Another wonderful demonstration of two fine Barnack screw Leicas! Looking at the refinements to the 111b I have to agree that it is a very nice original Barnack to own + use. Having used the coated Elmar lenses, how do these perform compared to the Summitar lens in terms of character contrast etc. Thank you for your insights + thoughts ! Derek
Very nice. I just bought a iiia, and look forward to putting some film in it. I paid through the nose for mine because it was a one family camera kit with all the paperwork, and had been serviced. I looked for a clean Elmar lens by itself for years but gave up.
The genuine Leica reloadable cassettes are nice as they have no light trapping felt in them. They open up when you lock the baseplate onto the camera. When you advance the film, it’s so much smoother than when using a conventional cassette.
Hi! I recently got a nice IIIb, got cla'd and seems works like a charm (I'll use the first roll during christmass with family) but I noticed that when I set it at 1/1000 the dial it's still slightly up in comparison as the other speeds. Have you ever noticed that in yours?
Hello, I have just tried my IIIa and IIIb and they both do the same thing. It's probably just the way the pre war ones were designed. I hope you enjoy it. Take care.
Do you find there is much difference in the user experience between the two cameras for the viewfinder/rangefinder? Are they about the same brightness? Is the iiib any faster?
The difference isn't that great, I don't find the different spacing between the viewfinder and rangefinder to be big advantage regarding use. I suppose you could argue the latter design is more aesthetically pleasing but even that is arguable. The improved placing of the diopter adjuster is an improvement for those that would use it.
The first serious 35mm Family camera is/was a Leica IIIa, equipped with a 50mm f/1.5-9 Taylor Hobson Xenon "speed lens." The Xenon produced fuzzy, flare-ridden results, possibly due to the complex, uncoated lens formula. In addition, there were specks of something between the lens elements. As soon as I could, I replaced that paperweight with a 1950's 50mm f/3.5 collapsible Elmar, which produced/produces great color slides and black-and-white prints. I did look at other "Barnack" Leicas, eventually finding a IIIf "Red Dial" model, which had a collapsible Summicron displaying numerous cleaning scratches. M-series Leica, you say? Sorry, too expensive for a college student back then. Film was more important, and a Canon P with a stellar 50mm f/1.8 Canon lens became a much better consolation prize.
Each to his own my friend, Canon make excellent glass, Summicrons are noted for having a' soft' glass and easily marked by careless cleaning. Take care.
Hi there, it looks like the IIIb you have is brown and not black. I have just acquired a IIIa which is also brown and it is possibly the history of my camera and yours is it was used by the military. Has your IIIb got any unusual gravings. Mine has IIIa scratched lightly in the top plate (Only visible if you look carefully) which makes me think it was requisitioned for WW2.
Hi Martin, I know what you mean regarding the brown but on mine it is only a very faint tint. I cant see any unusual markings on it. I know leicas where bought off the British public during the war by the Government, I don't know if other countries did the same. I have also recently seen a IIIb for sale on Ebay and that seemed to have a proper brown colour and the vendor hinted that it might have military connections. However I have always been led to believe the IIIc was the model bought by the German Military and were engraved as such and now very collectible. Changing the subject slightly it is only today when inspecting the base plates on my small collection that I realised some, including my IIIb have open and close in English, others in German and some in both. Thanks for your comments.
Pretty sure these leitz elmars are more or less a tessar design, 4 elements in 3 groups. The tessar is a Cooke triplet with an achromatic doublet for rear element, for better correction
@@northstar1950 I mean, they may have come to the same lens design independently, or not. It did manage to get past the patent so they may have changed up some of the glass types or something, at the very least they moved the aperture to before the second element.
@@mikafoxx2717, that sounds verp plausible, I'm doing a bit of research about Elmars and if I can find enough material will do a vlog in the future. I think there are probably quite a few lenses that share their DNA with the Cooke Triplet.
Another wonderful demonstration of two fine Barnack screw Leicas!
Looking at the refinements to the 111b I have to agree that it is a very nice original Barnack to own + use.
