Leica LTM Leica IIIC K - share info and questions

[LeicaTom]

No worries Tom,

I never intended for the camera to become a frequent-user. It'll probably fill up some shelf space in my display cabinet next to my Red-Curtain IIIc and be used to shoot the occasional roll.

I'm aware that 1/1000th was a difficult speed to obtain accurately with the IIIa to IIIc. And I normally don't use anything faster then 1/500th. But it was sunny out there during the trip and the summitar's aperture doesn't go beyond f/12.5. I had to compensate somehow 😉

A slower ISO film should help, or at least verify the problems. I'll try some Fujicolor 200 next.

Rick,

Yeah, I normally do shoot pretty fast/wide open when I'm outside photographing the girls, while I use the Sonnar's alot at f1.5 and I need 1000 or 500 often, I have noticed with a few of mine that 1000 is problematic, 500 seems to work on everything, but 1000 is capping on my Sharkskin IIIC K and possibly on my "user" #392xxx camera.

That camera has like solid vulcanite, but has dents and scratches and will never be a top beauty queen again, so it's the "user" and oddly enough I've found it to be even smoother working than the "wartime" Grey IIIC K's I think the 1945 Chrome cameras were the BEST of the lot, they have something like 7 to 9 Ball Bearing positions inside the camera, (the Doctor knows the correct amount) they did a serious "overkill" of the bearings in 1945...... 😀

Tom

 

[Mr_Flibble]

I haven't forced it, but does this camera not have an extendable rewind knob?

 

[LeicaTom]

I haven't forced it, but does this camera not have an extendable rewind knob?

Ohh yeh like on any IIIC.........turn the R lever out after the films done and then pull up on the RW knob and turn clockwise till the tention is gone..... 🙂

Tom

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Sure, the film rewinds fine. Except the RW knob just doesn't seem to want to be pulled up.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Ran a roll of some extremely cheap Lucky color 200 film through it to test both the film and the camera. Slower speeds seem to do okay.

Still a Little shutter drag on 1/200th I think. Maybe some more exercise is in order.

Interesting colors with this film and the summitar. The film should do well to create some authentic images for that WW2 re-enactment to Normandy/Brittany tour that's coming up in September.

 

[LeicaTom]

Ran a roll of some extremely cheap Lucky color 200 film through it to test both the film and the camera. Slower speeds seem to do okay.

Still a Little shutter drag on 1/200th I think. Maybe some more exercise is in order.

Interesting colors with this film and the summitar. The film should do well to create some authentic images for that WW2 re-enactment to Normandy/Brittany tour that's coming up in September.

The really cheap color film is always good for trying to get the "vintage" look 🙂 - I like what's going on there Rick....I just picked up a "uncoated" 45' Tar that I hope I will soon have sorted out and use on my M8
(it MATCHES my August 4th 1945 IIIC K Grey body) that once belonged to that Danish lady who worked for the US Army in Stuttgart, the camera has it's original matching Elmar 50, but I thought it quite unique to find a Summitar lens that was issued the very same day that camera was and oddly enough the lens was not coated, pretty much a restposten lens that didn't get the color coating treatment in 1942/43.

Can't wait to see those Normandy/Brittany tour pix, be sure to start a whole new thread for them 🙂

Tom

 

[LeicaTom]

Here's more IIIC K "eye candy" from Major Naden's camera with an OKARO viewfinder enhancement filter and a correct 1945 US Army issue Summitar f2/50 the "barndoor" hood and an uncommon
Orange contrast filter.

Enjoy!

Tom

 

[splitimageview]

The barndoor is the goofiest looking Leica item ever. 🙂

 

[LeicaTom]

The barndoor is the goofiest looking Leica item ever. 🙂

Ohh yeah, but it gets lot's of attention when you use one, people think their funny! 🙂

Tom

 

[Mr_Flibble]

I don't think the barn-door hood is that particularly goofy compared to, say, the Haber & Fink lens turret.... 😉

 

[LeicaTom]

I don't think the barn-door hood is that particularly goofy compared to, say, the Haber & Fink lens turret.... 😉

Yeah, that H&F turret is pretty funny, but not as funny as that one accessory for a late 1920's Leica I that looked like it was a pull starter for a lawn mower.......LOL!!!!! 😀

Rick, I'm sure you saw this on evilbay this week.........sold just a little too high for what it's really worth, but I'm sure the new buyer doesn't know the full history of the camera as well as I do or else they wouldn't have paid so much for it.

It's had a hard life, I know this camera about 8 years now and it came from a really good dealer in vintage Leica's, the second owner bought it for crazy money ($3k +) and then made the mistake of having it CLA'd by a incompetent person, who damaged the camera's vulcanite in two places and then attenpted to repair the camera (poorly) then it sold again on evilbay with it's original case and lens, for about the same price it sold for this week, ($2,250) except this latest seller took away the original case (which had the officer's name in it who it was awarded to in 1945) and also the original 1945 US Army issued *asterisk/feet lens and subsituted the lens with a 1951 Summitar.

I was with this camera up to $2,000 IF the seller would have agreed to include he original lens which has some fungus/haze? issues, but they preffered to sell the camera with a new 1950's lens, nothing except the body on the camera was original and I really wonder after all the times it has been broken open if the crate is still the original one afterall?

