Leotax LTM Just arrived from Japan: Leotax "Elite" T2L

[Coldkennels]

I've been looking for a good lever wind Barnack for a while and ended up gunning for a late Leotax over the other variants like the Nicca (for reasons I honestly can't remember at this point). Been scouring Japanese eBay listings for ages, and finally found one I just couldn't pass up.

It turned up today, and it's in immaculate condition... in the original box, with all the original pamphlets and instructions. The lens is the Leonon 5cm f2, and it's not got a single mark on it. I was a little dubious about buying it (it seemed way too good to be true), but for now at least, I'm over the moon.

Compared to the IIIf, it's a little longer, a little thicker, and a little taller; I make it 140 x 31.5 x 72mm compared to the IIIf's 135.5 x 30 x 69mm. It feels good in the hand, the lever wind is well-proportioned and smooth, and the film reminder and rewind crank are both considerably better designs than any of Leica's Barnacks.

Heading out to run some film through it now to see what sort of condition the shutter's in. The only catch is it can't take a FILCA, so I've got to dig out and use some generic reusable cassettes for the first time in years.

 

[xayraa33]

Congrats on the Leotax...the Japanese were doing great trying to improve the Barnack concept after many years of straight copying that Oskar Barnack design. Too bad it had to end with the SLR camera preference that took over starting in 1959.

 

[Andy Kibber]

Wow! What a find. The original box, pamphlets, etc. look amazing.

 

[rgeorge911]

Beautiful. I’m sure it will make great images, too!

 

[bennyng]

What a beauty! It's practically like a brand new set out of the shop!!

Enjoy your new camera set!

Cheers,

 

[David Murphy]

Congrats, that's a rare beauty. The Leonon 50/2 is an excellent fairly fast, but light rangefinder lens - I think you will like it.

 

[Coldkennels]

Aye, the Leonon's a really interesting lens. in terms of ergonomics and use, it's light, but also oddly bloody big (compared to the Summar, collapsible Summicron, and Jupiter 8) - enough to get some decent viewfinder blockage. And the focus throw is incredibly short at just 90º, which is going to take some getting used to.

I shot some test photos on the X-Pro 2 before I put some film behind it, and it's soft as all hell and glowy at f/2, but sharpens up radically at f/2.8... and by f/4 it's shockingly good. I just scanned my test roll this afternoon and it performs the same on film. I'll try to tidy some scans up and get some examples on here later in case anyone's curious about it.

 

[Phil_F_NM]

What an amazing looking camera kit.

Phil Forrest

 

[dexdog]

A beautiful camera outfit. I have a Leotax F with Topcor 5cm/2 in the same condition, including with camera box with literature, leather case and strap in separate box, and a non-branded cleaning kit. I wonder whether my camera ever had film loaded into it. Amazing what one can find 60 years after production