Having used the coated Elmar lenses, how do these perform compared to the Summitar lens in terms of character contrast etc.
Thank you for your insights + thoughts !
Derek
Very nice. I just bought a iiia, and look forward to putting some film in it. I paid through the nose for mine because it was a one family camera kit with all the paperwork, and had been serviced. I looked for a clean Elmar lens by itself for years but gave up.
Hi Jon, I hope you enjoy your camera, it will last for many years if it's been serviced.
The genuine Leica reloadable cassettes are nice as they have no light trapping felt in them. They open up when you lock the baseplate onto the camera. When you advance the film, it’s so much smoother than when using a conventional cassette.
Thanks Ian.
Hi! I recently got a nice IIIb, got cla'd and seems works like a charm (I'll use the first roll during christmass with family) but I noticed that when I set it at 1/1000 the dial it's still slightly up in comparison as the other speeds. Have you ever noticed that in yours?
Hello, I have just tried my IIIa and IIIb and they both do the same thing. It's probably just the way the pre war ones were designed. I hope you enjoy it. Take care.
@@northstar1950 great!! Thanks for the info!! 🖤
Do you find there is much difference in the user experience between the two cameras for the viewfinder/rangefinder? Are they about the same brightness? Is the iiib any faster?
The difference isn't that great, I don't find the different spacing between the viewfinder and rangefinder to be big advantage regarding use. I suppose you could argue the latter design is more aesthetically pleasing but even that is arguable. The improved placing of the diopter adjuster is an improvement for those that would use it.
The first serious 35mm Family camera is/was a Leica IIIa, equipped with a 50mm f/1.5-9 Taylor Hobson Xenon "speed lens." The Xenon produced fuzzy, flare-ridden results, possibly due to the complex, uncoated lens formula. In addition, there were specks of something between the lens elements. As soon as I could, I replaced that paperweight with a 1950's 50mm f/3.5 collapsible Elmar, which produced/produces great color slides and black-and-white prints. I did look at other "Barnack" Leicas, eventually finding a IIIf "Red Dial" model, which had a collapsible Summicron displaying numerous cleaning scratches. M-series Leica, you say? Sorry, too expensive for a college student back then. Film was more important, and a Canon P with a stellar 50mm f/1.8 Canon lens became a much better consolation prize.
Each to his own my friend, Canon make excellent glass, Summicrons are noted for having a' soft' glass and easily marked by careless cleaning. Take care.
Hi there, it looks like the IIIb you have is brown and not black. I have just acquired a IIIa which is also brown and it is possibly the history of my camera and yours is it was used by the military. Has your IIIb got any unusual gravings. Mine has IIIa scratched lightly in the top plate (Only visible if you look carefully) which makes me think it was requisitioned for WW2.
Hi Martin, I know what you mean regarding the brown but on mine it is only a very faint tint. I cant see any unusual markings on it. I know leicas where bought off the British public during the war by the Government, I don't know if other countries did the same. I have also recently seen a IIIb for sale on Ebay and that seemed to have a proper brown colour and the vendor hinted that it might have military connections. However I have always been led to believe the IIIc was the model bought by the German Military and were engraved as such and now very collectible. Changing the subject slightly it is only today when inspecting the base plates on my small collection that I realised some, including my IIIb have open and close in English, others in German and some in both. Thanks for your comments.
Pretty sure these leitz elmars are more or less a tessar design, 4 elements in 3 groups. The tessar is a Cooke triplet with an achromatic doublet for rear element, for better correction
Thanks, I think there is some contention regarding if it's a Tessar copy. It all depends on who or what one reads. My knowledge isn't that deep.
@@northstar1950 I mean, they may have come to the same lens design independently, or not. It did manage to get past the patent so they may have changed up some of the glass types or something, at the very least they moved the aperture to before the second element.
@@mikafoxx2717, that sounds verp plausible, I'm doing a bit of research about Elmars and if I can find enough material will do a vlog in the future. I think there are probably quite a few lenses that share their DNA with the Cooke Triplet.