A rare Leica?? Please help me :)

[Fricetix]

Hi guys. 🙂
Does anyone know how much this Leica is worth. I have a chance to get it for a relatively small price so I wondered is it worth buying. And which exact model is it? I'm not even sure am I posting in the right forum.
These photos are all I have and I can't give you any more info or better photos because I don't know anything else about the camera nor I have the access to it currently.
Here:



Click on the photos to enlarge

How much this Leica is worth or is it even a Leica? It sure looks like one but some Leica pros here can help 🙂
I can't give you any better photos at the moment.
Anyways, thanks in advance. 🙂
David.

EDIT: I'm not thinking about selling it, if it works, I'll shoot with it but if it doesn't work, I'll try to fix it. I'm just asking how much is it worth.

EDIT2: The guy claims it was used in WW2 by German air force
I'm still not sure is it fake. And he's asking 35 bucks/25€ for the camera.
And, how you guys know is it fake or not? 🙂

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

I think you should look here: http://www.cameraquest.com/luft.htm to see a real WWII leica as used by the Luftwaffe

 

[kkdanamatt]

It's a fake, probably a Russian-made FED, trying to be passed off as a rare Leica Luftwaffen camera. These fakes appear all over the Internet. Some are made better than others, but they are all worthless, in my opinion, except as conversation pieces.

 

[dexdog]

the camera in the pictures is a Russian fake of a wartime leica. Real leicas issued to the German military look nothing like this example.

 

[NeeZee]

Unless the 'relatively small price' is anywhere above 10€, don't buy it.

 

[rxmd]

It's a Soviet camera indeed, a Zorki-1 in particular, probably of the 1d or 1e variety (difficult to tell at the low-resolution photos). It's a $40 camera with a pretty ugly paint job and a spelling error in the German label.

Don't buy it.

 

[Vobluda]

Lažnjak 😉

Hi guys. 🙂
Does anyone know how much this Leica is worth. I have a chance to get it for a relatively small price so I wondered is it worth buying. And which exact model is it? I'm not even sure am I posting in the right forum.
These photos are all I have and I can't give you any more info or better photos because I don't know anything else about the camera nor I have the access to it currently.
Here:
View attachment 92607
View attachment 92608
View attachment 92609
Click on the photos to enlarge

How much this Leica is worth or is it even a Leica? It sure looks like one but some Leica pros here can help 🙂
I can't give you any better photos at the moment.
Anyways, thanks in advance. 🙂
David.

EDIT: I'm not thinking about selling it, if it works, I'll shoot with it but if it doesn't work, I'll try to fix it. I'm just asking how much is it worth.

EDIT2: The guy claims it was used in WW2 by German air force
I'm still not sure is it fake. And he's asking 35 bucks/25€ for the camera.
And, how you guys know is it fake or not? 🙂

 

[I Love Film]

It is an obvious fake, but why would you want to keep and shoot with a Nazi-marked camera?

Does the swastika have some special appeal to you?

PS: Fakes of this nature sell for around $100 on eBay, but have virtually no resale value.

 

[Fricetix]

It is an obvious fake, but why would you want to keep and shoot with a Nazi-marked camera?

Does the swastika have some special appeal to you?

PS: Fakes of this nature sell for around $100 on eBay, but have virtually no resale value.

Haha, no, I mean, if it works, I can put some tape on the swastika and use it. Of course I won't go out in the street with a swastika on my camera.
But if it's really a fake, then I probably won't buy it.

 

[Membedeep]

This camera has WORST FAKE EVER written all over it 🙂 But it's quite funny to have on the shelf, when you have some friends visiting you... Tell them is Goebbels's camera or something.

 

[johannielscom]

A page on my site to help people distinguish the real from the fake Leica's:

http://www.portretteur.nl/index.php...=86:leicafake&catid=40:rangefinders&Itemid=61

 

[wolves3012]

This camera has WORST FAKE EVER written all over it 🙂 .....

Oh, I don't know. I've seen worse ones - made from FED 2s or Zorki 2Cs, for instance, which don't really look that much like a Leica II at all. Nevertheless, it did absolutely come out of the Zorki factory and not Leica's and it's at the poorer end of fakes.

