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Leica M39 screw mount bodies/lenses
back to shooting after very long hiatus from photography. this is my first leica, a black/nickel III from '33. been putting together a kit, found a very clean uncoated nickel elmar, fison hood and sbooi finder (no idea where you guys find the black ones). also, not pictured, original leather case, a nice set of clamp on color filters and such. i've nothing to compare it too really but the camera feels in excellent order and certainly looks clean. lens came cla'd and is smooth as hell. just finished my first roll on b&w and now moving through a roll of color. plans for the basement to be a darkroom in the next month or so. will post more of the kit if you like, i know i can stare at barnacks for hours on end


leica_iii_elmar_5cm_SBOOI_FISON.jpg
 
Welcome back! nice looking rig! The black SBOOI is mega rare- the chrome one works fine.
The III might be my favorite Leica - for me - everything about it is PERFECT
 
cassel said:
Welcome back! nice looking rig! The black SBOOI is mega rare- the chrome one works fine.
The III might be my favorite Leica - for me - everything about it is PERFECT
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that canon 25mm looks sweet!

thank you! it feels good to be shooting again, owed in large part to the barnack. i figured the black sbooi was pretty rare as i didn't see one for sale anywhere for months of combing old camera vendors and the bay. i nearly bought the black voigtlander which also seems rare, but it looks to sit a bit higher and the chrome sbooi can be had for less.

i've made it through many pages of this thread, you guys all sunny 16 or carrying a meter separate? i picked up a small meter which works great in the accessory shoe but needs a double shoe to be used with a finder. though, because the meter's foot is offset, it floats off past the rewind knob when on the double shoe. so i removed the foot (it screws on) and used a bit of velcro to fix it to the top plate

here it is with a j12, voigtlander 35mm brightline finder and the lime one light meter. missing the shutter collar, found a nickel one on ebay from a japanese seller but he won't post it right now.


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Quan said:


From the last frame of the second roll TX400, why there is a horizontal line cut thru the forehead of the guy
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When you got to the last frame you partially advanced to the next frame but of course it stopped because there was not enough film left. When you moved the rewind lever, it released the shutter curtain from wherever it was mid-frame, partially exposing the last frame. The trick is to always cover the lens when you move the rewind lever, unless you know for sure the shutter has not been charged, either fully or partially. A quirk of the Barnacks!
 
br0qn said:
sbooi finder (no idea where you guys find the black ones).
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Usually mine is in the closet, when it's not on a camera, but I have to say I've never seen another one.

Erik.

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bluesun267 said:
When you got to the last frame you partially advanced to the next frame but of course it stopped because there was not enough film left. When you moved the rewind lever, it released the shutter curtain from wherever it was mid-frame, partially exposing the last frame. The trick is to always cover the lens when you move the rewind lever, unless you know for sure the shutter has not been charged, either fully or partially. A quirk of the Barnacks!
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Thank you bluesun267
 
Was not sure what thread to post this in. It's a question regarding either early Barnacks, Leica Barnack cases, or how to load a Barnack.
The following are photos of an ESNAR case which came with a1932 Leica II, both of which were well preserved. Regarding the card which is found in the case: I have looked extensively, and what little information I have been able to find related to what it is, exactly, seems either inconclusive or obviously incorrect. The most widely posited view, and even that all not that widely, is that this was a card to be used for taking notes on, which notes could be removed and the card then ready for the next roll. The reason that seems obviously incorrect to me is that it is firm and slick and it is impossible to write on it with a pencil, or a fountain pen, or a ballpoint pen. You can write on it, for that purpose, with a dry erase marker, but those did not exist in 1932. You could write on it with a grease pencil, but anyone who has ever written with a grease pencil knows that you would not be able to get much on there in the way of a note.
The other suggestions I have seen mentioned boiled down to "I don't know, must be something." Indeed.

I am not suggesting the following, but do note that the stiffness, thickness, and shape do lend themselves, exactly to sliding behind the shutter to protect it from film attached to both spools and being dropped in behind the shutter. To which I can attest, drops in quite instantly. Yet, this practice is something which some in today's times either forbid or promote. I can't find any mention of using this card in early manuals I have, though I do not have a manual which dates as far back as this ESNAR case.

Anyone know what this card is conclusively for? Seems semi-obviously to me that it is for loading film, but conventional wisdom is that that's a no no. (Not everyone's conventional wisdom.) And I would note that there is definitely no reason to set it to Bulb, etc to see where it goes, if you are using it to load film, because it slots right in and it is so stiff, that there is only one place it can go.










 
Larry Cloetta said:
Was not sure what thread to post this in. It's a question regarding either early Barnacks, Leica Barnack cases, or how to load a Barnack.
The following are photos of an ESNAR case which came with a1932 Leica II, both of which were well preserved. Regarding the card which is found in the case: I have looked extensively, and what little information I have been able to find related to what it is, exactly, seems either inconclusive or obviously incorrect. The most widely posited view, and even that all not that widely, is that this was a card to be used for taking notes on, which notes could be removed and the card then ready for the next roll. The reason that seems obviously incorrect to me is that it is firm and slick and it is impossible to write on it with a pencil, or a fountain pen, or a ballpoint pen. You can write on it, for that purpose, with a dry erase marker, but those did not exist in 1932. You could write on it with a grease pencil, but anyone who has ever written with a grease pencil knows that you would not be able to get much on there in the way of a note.
The other suggestions I have seen mentioned boiled down to "I don't know, must be something." Indeed.

