Barnack Leicas - why do people like them?

[charjohncarter]

But wirtten by Otis Redding or someone like that.

 

[xayraa33]

why do i use my IIIc? i answer that: it works well. also, it is not too small, but just small enough for most with manly hands; see below how it fits in my rather large hand...its size and weight are such a happy fit.

you must be the owner of the rare IIIc made for left handers.

 

[furcafe]

You are correct:

http://rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32001

AFAIK, they only made them for the Contax RF & Nikon RF cameras (though the principle would probably work w/the Barnacks, too) . . .

If my memory serves me well, I do remember seeing an after market device on a knob wind Nikon S that fitted the wind knob with a racheted lever.it looked like it was from the same era as the Nikon S.
I often wondered if this same firm made these devices for bottomloader Leicas and copies including the Canons, maybe not, as these Leicas and Canons at least ,could be fitted with the optional bottom winders from their respective makers.

 

[xayraa33]

You are correct:

http://rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32001

AFAIK, they only made them for the Contax RF & Nikon RF cameras (though the principle would probably work w/the Barnacks, too) . . .

here is a pic of an aftermarket lever attached to the wind knob of a IIIg

 

[raid]

These cameras are very special in a very simple way.

Raid

 

[john neal]

Strange, isn't it? I have the choice of M3, MP and IIIa - guess which one ends up as my walking about town pocket camera? Normally with an Elmar, but this week with the J12.

I can't really say why, but the III series just seem "right" in the hand. Always wanted a IIIC, but never had one. I have had two IIIf's (black and red), and once had a Reid III - should never have sold that - OK it raised enough capital to get me on the slippery slope that is the M sytem, but I wish I still had it - a Leica III with Rolls-Royce build quality.

Ahh me......

 

[thomasw_]

here is a pic of an aftermarket lever attached to the wind knob of a IIIg

Now I can't understand why anyone would want that on their Barnack? The winding knob works fine as it is; does that hook-knob speed you up so much faster? As well, that extra knob would definitely cut down on access to the shutter button, not being able to get a big finger into place except as that winding knob-hook allows.

I think the IIIc I have is going to pass on that "extra" 🙂

 

[xayraa33]

Now I can't understand why anyone would want that on their Barnack? The winding knob works fine as it is; does that hook-knob speed you up so much faster? As well, that extra knob would definitely cut down on access to the shutter button, not being able to get a big finger into place except as that winding knob-hook allows.

I think the IIIc I have is going to pass on that "extra" 🙂

in the 1950s, accessory manufacturers made these devices for people to upgrade their older style knob wind cameras to the same level as the latest modern Nikon S2 or Leica M3, although lever wind was a feature on Exaktas and on some Retinas, way before these two other cameras.

 

[mikeb380]

Yeah, my Retinette 1b has leverwind, on the bottom, weird feeling but once you get used to it it works ok. But a wind lever on a Barnack is sacrelidge, burn them at the stake. :bang:

Michael

 

[cnguyen]

My newly acquired IIIF ST RD

My newly acquired IIIF ST RD

Here's my newly acquired IIIF with 1949 50mm f2 Summitar. I just can't get enough of it.

 

[harry01562]

Here's my newly acquired IIIF with 1949 50mm f2 Summitar. I just can't get enough of it.

I have a similar IIIf with a 1948 Summitar, and I know just what you mean. A fondlers dream, and a mean picture taker, as well. A beautiful object, and I wonder if it's in any of the museums that have Gucci watches, et all, as examples of modern design. Possibly it's bumped by the M3, but they are really 2 different approaches to the same end result.

Anyway, I love mine, even if it's not even as modern as a late '50 Barnack-like Canon RF.... Leica just couldn't combine those VF optics, for a number of reasons, no doubt.

Harry

 

[John Shriver]

The short baseline of the Barnack required the 1.5X magnification for accurate focusing. (The II is compromised by it's 1X rangefinder.)

Canon came up with the variable magnification viewfinder, so that one window could accurately focus at the highest magnification, but frame a 50mm lens at the lowest magnification. They also protected it with patents, so Leica couldn't go down that route...

(The need for a new round of patent protection was one of Leica's motivations for the M3...)

 

[gregg]

I second the short baseline - my IIIc is ugly to focus on but wonderful to compose by. At wide angle the focus accuracy is higher than my M6. Keep making WA screw mount lenses and viewfinders VC - they are just what we need.

 

[Solinar]

I had the half silvered mirror replaced on my IIIf and boy what a difference a new beam splitter makes. I'm still peering through a periscope, but my IIIf focuses more accurately than my Canon P. Add in the fact many of the old lenses have a long throw focus helix and you'll find that focusing is right on the money.

