LHSA article on the last screw mount Leica

[tranquilo67]

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Hi,

I'm proud to share with you that my article (co-written with the unvaluable help of Jerzy for the most technical aspects) on my IIIa and the very last screw mount Leicas, is available online and will be included on the 53-2 issue of viewfinder. I've tried to put some light based on facts, in what traditionally has been a dark area.

You can have a look at the first paragraphs (out of the six pages) here: https://lhsa.org/2020/09/the-quest-for-the-last/#myaccount

This is the first place where I want to share it, due to the very important help I've got from the people in this forum, specially William, Allan McFall, Sabears and Pierre. Thank you.

Last but not least, if you're not still member of the LHSA let me suggest all of you to consider it. The people and the knowledge in that community well worth it.

Best regards,

Augusto

PS: I hope this post will not infringe any rule. Anyway, if there is any issue, please let me know.

[Matlock]

30 minutes ago, tranquilo67 said:

Hi,

I'm proud to share with you that my article (co-written with the unvaluable help of Jerzy for the most technical aspects) on my IIIa and the very last screw mount Leicas, is available online and will be included on the 53-2 issue of viewfinder. I've tried to put some light based on facts, in what traditionally has been a dark area.

You can have a look at the first paragraphs (out of the six pages) here: https://lhsa.org/2020/09/the-quest-for-the-last/#myaccount

This is the first place where I want to share it, due to the very important help I've got from the people in this forum, specially William, Allan McFall, Sabears and Pierre. Thank you.

Last but not least, if you're not still member of the LHSA let me suggest all of you to consider it. The people and the knowledge in that community well worth it.

Best regards,

Augusto

PS: I hope this post will not infringe any rule. Anyway, if there is any issue, please let me know.

Fascinating article Augusto, as LHSA member I have read it all. Thank you.

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[pedaes]

8 minutes ago, Matlock said:

as LHSA member I have read it all

On the website or in 53/2?  I haven't seen my copy yet.

[tranquilo67]

13 minutes ago, pedaes said:

On the website or in 53/2?  I haven't seen my copy yet.

It's currently in the website and will be also in the 52/2 when available.

Hope it helps,

Augusto

[willeica]

Lovely article Augusto. I have seen discussions with Jerzy before about late LTM models made after normal production had ended. In this case it would seem that the camera was made by way of special order, which almost certainly involved someone on the outside knowing someone on the inside who would have been able to ensure that the parts and skillsets were available. The fact that there are two cameras with the same serial number is unusual, but not entirely unprecedented. Sometimes a duplicate number is accompanied by an asterisk or an 'a' or some other mark. Your camera is certainly genuine as Jerzy has examined it. The 72 camera may not be, but one has to assume that the auction house which sold it had it examined before the auction.

A fascinating camera to own. Well done with the detective work.

William

[tranquilo67]

4 hours ago, Matlock said:

Fascinating article Augusto, as LHSA member I have read it all. Thank you.

I'm really glad to read that you've enjoyed the article.Thank you!!

3 hours ago, willeica said:

Lovely article Augusto. I have seen discussions with Jerzy before about late LTM models made after normal production had ended. In this case it would seem that the camera was made by way of special order, which almost certainly involved someone on the outside knowing someone on the inside who would have been able to ensure that the parts and skillsets were available. The fact that there are two cameras with the same serial number is unusual, but not entirely unprecedented. Sometimes a duplicate number is accompanied by an asterisk or an 'a' or some other mark. Your camera is certainly genuine as Jerzy has examined it. The 72 camera may not be, but one has to assume that the auction house which sold it had it examined before the auction.

A fascinating camera to own. Well done with the detective work.

William

Hi William,

Thank you very much for your kind words. LTM cameras have some special charm, and to be able to put together and clarify some data about those final units, is simply great.

And yes, I feel really lucky to have that camera

Augusto

[Matlock]

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10 hours ago, pedaes said:

On the website or in 53/2?  I haven't seen my copy yet.

Website.

 

[jerzy]

thank you Augusto. My contribution was however rather low, it is you who deserved tribut! 
Btw - half format cameras were produced in Wetzlar mainly as a part of interferometer (?) microscope and thus delivered maily internally to microscoping division. At least in a later time they have been assembled in customer service division, not in the regular production. Different story was in Midland, they experimented with half format as well with other models, some M4 18x24 from Ontario are known

Jerzy

[ironringer]

Gracias Augusto (y Jerzy) for sharing the start of your article. You write well (especially in a language that isn't your primary one 🙂), an easy read, about an interesting topic. This sample motivates me to read all of it.

Since this and other topics (including William's presentation about the range of Leicas) point to the LHSA, could its members comment on the types of articles that appear in current and anticipated future issues of its magazine? I ask this because I had heard from some Leica enthusiasts that the LHSA now has very little "collector content" and is mostly about modern products.

[tranquilo67]

On 9/10/2020 at 9:30 AM, jerzy said:

thank you Augusto. My contribution was however rather low, it is you who deserved tribut! 
Btw - half format cameras were produced in Wetzlar mainly as a part of interferometer (?) microscope and thus delivered maily internally to microscoping division. At least in a later time they have been assembled in customer service division, not in the regular production. Different story was in Midland, they experimented with half format as well with other models, some M4 18x24 from Ontario are known

Jerzy

One of the key topics on the article your extremely detailed report about the internals of the camera together with your knowledge about what was used on production, what was used in upgrades etc. So, thank you very much!!!

On 9/11/2020 at 4:48 AM, ironringer said:

Gracias Augusto (y Jerzy) for sharing the start of your article. You write well (especially in a language that isn't your primary one 🙂), an easy read, about an interesting topic. This sample motivates me to read all of it.