 

[wolves3012]

EDIT2: The guy claims it was used in WW2 by German air force
I'm still not sure is it fake. And he's asking 35 bucks/25€ for the camera.
And, how you guys know is it fake or not? 🙂

Simple question to ask yourself - why is this person willing to sell you a rare, wartime Leica for that price? Simple answer: if it seems too good to be true, it probably IS. Nowadays, with the internet awash with information, almost no-one really could be unaware of the value of the genuine article.

 

[blauvelt]

A page on my site to help people distinguish the real from the fake Leica's:

http://www.portretteur.nl/index.php...=86:leicafake&catid=40:rangefinders&Itemid=61

great link! thanks for the quick and dirty compilation!!

 

[V-12]

Haha, no, I mean, if it works, I can put some tape on the swastika and use it. Of course I won't go out in the street with a swastika on my camera.
But if it's really a fake, then I probably won't buy it.

It isn't worth buying as a usable camera, they are junk as camera's go.

 

[rxmd]

EDIT2: The guy claims it was used in WW2 by German air force
I'm still not sure is it fake. And he's asking 35 bucks/25€ for the camera.
And, how you guys know is it fake or not? 🙂

For 25 EUR it's OK even for a camera that is definitely a fake, it's not more than the camera is worth (if it works!!) - personally I'd haggle him down to 15 or 20 and then take it.

The bit about "they are junk as cameras go" by the previous poster is of course not true. If the camera works, it provides 90% of what a Leica II would, at 10% of the price. Also the probability that it works is actually quite good, the early Zorkies were pretty solid cameras.

Regarding the latter bit, it's easily recognizable as a fake. It has certain Zorki-specific features that no Leica had (like the shape of the rangefinder housing, the shape of the shutter button and the shape of the body around the lens mount). Don't hope that this is some kind of super deal, it isn't.

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

My 2d worth is to add that a FED/Zorki/Leica in use will turn out photographs and no one, apart from a few of us on this forum, will notice. That's assuming that it's the genuine FED/Zorki/Leica and has been looked after, repaired if need be and is not covered in swastikas etc.

There's a few other points to make; the Leica will cost the most to buy, cost the most to get repaired and disappoint the most if you get one of those horrors from a well known auction site. (I have had to scrap a Leica IIIc and do know how it feels.)

And, vice versa, the FED 1 or Zorki 1 can be picked up cheaply and repaired cheaply. Buying one for very little cash can enhance the things a lot, especially if, like me, you pay a pittance and get one in vgc. Accessories for the FED are also cheaper. (F'instance I paid US $10 for my FED 2, UK £5 for the Jupiter 8 lens and about £4 for a Chinese screw in vented lens hood; a Leica purist would rather die than be seen with that mixture but so what... )

Once you've got (say) a Leica II and a FED 1 and have paid out for them to be checked and so on you'll discover that there's very little difference in feel and performance. Although the FED's lens will be coated and the Elmar's won't (or rather, shouldn't be).

Side by side they look like this:

The real problem is the mystique that goes with them. As I see it they are just cameras and pretty much the same in use. You'll only notice the difference if you drop a lens cap and want to replace it with the genuine article.

FWIW I've had about 20 or so from each stable and use them all.

Regards, David

PS BTW, there was an after market shutter guard made for the Leica and Zorkis have them as standard and the shutter takes normal cable releases.

 

[jschrader]

guess its fake

guess its fake

if it was correct, it would read "Luftwaffe". (=Air force)
"Luftwaffen" is plural and does not mean anything in german. There was only one Luftwaffe existing.

Maybe like having written "Air forces".

Could be worth buying anyhow; interesting fake, but not Lecia.

 

[steveniphoto]

if it works then i say buy it. ~$35 isnt a bad price at all and you can use it as a beater camera and not feel bad about dirtying it.

 

[jarski]

if it was correct, it would read "Luftwaffe". (=Air force)
"Luftwaffen" is plural and does not mean anything in german. There was only one Luftwaffe existing.

Maybe like having written "Air forces".

Could be worth buying anyhow; interesting fake, but not Lecia.

Luftwaffen Eigentum means Air Force Property. perhaps weird wording is somehow misunderstood from that... these fakesters should learn to use Google Translate 😛