Leica LTM Best ever Barnack?

Leica M39 screw mount bodies/lenses
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The Leotax's viewfinder is a little bigger than the Tower 45s and the rewind is nicer. But the Tower has the diopter adjustment, the sleeker looking top panel, M3 style rear door

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and the ability to set shutter speed before or after winding the camera.

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I only have one Barnack and it is in desperate need to be seen by the doctor. I recently cleaned the slight haze that started accumulating inside the lens (on the element just behind the aperture blades) but the one shutter curtain needs replacement.

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My one and only Barnack, a Leica IIIa syn - built as a black III in 1933 and modified by Leica in the later 1950s according to the engraved DBP, so it's almost become a poor man's Swedish IIIf.
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For the Leica III afficionados I show you mine :)
I wouldn't say the "best Barnack style" but my only "true Leica Barnack type" and probably my oldest camera...
Should I try it with the VL 40mm F2.8 Heliar and their much smaller viewfinder..?

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I've only used 4 Barnacks IIIa, IIIc, IIIf and IIIg
a was great, f had things I didn't need and I didn't like the design of it, g didn't really feel like a Barnack so I only kept and use the IIIc.
Out of the 3 Leica cameras that I still have I use the IIIc 70% of the time. It is in fact my most used camera of all when I think of it.
I'd vote the c to be the ultimate Barnack. It feels like the early ones but it's made of brass and has a better curtain. What's not too like.

I've never had the chance to use the Leotax or Nicca but I'd like to give them a try if I have a chance.
 
I meant the I II III series...
I haven't used anything before IIIa so couldn't comment.
Of the III series I think c was the 1st made of brass.
 
I was under misapprehension. I remember reading somewhere on the improvements the IIIc implemented over the previous models and they included (from camera wiki):
  • One piece die-cast body, instead of an assembly of small parts. The cover of the rangefinder is no longer a separate piece.
  • Improved internal mechanism.
  • Larger release button.
  • New exposure counter mechanism.
I must have misremembered the bit about the brass. Stand corrected.
 
ravenxarmy said:
I was under misapprehension. I remember reading somewhere on the improvements the IIIc implemented over the previous models and they included (from camera wiki):
  • One piece die-cast body, instead of an assembly of small parts. The cover of the rangefinder is no longer a separate piece.
  • Improved internal mechanism.
  • Larger release button.
  • New exposure counter mechanism.
I must have misremembered the bit about the brass. Stand corrected.
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The operation of the different models is about the same, but I personally like the feeling and sound of the earlier models better. They have a kind of "hand made feel and sound".

Erik.
 
Some more pcitures for the "nicest" Barnack LEICA. I know with that synch contact my Leica III don't really qualify for the most collectables, but because of this the camera was quite affordable. Furthermore this was a common modification back then and probably made in the USA, at least I bought the camera from USA. Works very smooth. Don't really believe shutter makes 1/500s but anyway, ten years ago I put some films through with flawless results. But I never liked the bottom loading. Note Oskar Barnack died Jan. 1936 at 56 years of age. I'm quite sure if he had lived and work longer he would have abandoned that odd handling instead of leaving that to CANON...

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1197E0BE-1AD1-4465-BBC4-71C269EEBBF8.jpegHaving put a LOT of time and effort to convert Leitz UR Replica #9 into a functioning 35 mm camera, it ended up as the favorite user in my collection. The lens is a 1911 Zeiss Kino Tessar, Exactly the Same lens Barnack used in his creation of the “Liliput” Camera, the UR
 
Ambro51 said:
View attachment 4818759Having put a LOT of time and effort to convert Leitz UR Replica #9 into a functioning 35 mm camera, it ended up as the favorite user in my collection. The lens is a 1911 Zeiss Kino Tessar, Exactly the Same lens Barnack used in his creation of the “Liliput” Camera, the UR
Click to expand...
What a beautiful, minimalist photographic tool! Love ❤️ it! 📷
 
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