Got my IIIC

[Athos6]

My first impressions

1. Its neat, but i knew that already.
2. Loading was much easier then I had thought, I trimmed the leader, attached it to the take-up spool, poped it in, and tightened up the slack.
3. The rangefinder is hard to use. I cleaned the windows because they were kinda dirty, when putting the eye pieces back I mixed them up at first and couldn't see anything 🙂... When I got it back together I still found the contrast to be too low to get a good focus so I added a bit of film leader behind one of the windows. It didn't make it any brighter but the contrast went up. I'm thinking, until I get the rangefinder prizm re-silvered or replaced this might be an out door camera, getting a usable image in the rangefinder indoors was hit and miss.
4. The 50mm viewfinder built in is nice and clear but the Summitar + vented hood obscures about 25 of the lower portion of the view. I'm thinging that a external 50mm viewfinder might be the way to go.
5. The shutter release took time to get use to, I have soft releases on my other cameras, and as I press the shutter on the IIIC I find it releases much later then I think it would.
6. The knobs are not that slow.

1 question about the lenses behind the eye piece. I know there is a proper order right to left. But is there a right way round? I'm thinking of flipping the lens on the rangefinder side to see if I filped the wrong way when I cleaned it.

Well thats it, time to go finish up this roll so I can see the results.

 

[anoldsock]

hey congrats on the purchase, can't wait to see the results!

 

[Spider67]

Instead of a film leader I started to use plastic folders for documents. If you like you could drop me your adress via pm and I can send you a sample (they are really very cheap!). They are not as dark as film leaders and not as thick either.
Seems to be an inbred problem of the IIIc as Leitz procided special filters like the OKARO for the RF window.

 

[richard_l]

.....4. The 50mm viewfinder built in is nice and clear but the Summitar + vented hood obscures about 25 of the lower portion of the view. I'm thinging that a external 50mm viewfinder might be the way to go.....

The camera seems to have been designed with the 50mm/3.5 Elmar in mind, but for larger 50mm lenses (and those other than 50mm focal length), the CV auxiliary finders are excellent.

Richard

 

[payasam]

There's no rangefinder prism. The R/F brightness depends on the condition of a little piece of half-silvered mirror.

An external finder such as the SBOOI is an excellent idea. Richard, the IIIc was often sold with the Summitar, but the proper hood (SOOPD) for that lens does not obscure the finder images.

 

[Athos6]

There's no rangefinder prism. The R/F brightness depends on the condition of a little piece of half-silvered mirror.

An external finder such as the SBOOI is an excellent idea. Richard, the IIIc was often sold with the Summitar, but the proper hood (SOOPD) for that lens does not obscure the finder images.

I can live with the viewfinder issue, its not really that bad, once I find the proper Leica adapter so I can use a 39mm hood it'll be a lot better, the Series 6 adapter I'm using now is a bit wider then the Leica adapter.

Right, its a mirror, anyhow you get my point. 🙂

I found, near the end of the day and this morning, a better way to use the rangefinder. Before I was getting my eye as close to the window as possible in an effort to get a better view. I find that if I keep my eye back far enough that the RF patch fills the window I have a much easier time seeing the split image. Trying out my self serviced J-8 today!

 

[Athos6]

Instead of a film leader I started to use plastic folders for documents. If you like you could drop me your adress via pm and I can send you a sample (they are really very cheap!). They are not as dark as film leaders and not as thick either.
Seems to be an inbred problem of the IIIc as Leitz procided special filters like the OKARO for the RF window.

No need, but thanks for the offer, I found exactly what you were describing in the suply room 🙂

 

[Athos6]

Light Leak??

Light Leak??

What do you guy/gals think? Light leak from the cassette? I threw it on the car seat in full daylight on accident, I think thats what did it, could someone confirm that it wasn't a light leak in the IIIc. Thanks!

 

[xayraa33]

What do you guy/gals think? Light leak from the cassette? I threw it on the car seat in full daylight on accident, I think thats what did it, could someone confirm that it wasn't a light leak in the IIIc. Thanks!

It is a UFO materialization 🙂

if it only appears on one frame it is possibly the film cassette.
just in case, shoot another roll of film with your IIIc to be sure.

 

[Athos6]

It is a UFO materialization 🙂

if it only appears on one frame it is possibly the film cassette.
just in case, shoot another roll of film with your IIIc to be sure.

It appears in more frames near the end of the roll where the film is tighter around the spool in the cassette, and less often near the start of the roll... I'm going to shoot another roll. From this picture it looks like I need to work the slow speeds out a bit. The exposures look ok though.

 

[jean-pierre Tulou]

Leica 3 C and telemeter problems

Leica 3 C and telemeter problems

:angel: hi!...my father owned a Leica 3 F and i used it so here is the answer:
about telemeter cleaning :there are several mirrors and prisms in those
telemeters so the job is to be done by a précision agreed workshop,such as
the plant of wetzlar in germany its name is LEITZ GMBH but with maximum
price!...
they repair any LEICA camera from any vintage but be careful:ask for the
price before saying yes!...
i was both a LEICA dealer and a user so i can tell you that my first boss
had 12 leicas all repaired to their newest condition ,so for Wetzlar plant
nothing is impossible!...
second😱ne friend of mine jean-pierre Montoya owned a Leitz workshop
in Paris ,France😛hoto cine MS;3 rue charles Beaudelaire 75012 PARIS,
France!...
same quality than weztlar because they have the agreement from LEITZ
but the price is divided by 2!...
i hope you'll have the same conclusion than me!...
yours truly!...
peter wolf.

My first impressions

1. Its neat, but i knew that already.
2. Loading was much easier then I had thought, I trimmed the leader, attached it to the take-up spool, poped it in, and tightened up the slack.
3. The rangefinder is hard to use. I cleaned the windows because they were kinda dirty, when putting the eye pieces back I mixed them up at first and couldn't see anything 🙂... When I got it back together I still found the contrast to be too low to get a good focus so I added a bit of film leader behind one of the windows. It didn't make it any brighter but the contrast went up. I'm thinking, until I get the rangefinder prizm re-silvered or replaced this might be an out door camera, getting a usable image in the rangefinder indoors was hit and miss.
4. The 50mm viewfinder built in is nice and clear but the Summitar + vented hood obscures about 25 of the lower portion of the view. I'm thinging that a external 50mm viewfinder might be the way to go.
5. The shutter release took time to get use to, I have soft releases on my other cameras, and as I press the shutter on the IIIC I find it releases much later then I think it would.
6. The knobs are not that slow.

1 question about the lenses behind the eye piece. I know there is a proper order right to left. But is there a right way round? I'm thinking of flipping the lens on the rangefinder side to see if I filped the wrong way when I cleaned it.

Well thats it, time to go finish up this roll so I can see the results.