Leica LTM finally bought one

Leica M39 screw mount bodies/lenses
brachal

brachal

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After months of agonizing and flip-flopping, I broke down and ordered my first Leica last night -- a BGN IIIf BD from KEH. Now I feel like a kid at Christmas! I'm hoping to use it as a regular shooter once I get comfortable with cutting/loading film.

I was wondering if more knowledgeable people could give me any pointers on what to look for when checking it out after arrival? Any known "gotchas" with these cameras? I've always had good experiences with KEH, so I'm pretty confident everything will be in order, but it doesn't hurt to check. Any tips on using, caring for, or appreciating a III would also be very welcome. For now, I'm planning to use it with a Fed 50 collapsible or Jupiter-3, and maybe Voigtlander 35mm Skopar.
 
congrats on the new toy.
i don't care for bottom loaders myself but, in their favour, thay are small and light and good carry cameras for street shooting.

joe
 
The first time I loaded film into a screwmount I was prepared for a fight after some of the things I had read ... it was easy provided you take your time and trim the leader. I have a black leica II that is the sweetest camera to use that I own and I can't believe how beautiful it is. I think they are ergonomically perfect and the only advice I would give is to change shutter speeds with the film advanced and the shutter cocked! :)
 
Congratulations! You'll want another soon...

Apologies if I am telling my grandmother to suck eggs but if there is one piece of advice to give it is about loading. Get an old film and practice several times making sure the rewind knob turns as you wind on.

Avoids that sinking feeling when the first film comes back blank and unexposed....

Michael
 
Here's a third on the "push the film aroud through the open shutter" while simultaneously pushing the film canister and take-up reel into the body. The "T" setting on my IIIf is unreliable, so I use "B" to hold the shutter open - middle finger on left hand rests naturally on the button while holding to load. This also allows me to release the shutter and advance the take-up knob to make sure the film has engaged the sprockets before replacing the bottom on the body.

It sounds awkward, and it is. After about 30 rolls I think my record is just over a minute for loading a new roll - I'm now consistently getting it done in under 2 minutes. That said, the camera is a jewel and I love using it.

Only other suggestion - order a VCII clip-on meter from Stephen.

- John
 
I'll second the comment about practicing loading it with a throw away roll of film. Once you get used to it, it's not that bad. It'll never be as quick as a normal SLR, but it's comparable to a loading a 120 format camera once you're used to it. There are a couple of sellers on eBay that have inexpensive (~$15) copies of the ABLON film leader trimming template, and I'd certainly recommend checking them out.

Takes me more time to explain the concept of the long leader to the photo finisher, which happens almost every time...
 
...and remember to make sure any collapsible lens is fully extended.

Another pitfall, from my past...

Michael
 
The film loading instructions on the Cameraquest site are good, and describes roughly how I do it, with one exception: you don't need to wrap the film around the take-up spool (or spindle) several times. As long as you push the edge of the film leader firmly under the clip (you need to push hard to make sure it holds onto the film), you can just proceed to drop the film into the camera as the rest of the instructions indicate. I've found that wrapping the film around the spool just adds unecessary time and aggravation.
 
I haven't had too much trouble loading film. I bought a pair of scissors at Staples and they sit in my camera bag so I can cut film and load it in the field. I count 14 holes on the long side and cut down the middle then swoop over to create that nice angle (not 90 degress.) So far, so good (no jams, all the wheels that should be turning, are.)
I'd say 2 minutes is good for me, too.

My first Leica is/was a IIIf, too. Lovely little camera - you'll love it :)
 
The shutter should sound smooth when you shoot it, no grinding noises. Be sure to check the highest shutter speeds on film, they are the first ones to flake out when it needs a clean/lube/adjust.

The rangefinder should have a bright second image. The vertical and horizontal adjustments on the RF are something you should learn how to do yourself. Use the moon as a target for checking infinity on the RF.

But, don't be surprised if it does need a CLA. That's normal, not not horribly expensive.
 
I found the ebay seller who has the ablon copies. It looks like a useful thing to have; I'll have to order one of them.
 
Remember to focus what Leitz called the R/F telescope -- what is now called the dioptre adjustment. And be prepared to go head over heels.
 
brachal said:
I found the ebay seller who has the ablon copies. It looks like a useful thing to have; I'll have to order one of them.
Click to expand...

well i have one of those. pm me if you want to take it off my hands:)
 
use this image as a template for trimming the film 4 inches, or 22 to 24 sprocket holes back. make the film is loaded onto the cassette right square against side of the drum; if you have only exposed sprockets on one side of the film, loading is easy: therefore push the film back into the cassette so that only one side has the sprocket holes showing. oh and round the corners of any film edges that get trimmed. this worked perfectly for me and i am all thumbs.
 
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I bought two Leica II's from eBay early this year, but because of work and other excuses, I only know had chance to familiarize with them now. in a mean time all I had was a scanned PDF of original Leica II instruction manual :p

both Leica's are from 1932 (#'s 73838 & 82461), other came from Germany and other from Sweden. even the condition (black paint worn out in corners etc, but nothing major) is quite similar in them.

loading film into camera took several minutes, and from first roll I propably lost about 1/4 frames because the teeths of camera film advance mechanism broke first sprocket holes from film, until I managed to load film properly.

even more than the cameras itself, I was interested of old 5cm Elmar lenses that came with cameras (I dont know how to determine the age), and what kind of pictures they would capture to modern film. I was expecting quite a bit of flaring, and tried to find some situations to know afterwards, but to my untrained eyes I cannot detect bad flaring. also did not expect very sharp pictures.

so, here are tree late summer pics from yesterday, as they came from photolab
-Sunny 16, ISO 200
-Scanner: FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD., SP-1500
-exported smaller with Picasa

1.JPG 2.JPG 3.JPG

ps. I was surprised how fun its to use these old point-n-shooters, film ran out fast :)
 
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