Also, since the Barnack Leicas don't have the combined RF/VF, the viewfinder is very clear and bright in low light, even though it is small.

 

[dee]

I have five leicas and another , 1946/7 will be a gift for my 2007 , 60th.

2 x delightfull 1932/3 IIs in black with nickel elmars [one in feet, the other in metres ].
I could not afford a 30s car , but theses are the pocketable equivalent.
I will have three Leica IIIc's which I prefer visually to my sole IIIf red dial, but to me , these are the modern versions !
I have PDD an autistic glitch , so my reasons don't align with ''normal'', but the Leicas gift me with deliberation, ritual, simplicity, and the reassurance that the can be fixed indefinitely - also they surround and ground me in a confusing world - and each is compact enough to fit in a handbag ... as for photos , I love the quality of my Elmars , and the sole Summitar .
Ok i can use these lenses with an M series, but these , for me, defeat the size ?bulk equation over my Minolta SRs /SR7v ... and too many Rokkors !
i also like to use my Zorki I's and Zorki S's ... why , i have no reason, when I , thanks to an inheritance , now have the very real treasures !
my two Z S 's, though, are also a delight,and in refinished-like-new chrome and black , is quite unlike my Leica IIs to use, yet has a a-tractor-tive resonance to it !
i don't think that reason gets much of a look in when crazy rules !

 

[dee]

I have five leicas and another , 1946/7 will be a gift for my 2007 , 60th.

2 x delightfull 1932/3 IIs in black with nickel elmars [one in feet, the other in metres ].
I could not afford a 30s car , but theses are the pocketable equivalent.
I will have three Leica IIIc's which I prefer visually to my sole IIIf red dial, but to me , these are the modern versions !
I have PDD an autistic glitch , so my reasons don't align with ''normal'', but the Leicas gift me with deliberation, ritual, simplicity, and the reassurance that the can be fixed indefinitely - also they surround and ground me in a confusing world - and each is compact enough to fit in a handbag ... as for photos , I love the quality of my Elmars , and the sole Summitar .
Ok i can use these lenses with an M series, but these , for me, defeat the size ?bulk equation over my Minolta SRs /SR7v ... and too many Rokkors !
i also like to use my Zorki I's and Zorki S's ... why , i have no reason, when I , thanks to an inheritance , now have the very real treasures !
my two Z S 's, though, are also a delight,and in refinished-like-new chrome and black , is quite unlike my Leica IIs to use, yet has a a-tractor-tive resonance to it !
i don't think that reason gets much of a look in when crazy rules !

 

[dee]

OOPS ... Dee's praxia double -click / sorry !

 

[dee]

I must have been introduced to a Leica as a kid . In the 70s I had a comparitively clumsy , Zorki 4 , but turned to SLRs .
Recently I re ? discovered Leica , and it was the only camera EVER that my autisic glitched hands and eyes combined to make REAL ....
A small inheritance gifted me with 2 x IIIc and a IIIf , and two delightfull black and nickel Leica IIs .
What do they do for me ?
I need the ritual , dee-liberation , constancy , history , continuity , delicacy , of these delicate, diminutive treasures .
Also, they cans still be fixed indefinitely , which is crucial to my anxiety over broken ''toys ''
Ok , not everyone needs several ''same/similar '' safe ''friends'' to surround and ground him/her , but there really isn't anything like a leica - except my Russian cousins ! [ 'specially black Zorki Ss ! ]
And there is something magical taking pictures with a camera in the very early days of 35mm photography - who knows who first spent what must have been a small fortune on my L IIS in 1932/3 ? - and what they experienced and photographed ?

dee

 

[dee]

I must have been introduced to a Leica as a kid . In the 70s I had a comparitively clumsy , Zorki 4 , but turned to SLRs .
Recently I re ? discovered Leica , and it was the only camera EVER that my autisic glitched hands and eyes combined to make REAL ....
A small inheritance gifted me with 2 x IIIc and a IIIf , and two delightfull black and nickel Leica IIs .
What do they do for me ?
I need the ritual , dee-liberation , constancy , history , continuity , delicacy , of these diminutive treasures .
Also, they cans still be fixed indefinitely , which is crucial to my anxiety over broken ''toys ''
Ok , not everyone needs several ''same/similar '' safe ''friends'' to surround and ground him/her , but there really isn't anything like a leica - except my Russian cousins ! [ 'specially black Zorki Ss ! ]
And there is something magical taking pictures with a camera in the very early days of 35mm photography - who knows who first spent what must have been a small fortune on my L IIS in 1932/3 ? - and what they experienced and photographed ?

dee

 

[dee]

OOps double click again sorry !