William Smith Posted February 4, 2009 Share #1 Posted February 4, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) Hello, I am New to this forum and new to collecting leica cameras. I received A Leica IIIf red dial camera from an old friend who passed on. I know very little about cameras. The camera I have came with 4 lenses. I read online some background information on the camera, but i know very little about the lenses and how to care for them. I would like to know how to inspect them to see if they need to be professionally cleaned. Is there a way to do this without taking pictures right now? I need to learn more about the camera before I try to use it. Also is it worth the price to have them cleaned? I have: *Summar 50mm *Elmar 90mm *Hektor 135mm *Summaron 35mm Along with filters, and other accessories. I would appreciate and advice or info. Thanks Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted February 4, 2009 Posted February 4, 2009 Hi William Smith, Take a look here Leica IIIf Lenses. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
wizard Posted February 4, 2009 Share #2 Posted February 4, 2009 Hi Bill, and welcome to this forum. The set you received was at the time a classic user set (I inherited a set just like yours from my father), and still is today (although, of course, more modern versions of the focal lengths you mentioned are available). Try to clean, if necessary, the front and rear optical surfaces of the lens (don't rub a lot, use a lightly dampened piece of clean, well washed soft cloth first, next a dry one to take up residual moisture). Once these surfaces are clean, set the each lens to its maximum (full) aperture and lool the optical system against a bright source of light (halogen spots are ideal). You will probably see some dust particles inside the system, which shouldn't bother you, as they will not have any visible effect on image quality unless there is an excessive amount, but apart from that the lens surfaces should be clear. If you discover a sort of haze-like coating on one or more interior lens elements, the particular lens may need professional cleaning. The same is true if the aperture mechanism and/or the focusing helicoil for do not work smoothly. The camera itself may or may not need a CLA, depending on whether it already had one in more recent years and also depending on whether it was used regularly (which would be good, as that keeps the lubricants in good shape). All of the lenses are good user lenses, but none of them is particularly rare. The cost of having any one of them cleaned may thus well exceed their current value, but many of us still do it. Before actually sending any of the items away for cleaning or restoring, I would give it a try and use the set to see if anything is really broke. Try to run the camera's (without film first) shutter at its longest settings (1s) and see what happens. If the shutter is more or less accurate at the long settings, the shorter times will usually work well, too. Enjoy the set, Andy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luigi bertolotti Posted February 4, 2009 Share #3 Posted February 4, 2009 Welcome here, William ! Always a pleasure to see someone that join the club of old Leicas owners/lovers ... they are items one can really fall in love with. First of all, your Leica IIIf is a fine classic, perfectly usable, and nice to collect for at its times it was the center of a photo system made by hundreds of accessories, lenses, devices for the most various needs, all superbly engineered. Just to start... here you can find user manuals for your camera, and other useful lterature about: Leica camera instruction manuals, leicaflex camera instruction manual Your lens set is also a classic of the era :35-50-90-135 (28 was available too, but at that times it was considered a "strong wideangle" to be used with care... ). None of them is a rarity, but all of them are pretty usable provided that glass and mechanical conditions are good : the first thing to do is verifying mechanical movements of focusing helicoid and diaphragm setting :if they "sound right", ok for the mech. Then inspect lenses with a direct light in front and back of them and seeing the glass from the other side (with diaphragm wide open) : you can spot a number of defects/wear : scratches on the glass, hazing, fungus, damages on the coating (probably, only 35-50-135 are coated), separation of glass elements. To evaluate if there is need for a cleaning is better, anyway, to have them inspected by a good repair lab : cleaning/repolishing can be a rather cheap work, but if, for instance, there is some glass element to be substituted, things becam much more difficult, costly, maybe even impossible... and keep in mind that none of your lenses, even if in very good conditions, has a great commercial value: you can find many of them surfing in the net... roughly, prices can be in the range 100-200 Euros each, no more. Of course, the camera too would have to be inspected : IIIf were very well built cameras, but it is more than 50 years old... shutter and rangefinder (which too has glass elemnts that could need a cleaning) are better to be verified. Or, if you aren't intersted in using it... keep your items as collectibles, or sell them... there is always a market for such items, evn "sold as they are". Finally, if you want to take some trial pictures with your gear, keep in mind that there are some basic steps to learn, or you can't do anything... : - Loading the film is a someway strange and (first time) difficult task - Exp. time MUST be set AFTER shutter cocking - Focusing through the rangefinder is a task in which Leica users are a lot accustomed... but the first time is also a thing to be understood well... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jc_braconi Posted February 4, 2009 Share #4 Posted February 4, 2009 Hi William, In case you need your equipment CLAed contact Sherry Krauter @ krauter@warwick.net Enjoy your inheritage. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Smith Posted February 5, 2009 Author Share #5 Posted February 5, 2009 Thank you all for very valuable information on my camera. It will take me awhile to process all the great help I have been given. I will attempt to check and clean the lenses to see if they are worth using. The camera was used by 2 generations of photographers. My friend who left it to me was a toy designer who received it from his father. The IIIf is the only camera he used in college and enjoyed using it. He used it up to about 5 years ago and I had always admired it. It is a real thrill to have this camera and to try to find out the history of it. You people have given me a good start. Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge and thoughts. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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