I am not suggesting the following, but do note that the stiffness, thickness, and shape do lend themselves, exactly to sliding behind the shutter to protect it from film attached to both spools and being dropped in behind the shutter. To which I can attest, drops in quite instantly. Yet, this practice is something which some in today's times either forbid or promote. I can't find any mention of using this card in early manuals I have, though I do not have a manual which dates as far back as this ESNAR case.

Anyone know what this card is conclusively for? Seems semi-obviously to me that it is for loading film, but conventional wisdom is that that's a no no. (Not everyone's conventional wisdom.) And I would note that there is definitely no reason to set it to Bulb, etc to see where it goes, if you are using it to load film, because it slots right in and it is so stiff, that there is only one place it can go.

. . .
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It's certainly possible to use such a card to load un-trimmed film in the camera. I think it's loading un-trimmed film in the 1st place that's the "no-no", since it could get caught in the works if you don't properly engage the sprockets. When I 1st got my IIIc, I didn't have an ABLON or copy, so I just the loaded un-trimmed film (without using a card) & never encountered a problem. Later, I read that this could be problematic, & started using an ABLON to be safe.
 
Larry Cloetta said:
So, nobody here knows what the stiff card in the early Leica II case was for? I thought I’d be the only one here who didn’t know.
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To diffuse the pressure from the metal stud to protect the camera when you close the case?
My IIIF case has a similar rear pocket with a hard "card" in it. The card doesn't seem to be removable, though.
 
Nitroplait said:
To diffuse the pressure from the metal stud to protect the camera when you close the case?
My IIIF case has a similar rear pocket with a hard "card" in it. The card doesn't seem to be removable, though.
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I agree with this. I have a box full of old Leitz cases. Those that have the card in them have it fixed.
 
“To diffuse the pressure from the metal stud to protect the camera when you close the case?
My IIIF case has a similar rear pocket with a hard "card" in it. The card doesn't seem to be removable, though.”


FWIW, It’s absolutely not fixed. Besides, the thick double layer of leather there offers much more padding by itself than the card could ever do, if Leitz’s concern was to pad the stud. And if their concern was to pad the stud, not only would the card add nothing to that, but there would have been no reason to make the pocket wide enough and tall enough to enclose a card which just happens to be exactly the size and shape necessary to slip in behind the shutter, almost as if it were on tracks, to simplify loading film. Just saying. Not that I’ve ever had difficulty loading one of these without tricks.
Not saying that some people might have cases in which the card has become difficult to dislodge over the intervening 80-90 years, but there is zero evidence of any adhesive residue on the card shown here, and it’s coated in a way that makes it slick enough that adhering it inside the pocket would have been almost impossible. Slick enough to allow it to slide fairly easily wherever the owner wanted to slide it, and too slick to write on.
These are the things I’ve been puzzling over ever since I got this, hence the question.
 
The purpose of that card came up in discussions about early Zorkis on Flickr recently: https://www.flickr.com/groups/zorki/discuss/72157721915331236/

The consensus there was that the card was for writing exposure notes on, and I can attest to having found a bunch in FED, Zorki and Leica cases with notes still scribbled on them.

As for what was used to write on them, one of the replies suggests a soft pencil or a "chinagraph pencil" - basically a grease pencil. That would track based on the notes I've seen written on those cards over the years.

I have a feeling my FED 2 case had one in; I'll have to dig it out. If they kept the card despite the fact that it was an open back and not a bottom loader that seems pretty open-and-shut as to the intended purpose of it, as far as I'm concerned.
 
Here's a PDF of a 1933 Leica II manual
https://www.cameramanuals.org/leica_pdf/leica_model_ii.pdf'
Which has much to say on the subject of loading film, but none of it involving the use of a card. I've also checked the manual for my prewar FED-1 which replicated the pocket in the case along with the Leica II itself, and so far as I can see (I don't read Russian) they didn't mention it either.

Possible boring reason why Leica might have inserted a card was simply to alert the buyer to the intended use of said pocket. It's a logical place to store exposure setting information or the information sheets which used to be included with rolls of film. I'd think that the card itself would be a throwaway item.
 
Okay, Chinagraph pencils make some sense, as they would need to be erasable to be useful. Will get some of those and see how that goes. Can't pretend to be futzing around in 1932 without the proper equipment.
 
There are wax pencils that are 'sharpened' by unwinding to paper around them, they do not have a wooden outer like a normal graphite or whatever pencil but do look a bit like one. They come in varying grades of hardness, maybe look up 'litho pencil' but not the water soluble ones!
 
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