Leica LTM Barnack Leicas - why do people like them?

Leica M39 screw mount bodies/lenses
thomasw_ said:
the compact size, the jewel-like mechanical precision, and the simple, effective design of the controls.

I think you should be doing Leica's advertising. :D
 
OldNick said:
They are also great with a good Jupiter 12. Right now, that is my favorite rangefinder combination.
Ditto. I took my J.12 off the Leica so I could use it to shoot a roll through a Zorki.1 and then it's going right back on.
 
xayraa33 said:
it is the just the bare essentials of a great camera, but what essentials!
it is all you really need when you remove the unnecessary bits.
Could not agree more.

Richie

PS I have found that with practice I can load my IIIC pretty quickly. And I can now do it while walking no less!
 
I loved my leica

I loved my leica

In a time long ago and in a faraway kingdom I worked in a camera store. We had a choice of any camera we wanted to use, say over a weekend. After using it once I got addicted to it and they had threaten me to get it back. It was a IIC or G too long to remember. That was a sweet camera. Ideal for a walkaround shooter. In a jacket/windbreaker pocket and a lens in the other pocket. To me it was an ideal fit. I just couldn't afford it. In NYC about 76/77 I went to Willoughby's and still couldn't afford a Leica but they had a wonderful Canon RF. I used to take it to bars/clubs/ off off off off Broadway theater and get pictures. Wonderful camera. Then some SOB broke into my house and stole it. The insurance co said it was old and had no value! What a bunch of dummies!
Well I am now retired and on a small pension so I still can't afford a Leica, and I find I can't afford a Canon either. Sooooooo I startedlooking on ebay and found the Ukrainians had a bunch of Leica look alikes. The wonderful thing was I could even afford them!! So now, I have about 14 of the things, some Fed, Some Zorki, and even a Pax. I got a few Zeiss folders and have an Ikonta I love. I have a rangefinder I got for it and now when I go out with it, I look like class!!! PPL ask me "does that thing work?" I also have a Zorki C and a black body Zorki 2C which both work. I don't remember the old Leicas being that hard to load!!! We used to cut leader by eyeball. I've shot about 3 rolls through the 2C and about 2 through the Zeiss. Now I just need to get the chemicals and block the window and I can process them.

I don't think I've answered the original question. I loved and used them because they are top quality, light weight, and no bells and whistles and NO battery to die. When I go to a park or the zoo, no one else has anything remotely like it. I'm not one of the maddening crowd who want the camera to do everything for them. When I have finished and have a print in hand, I know it was a team of me and the camera, not a small robot, who took that photo. Feels good.
:dance:
 
varjag said:
Barnacks are form dictated by function, and as most such things are beautiful. Make a hull around focal plane shutter, slap RF/VF atop, add necessary controls and you end up with Barnack Leica.

Or a Bessa L ;)
 
A true Barnack camera: my 'O' series gets used a lot more than I expected when I bought it. Once I added on a SBOOI OVF I really started to love this camera.

For cycle touring, hill walking or even just walking around in the town: it's tiny, jacket pocketable size and <500g weight win over a larger M6.
 
varjag said:
Barnacks are form dictated by function, and as most such things are beautiful. Make a hull around focal plane shutter, slap RF/VF atop, add necessary controls and you end up with Barnack Leica.

Exactly. All other 35mm cameras derive from the Leica archetype. It is the Platonic Form of photography, the only real thing....

Cheers, Ian
 
So many knobs, dials, controls... but so aesthetic
... & a IIIc (& Summitar? or Summar) is featured in that classic "Das Boot"

(Edit- typo)
 
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Das Boot

Das Boot

350D_user said:
It is? I must've missed that bit. :(
Yup, sorry to go off on a tangent, but in the first part of the re-mastered /director's cut (1997?) version you see a young impressionable journalist (herr Leutnant Werner) come aboard & snap away, seemingly oblivious of the need to hold a camera steady
 
I think f8&go pointed it out : they are Beautiful. Look at those small dials, this little advance button, that tiny rewind lever, the cute little shutter button... as well as its compact size with a collapsible lens... is there anybody who would accept to give me one for christmas pleaaase... or if every RFF member gives me 50 cents (money, not rap singer) it could buy one ;)! I really want a III or even a standard with an elmar...
Merry Christmas everyone!!
 
Wow

Wow

Gabriel M.A. said:
Why do people like them?

Allow me to demonstrate; this is my IIIc the day after getting it in the mail:

:D

Wow, you got all THAT on Ebay? Now I know why YOU enjoy your Leica. ;)
;)
 
Gabriel M.A. said:
Why do people like them?

Allow me to demonstrate; this is my IIIc the day after getting it in the mail:

:D


Yeah, my camera came without the curvy, soft and squeezable attachment that's on yours!
 
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