertisement (gone after registration) I'm going to go with the mob on this one. Why take a camera that can take M and L39 lenses and make it so it can no longer take M lenses? If that's the route you want to go, better to suggest that Leica only make L39 lenses and sell adapters for M bodies. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spydrxx Posted January 5, 2018 Share #8 Posted January 5, 2018 An interesting thought, but I happen to agree with others...highly impractical. If you want to use LTM lenses on a modern body just buy a cheap adapter, otherwise keep using those greatold LTM bodies...maybe a CLA here or there. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pedaes Posted January 5, 2018 Share #9 Posted January 5, 2018 (edited) Agree with most - no. As the M mount is wider than the L39, little or no disadvantage with adapter. Edited January 5, 2018 by pedaes Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham (G4FUJ) Posted January 5, 2018 Share #10 Posted January 5, 2018 Eric, I think your first sentence said it all... Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted January 5, 2018 Share #11 Posted January 5, 2018 Sorry but that's a daft idea. An LTM to M adaptor is about as simple as it gets and allows the use of a much wider range of lenses. What I would like to see, however, is Leica produce a few LTM mount lenses for those of us that love using the old Barnack models and who might buy new Leica lenses for them. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
arno_nyhm Posted January 5, 2018 Share #12 Posted January 5, 2018 that is one of the less usefull ideas i ever heard. it comes in one category with building an analog M-Camera without meter, a digital one without screen or even a digital M that cannot take colorpictures. i wouldnt need it. but i am sure, the first batch would be sold out within minutes. maybe call it the Leica IVa Type 39... 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Geschlecht Posted January 5, 2018 Share #13 Posted January 5, 2018 (edited) Cold medicines can put strange thoughts in your head. What do folks think about a limited release of a new M-A variant with an L39 lens mount. Call it the M-L typ 39. Modify the frame preview to be manually positionable between the three settings with a stiff decent to minimize risk of accidental movement, or perhaps a lock via a central push button in the center of the preview lever. Silver chrome and Black lacquer finishes only, please. The market is to provide a body of highest quality compatible with the many legacy and 3rd party L39-mount lenses. No fiddling with adapters to bring up the right frame lines. Bright, modern viewfinder and rangefinder. Oh, and very little engineering and development cost. Anyone in? Eric Hello Eric, Why not just an adapter for any "M" model that does not bring up any frame? If you're going to go that route, why not do a iiih? It could look like a iiif or iiig and be the size of one, have the features of an M7 / MP / MA, be LTM, and actually look nice with the late 90s / early 2000s summicron / summilux releases. Hello Ganzosrevenge, Because the letter "h" has already been chosen by Leitz to indicate 1/2 frame models. Even though prototype cameras were the only 1's made. that is one of the less usefull ideas i ever heard. it comes in one category with building an analog M-Camera without meter, a digital one without screen or even a digital M that cannot take colorpictures. i wouldnt need it. but i am sure, the first batch would be sold out within minutes. maybe call it the Leica IVa Type 39... Hello Arno, What Eric is describing would most likely be a Model M-A-C since he is writing about a combined range/viewfinder camera. If it was an updated Barnack it would most likely be a IIIk. Best Regards, Michael Edited January 5, 2018 by Michael Geschlecht Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted January 5, 2018 Share #14 Posted January 5, 2018 Hello Eric, Why not just an adapter for any "M" model that does not bring up any frame? There is always one or one pair of frames visible when you don't have any lens mounted on an M camera. It would not be possible to make an adaptor that makes them vanish. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Geschlecht Posted January 5, 2018 Share #15 Posted January 5, 2018 (edited) There is always one or one pair of frames visible when you don't have any lens mounted on an M camera. It would not be possible to make an adaptor that makes them vanish. Hello James, I was thinking about an adapter that "key'd" the frame adjustment lever to some midpoint between 2 frames. Most likely better between the 50mm position & the 90mm position. Since the other direction already has the beyond 35mm position for the battery tester on the M5. I think that the only "M" model that has any fixed frame is the M3 with its curved cornered 50mm frame delineating the cropped area of a mounted transparency when using a 50mm lens, when that lens is focused to 1 meter. Best Regards, Michael Edited January 5, 2018 by Michael Geschlecht Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wattsy Posted January 6, 2018 Share #16 Posted January 6, 2018 I was thinking about an adapter that "key'd" the frame adjustment lever to some midpoint between 2 frames. Most likely better between the 50mm position & the 90mm position. Since the other direction already has the beyond 35mm position for the battery tester on the M5. You see both adjacent framelines (slightly ghosted) when you position the adjustment lever between frame positions. There is no position that shows no frames. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wattsy Posted January 6, 2018 Share #17 Posted January 6, 2018 it comes in one category with building an analog M-Camera without meter, a digital one without screen or even a digital M that cannot take colorpictures. Hardly. The M-A and Monochrom are fine cameras with an obvious purpose. The proposed camera is a silly idea. It has no meaningful advantage over a normal M camera using LTM lenses and hobbles the camera so that it cannot use the lenses it was actually designed to use. Far more interesting would be for Leica to remake (perhaps in a limited edition) one of the Barnack cameras and/or produce some of the new or old lenses in LTM. On a practical level, there is little incentive for Leica to produce any additional film bodies when they are currently unable to properly service the ones they sell at the moment. With only one technician servicing film cameras at Wetzlar, Leica presumably know that the future of the film camera division is on a shaky footing and introducing new models shouldn't be the priority. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frase Posted January 6, 2018 Share #18 Posted January 6, 2018 As mad an idea as it is I bet it would sell, it would need to be really pricey and maybe a bit of brassing from new. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrism Posted January 6, 2018 Share #19 Posted January 6, 2018 I could see the inverse of the OP's suggestion being welcome - a iiig with an M mount. It could have a TTL meter and an electronic shutter if you liked, but the one thing it would never, could never have, would be bottom-line approval from the bosses at Leica. I mean, it would sell as well as any special-edition nonsense we are used to seeing, plus it would sell to a hard core of film enthusiasts, but it could never amortize the costs of retooling for new production of Barnack bodies. I do see a niche for someone to provide custom cameras that would be akin to the car mods we see for those willing to pay. If I can order online a Ford V8 installed in an NA Miata, I don't see why there shouldn't be work for someone who would buy up old Zorki bodies, fit them with electronic shutters, TTL meters etc. For goodness sake, it would be relatively simple for the costs that bespoke camera customers might pay to take an M3, a Nikon F or a Rolleiflex and place the guts of a digital point and shoot inside it. I wouldn't buy one, nor would I approve, but this kind of thing is possible is someone wants to pay the price. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gberger Posted January 7, 2018 Share #20 Posted January 7, 2018 I began with a IIIc in 1946, but "traded" for an M4 when I could. I would never have gone back to the screw-mounted lenses. I used an adapter for a couple of Nikon lenses, but failed to see the need for an adapter for the two screw-mounts I had left over. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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