Leica III / IIIa upgrades

[oldwino]

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Hello all!

Quick question about a Leica that I have. Its serial number lists it as a 1939 model III. But, the camera itself has a top shutter speed of 1/1000, and it has a flash sync socket and the sync control dial (under the shutter speed dial) from the IIIf. So sort of a IIIa that's been modified for flash use. With a III serial number.

Obviously, it has been upgraded at one point, and judging from the quality of the work, I would say by Leica. My question is this: if the camera indeed started life as a III, and Leica added the flash sync controls, would they have also replaced the shutter to a newer 1/1000 shutter? Was that a common available upgrade? Could the camera originally have been a IIIa but got an unused III number? 

Thank you!

[TomB_tx]

I also have a IIIf (red dial) with a serial number for a IIIa from 1936. I'm quite sure it's a factory upgrade. The interesting thing is that the body is the 1/8" longer version that was introduced with the IIIc (& later) models. So if this is an upgrade the body was replaced also. I've heard this was done: upgrade by placing the old serial on a new body to get IIIf features. I suspect this might have eased the return of the upgraded body through international customs, as the serial would show it was returned from service, rather than a new sale.

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[Anbaric]

2 hours ago, oldwino said:

My question is this: if the camera indeed started life as a III, and Leica added the flash sync controls, would they have also replaced the shutter to a newer 1/1000 shutter? Was that a common available upgrade? Could the camera originally have been a IIIa but got an unused III number?

Yes, both IIIf-style flash sync and the 1/1000 upgrade for the III were available by some point in the 1950s (back in the 1930s, the option to upgrade a III to to the IIIa spec was not available, though you could, oddly enough, upgrade a II to a IIIa).

Some interesting threads are linked below, including price lists for the conversions that were available at various times. A IIIa with IIIf-style flash sync is usually called a 'IIIa syn' or a 'IIIa sync'. Of course there are also many cameras with non-Leica flash sync added by third parties, but these won't have the sync dial you mention.

 

[oldwino]

Thank you. The histories of these cameras is amazingly complex!