$15 flea market find

ABrosig

ABrosig

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Sep 4, 2013
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Found this guy at a local flea market. The lady at the checkout couldn't believe the price it was marked at, either. Already talked to Youxin Ye and thinking seriously about having him refurb.

Not sure if it's a real Leica or a post-war FED copy. Looks legit to me, but I really have no clue. I know the photos suck. Smart-phone "camera."

Leica01.jpg

Leica02.jpg
 
It is a real one, a Leica IIIc with an Elmar 50mm f/3.5.

The camera looks good. Usually these early post war IIIc have flaking chrome. $15 is awful cheap. Congratulations!

Erik.
 
Wow x2! The IIIc is a great camera, and the Elmar an excellent lens! I love my IIIc and use it all the time. Congratulations!

Do you have any other LTM bodies or lenses?
 
Nice bargoon of a find!

A used post-war Leica IIIc body cost me 187 US dollars in NYC in 1978.
 
lynnb said:
Wow x2! The IIIc is a great camera, and the Elmar an excellent lens! I love my IIIc and use it all the time. Congratulations!

Do you have any other LTM bodies or lenses?
Click to expand...

Not Leica, but I do have a FED 3 and a MIR. The MIR has been factory reconditioned. Also have a late 80s Jupiter 12 35 f2.8 I'm itching to try on the Leica!
 
Probably a real Leica due to the slow speed dial. What bothers me though is that the finder window does not have a rounded upper-right-side corner - maybe some early Leica's were like this (as is the Fed).
 
Took the camera out this morning and shot a roll just to see what happened. Here's a couple images from that roll. I wasn't too particular about subject matter but I think the rangefinder is spot on and the lens appears clear. Trash can is close-focus at F3.5. Mural is probably 20 feet at f5.6. The camera definitely needs a cleaning. The images aren't perfect but scannable. Couldn't put my hands on my Minolta meter so metered using a 50mm lens on Nikon F100.


LiiicTest01.jpg

LiiicTest02.jpg

I did double-check the serial number against the Leica look-up site. It said the camera was built 1946-47.
 
David Murphy said:
Probably a real Leica due to the slow speed dial. What bothers me though is that the finder window does not have a rounded upper-right-side corner - maybe some early Leica's were like this (as is the Fed).
Click to expand...

It is the real McCoy, David.
 
David Murphy said:
Probably a real Leica due to the slow speed dial. What bothers me though is that the finder window does not have a rounded upper-right-side corner - maybe some early Leica's were like this (as is the Fed).
Click to expand...

Yes this is a normal window for this era/ model LTM camera.
 
Got me beat. I've been happy about a Leica IIIa with summer and case found at a Wisconsin yard sale for $39 in n 1972. But that comes to about $222 in 2016. Enjoy iy and never talk to me again.

Giorgio
 
For dollar value, this beats my near-mint $5 CDN Olympus 35RC at the local Salvation Army thrift store however I suspect we are all equally happy with such finds.
Enjoy your new camera.
 
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