Leica 1c

[Connie7]

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I am finding myself drawn to the utter minimalism of a 1c. Is this the closest one can get to the minimalism of the large format experience using a Leica or am I going to have to end up with a black cloth over my head?  Any experience of the 1c (or any other version of a 1) greatly appreciated. 

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[jankap]

You need a kind of a rangefinder mechanism then. A laser would be difficult for portraits. You could try to find a mirror box for the LTM thread mount, but then long lenses only.

[pgk]

16 minutes ago, jankap said:

A laser would be difficult for portraits.

Tape measure. Old tech but surprisingly effective😉. I'm not sure that you can equate a Leica, even a minimalist one, with black cloth larger format! I've toyed with the idea of a similar, early camera, and the concept certainly has ts appeal, but I've realised that its the concept which appeals and I'm far from convnced bout the reality (for me anyway). An M1, MD or MDa would offer a similar way of working to a minimalist bred, but again I'm just not sure. Perhaps one day.

[a.noctilux]

Sort of masochism led me to Leica Zero Replica like this one ... (crudest Leica I have, but when the pic is fine, I'm so happy to succes).

Before that I used the MDa with choices of nice lenses like the Super-Angulon 4/21 which can be used on my LTM also like Leica Standard ( Model E ) of 1930's.

Not as compact as LTM but usable and good partner...

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[spydrxx]

If you don't have a rangefinder, either built in or as an accessory, you can fall back on some of the 1950s zone focusing tricks I learned when I began photography. I was shooting for a school newspaper mostly. I learned the distance between sidewalk sections, the size of floor tile squares, and the average automobile length. Quick multiplication in my head, and the focusing scale on my camera lens worked really well. Outdoor athletics such as soccer, baseball, track and football were a breeze prefocusing in advance with field and lane markers. Portraits at f/8 were generally pretty easy, as I could guess distances like how many of my body lengths away the subject was and DOF took care of picking up the slop. 

[Pyrogallol]

If you have two eyes you have your own built in rangefinder, just needs calibrating. My 1c is nice to use, a “Standard” will be just as good and probably easier to find.

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[willeica]

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I presume this is about a generic LTM camera with interchangeable lenses. They are in sequence a I Model C, the Standard, the Ic and the If (Black Dial and Red Dial)

The I Model C is the camera on the right in this group and it is basically a I Model A with the facility for interchangeable lenses. It is equipped with an HFOOK/FOKOS rangefinder which swivels to allow access to the speed dial. You must remember to transfer the rangefinder settings to the lens of course 

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Here is the Leica Standard also with the HFOOK/FOKOS. It is very similar to the I Model C except that it has an narrower extendible rewind knob. In this case, the camera is actually a converted I Model A.

 

I often use another Standard, a chrome one this time, with no rangefinder and with zone focus using a 3.5cm lens and a suitable viewfinder, in this case one made by Voigtlander.

Finally a Ic is the camera on the right in this photograph with a camera from 1949. It has the larger body of the c series cameras and also has no built in viewfinder. In this case an SBOOI 50mm viewfinder has been added. The camera has two shoes, but any rangefinder fitted would have to be the vertical type such as the one shown in the middle of the first photo above as the SBOOI viewfinder would not allow the fitting of the HFOOK/FOKOS type rangefinder. 

The later If models are the same as the Ic but with a flash sync possibility and a different shutter in the case of the Red Dial model.

I hope this is useful. I use a lot of older cameras with no rangefinder and I have got used to using zone or estimated focus. The main point to remember is whether the lens you are using is calibrated in metres or feet.

 

William

 

 

[STEVE S]

Just a thought if the top plate is getting crowded with supplementary viewfinder and rangefinder: I generally find it sufficient to keep the rangefinder handy in a pocket. It just comes out for close distances or when using the lens wide open and zone focusing doesn't quite hack it.

[Ambro51]

1c is a Fine Camera, quite rare...a lot of these model 1 Cameras were converted by Leitz to more current specs.  An Original is a nice find.   Unscrew the lens and look for an “0” stamped on the top of the flange.  Very early 1c models, without the 0, were not standard focal lengths and the lenses were matched to the body.  More common are the ones with the 0.  That let’s you use the entire range of Leica lenses and accessories.  ••• That said, there’s very little that to me suggests any link to a “large format minimalist” concept.  Sounds like you want a Speed Graphic.

Edited March 30, 2021 by Ambro51