I hope that the new owner now enjoy's the camera for what it is and that we don't see this camera again on evilbay, maybe next time with a silver chrome base plate?

Shame this camera didn't keep it's original issued pieces, I'd rather have a old worn out or hazy "matching numbers" lens with a camera then a lens almost 10 years newer than the original issue......It makes me sad to think all the known history of the camera and the officer who owned it is all gone, matching numbers cameras are really becoming a rarity, anyone who still has one, has a Leica that's something very special. 🙂

Happy Collecting!

Tom

 

[Mr_Flibble]

I tend to avoid ebay when I'm low on disposable income, so that one actually slipped by me. (actually, I'm telling a lie; I did buy 5 rolls of 120 film, a Graflok back for my Miniature Speed Graphic and a set of books for a roleplaying game...right before I ran out of disposable income).

Yes it is a shame the original issued sets were broken up, but I guess most people back in the day did also like to use different lenses on their cameras like, just like we do now. I don't think anyone suspects their new camera to be a collector's item some day.

 

[LeicaTom]

There was the latest one sold on the evilbay last week ~ a July 1945 IIIC K Grey ~ originally a US Army issued camera with State Department history etc. ...............that sold for a little over $1,400 (in my personal opinion like $600 to $700 more than what it was really worth) -
Notice: the lens was wrong (1947) and also broken (at the base) and the seller told me that every time he opened the camera up, big chunks of the grey vulcanite was falling off 😛
(some people are so damm stupid).

I talked to the guy selling it the very first night it was online and suggested that the camera not be handled, in the original detailed photos he sent me the vulcanite was all 100% intact and could have been repaired with some TLC and the right tools it would have been hardly noticeable, but by the time the auction was over the entire right side of the front vulcanite was falling off and he said there were pieces missing........... uggh!!!

Shame that so often the people that end up finding these things in their deceased relatives attic's don't have any common sense to handle the item with care and leave the inspections and restorations to the professionals.......

I hope the new owner was able to preserve the original covering and that it ends up in a nice collection 😀

Happy Collecting!

Tom

 

[sabears]

Hi Tom, regarding our beloved camera, I want to share a (perhaps) little known intriguing feature... as we all know all the IIICK cameras have the K engraved o the top housing after the ser.n. but...looking inside on the chassis I 've found that only some of them have the K engraved after serial number, the great majority only have the correct n. without K.
The former, in my limited experience, are military ones...any idea or explanation?

best wishes.

 

[Vince Lupo]

I don't think the barn-door hood is that particularly goofy compared to, say, the Haber & Fink lens turret.... 😉

Who you callin' goofy????

 

[LeicaTom]

Hi Tom, regarding our beloved camera, I want to share a (perhaps) little known intriguing feature... as we all know all the IIICK cameras have the K engraved o the top housing after the ser.n. but...looking inside on the chassis I 've found that only some of them have the K engraved after serial number, the great majority only have the correct n. without K.
The former, in my limited experience, are military ones...any idea or explanation?

best wishes.

Some cameras built postwar after May 1945 for the US Army had K shutters still and were made up from left over parts from WW2, that's why you have cameras that have the K stamp on the curtain and no K after the serial number........less then 100 cameras were made this way, so you very seldom run into any at all they are very rare.

Tom

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Who you callin' goofy????

Look out! He's got a Gattling gun! 😱

😀

 

[Vince Lupo]

Look out! He's got a Gattling gun! 😱

😀

You're lucky that I don't own it any more!

 

[sabears]

Some cameras built postwar after May 1945 for the US Army had K shutters still and were made up from left over parts from WW2, that's why you have cameras that have the K stamp on the curtain and no K after the serial number........less then 100 cameras were made this way, so you very seldom run into any at all they are very rare.

Tom

I know, Tom , I meant something else.
I was referring to the serial number engraved inside the camera, on the top plate of the internal chassis.
Some wartime cameras (389xxx-390xxx) have "K" engraved inside after the correct serial number (the same number that have always the "K" after on the outer topplate), others don't.
I don't know why of the few I saw opened, the "K" engraved inside were military ones only.
May be there are even civilian with the "K" engraved inside, but I don't have proves.

Someone had their IIIC-K opened in order to control this?

cheers.

 

[LeicaTom]

I know, Tom , I meant something else.
I was referring to the serial number engraved inside the camera, on the top plate of the internal chassis.
Some wartime cameras (389xxx-390xxx) have "K" engraved inside after the correct serial number (the same number that have always the "K" after on the outer topplate), others don't.
I don't know why of the few I saw opened, the "K" engraved inside were military ones only.
May be there are even civilian with the "K" engraved inside, but I don't have proves.

Someone had their IIIC-K opened in order to control this?

cheers.

None of my IIIC K's have a K engraved inside on the top of the camera crate, military or otherwise......just the factory serial number and I have had now 7 Grey IIIC K's either owned or sold that have had the tops pulled off for inspections, I have never seen a K after the serial number.

Also that K that some people see under the accessory shoe is an inspectors initial, NOT a scribe stating that the camera is a IIIC K.

Tom