IIf conversion?

[ShinyRF]

Hi folks, i'm a long-time lurker and infrequent poster.

I have recently acquired a 1951 BD iif sn. 451***, but it has a few odd features... Firstly it goes to 1/1000 not 1/500 as it should, also when i got it the first curtain needed to be replaced. On disassembly i noticed the camera does not have a retard rod or inertia retard assembly as noted in the Nat Cam Manual 327, it does not look as if these parts were ever present.

Is this common? could the camera have been factory converted from a iif BD to iif RD?

After replacing the first curtain the camera works perfectly - i'm looking forward to shooting with it a lot!

Thanks

Jim

 

[mkvrnn]

Didn't some of the IIf cameras have shutter speeds up to 1/1000? I'm sure I've read that somewhere, although mine has a later serial number (570***) and the fastest is 1/500.

 

[Steve Bellayr]

From "Leica Collector's Guide" by Dennis Laney 2005: "1954: 1/1000 top speed added from No. 676,564"

 

[ShinyRF]

As i thought, likely converted at some point to 1/1000. I believe the flash sync parts are slightly different between a BD and RD too, but i don't really want to take the top off again to find out as it's seems to be working great. Just developed my second roll after the curtain replacement, speeds look good and negatives are nice and even.