Since this and other topics (including William's presentation about the range of Leicas) point to the LHSA, could its members comment on the types of articles that appear in current and anticipated future issues of its magazine? I ask this because I had heard from some Leica enthusiasts that the LHSA now has very little "collector content" and is mostly about modern products.

Sorry for the late reply.

Muchas gracias!! I would say that the historical content is more than I expected, and less than we (or at least I) would like

I've just checked one that I have at hand and it has 10 pages related to collector content out of 50. Most of them with related with gear and some of them related to old pictures, interviews with people long time related with Leica etc.

Hope it will help,

Augusto

[pedaes]

On 9/11/2020 at 3:48 AM, ironringer said:

mostly about modern products.

50/50 I would say. 

[derleicaman]

Hello Everyone, I am Bill Rosauer, President Emeritus of the the LHSA and Viewfinder Editor. I work very hard to have a good mix of subject matter for each issue of our journal.

I welcome any articles by forum members, historical or otherwise. The one common thread is, they must be Leica related. I have expanded the base of authors over the years. At one time, we limited contributions to Viewfinder by members only. Needless to say, this put quite a constraint on content and the talent pool. I have used the forums and Facebook groups as a way to spot new talent, and many LUF members have written for me over the years.

Believe it or not, I am also subject to the whims of what people are willing to write about or are interested in. So sometimes, the content of the journal may be more biased towards new gear or users versus historical subjects. Funny thing is, I had a board member say at a meeting that we were too biased in one direction subject wise, but I pulled out a couple of issues and we looked at the subject matter, and the balance was the exact opposite of what he had claimed!

Of course, we always have at least two articles by world renowned Leica expert Jim Lager in every issue. I myself am more interested in historical subjects and have written many myself. I am working on an article about wartime deliveries of Summarex lenses. For the next issue, I will have an article about Oskar Barnack and his involvement in the design of the Monblanc PIX mechanical pencil! Jono Slack is a regular contributor who I recruited after seeing his work on Macfilos and his own website. William Fagan is also a contributor. I even had Andreas Kaufmann write an article for the last issue.

Recently I worked with Augusto on his article on the last Leica screwmount camera, putting it into American English for the benefit of our audience. Augusto can attest that we have a light touch on editing, but helped him with the English which is not his native language. We are happy to help in this way. I also have a very talented layout person who is also a Leica user and devotee, Kirsten Vignes. You may know her name from the Leica Store Miami where she works. We recently entered Viewfinder in a competition for non-profit publications and won for our category.

If you are not familiar with LHSA or Viewfinder, please go to our website www.lhsa.org and see for yourself.

Again, I welcome your contributions on whatever you would like to write about!

 

[tranquilo67]

16 hours ago, derleicaman said:

Hello Everyone, I am Bill Rosauer, President Emeritus of the the LHSA and Viewfinder Editor. I work very hard to have a good mix of subject matter for each issue of our journal.

I welcome any articles by forum members, historical or otherwise. The one common thread is, they must be Leica related. I have expanded the base of authors over the years. At one time, we limited contributions to Viewfinder by members only. Needless to say, this put quite a constraint on content and the talent pool. I have used the forums and Facebook groups as a way to spot new talent, and many LUF members have written for me over the years.

Believe it or not, I am also subject to the whims of what people are willing to write about or are interested in. So sometimes, the content of the journal may be more biased towards new gear or users versus historical subjects. Funny thing is, I had a board member say at a meeting that we were too biased in one direction subject wise, but I pulled out a couple of issues and we looked at the subject matter, and the balance was the exact opposite of what he had claimed!

Of course, we always have at least two articles by world renowned Leica expert Jim Lager in every issue. I myself am more interested in historical subjects and have written many myself. I am working on an article about wartime deliveries of Summarex lenses. For the next issue, I will have an article about Oskar Barnack and his involvement in the design of the Monblanc PIX mechanical pencil! Jono Slack is a regular contributor who I recruited after seeing his work on Macfilos and his own website. William Fagan is also a contributor. I even had Andreas Kaufmann write an article for the last issue.

Recently I worked with Augusto on his article on the last Leica screwmount camera, putting it into American English for the benefit of our audience. Augusto can attest that we have a light touch on editing, but helped him with the English which is not his native language. We are happy to help in this way. I also have a very talented layout person who is also a Leica user and devotee, Kirsten Vignes. You may know her name from the Leica Store Miami where she works. We recently entered Viewfinder in a competition for non-profit publications and won for our category.

If you are not familiar with LHSA or Viewfinder, please go to our website www.lhsa.org and see for yourself.

Again, I welcome your contributions on whatever you would like to write about!

 

Hi,

I didn't want to highlight Viewfinder because it could have seemed like an indirect form of self-promotion but let me share with you some more information.

Viewfinder, that has been recently awarded for its quality, is a 53 years old publishing, where most of the relevant authors in the Leica world have published and they still contribute to it. Their attention to quality and detail is simply outstanding.

As Bill has said, my original article has been absolutely preserved and just minor language corrections have been made (thank you!!). In this issue (I haven't participated before), I was asked for high quality photos for the magazine, there were multiple interactions in terms of format, there were at least three or four drafts shared among the contributors asking for their feedback, not only on their own articles, but also about the rest etc. everything for achieving a perfect issue of the magazine.

And regarding the type of content, in this issue, you can read from an article about a document from 1919 to another covering the M10R, including the two articles by Jim Lager, etc. So, not only the coverage of the latest products, but also a lot of extremely interesting historical information.

Hope it will help to get a better idea about the Viewfinder magazine.

Augusto