Leica IIIf

[tennis-joe]

On a Leica IIIf that I own there are numbers below the shutter speed dial and I have forgotten what they are for? The dial spins and they can stop over various numbers. I haven’t used it recently and I believe they help in the setting of using a flash?

 

[Beemermark]

https://www.butkus.org/chinon/leica/leica_if_iif_iiif/leica_if_iif_iiif.htm

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

They're for the flash sync. The IIIF was made back when people mostly used flashbulbs; electronic flash was in its infancy and was only used in studios back then. Flashbulbs do not instantly attain maximum brightness; when lit, they gradually get brighter till they reach a peak brightness, then they get dimmer until the light stops. Because of that, the camera has to fire the bulb slightly before the shutter opens so that the shutter opens during the flashbulb's peak brightness.

That dial sets the delay time for the flashbulbs; different types of flashbulbs require different delay settings. One of the settings waits until the shutter is open before firing the flash; this is for electronic flash. The link that Beemermark gave you has two manuals for the IIIF. The first is for the camera's main functions, and the second (the supplementary manual) tells how to set the flash dial for different flash types and shutter speeds.

If you never use flash with your IIIF, then it does not matter where the dial is set.

 

[Rob-F]

I believe that by the various numbers over which The dial spins and stops, you mean the ones on the lower dial? There's no relationship between the two dials, and so there is no significance to where the upper dial stops.

 

[charjohncarter]

I use mine at 20 for 1/50 electronic flash. 1/25 was what everybody said but I've never had a problem with 1/50 and the red dial on 20.

 

[David Murphy]

Here is a tip I picked up on a forum here some time ago. To guarantee the flash settings are correct, slide a white piece of paper into the film plane behind the shutter curtain. With no film in the camera, connect the strobe, remove the lens, and take the camera go into a completely dark room. Point the flash at the camera and fire off a frame while looking at the shutter curtains. If you can see a uniformly illuminated 24X36 mm white rectangle flash instantaneously in front of your eyes, that is also what the film will see, and everything is working fine.

I've used this technique on more than one vintage cameras where there was some ambiguity regarding some aspect of flash sync settings or flash cabling, and it works.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

I use mine at 20 for 1/50 electronic flash. 1/25 was what everybody said but I've never had a problem with 1/50 and the red dial on 20.

I guess that means the electronic flash would last long enough to give off consistent light over the full 1/30th of a second that the curtains require to move across the film plane.
I don't know, I've rarely shot with an electronic flash and never with bulbs.

1/25 (or 1/30 on older IIIf models, or 1/20th for pre-IIIc models) is suggested as the maximum synchronisation speed for bulbs because at speeds faster than that the curtains would never have a point during the exposure where they are fully open.

 

[charjohncarter]

Like you Mr. Flibble, I don't use my IIIf much with flash but I accidently left my shutter at 1/50 about forty years ago and the pictures were fine. It has probably been 35 years since I used it with a flash.

I did more in 1960s when all my friends were getting married but then it was AG-1 bulbs.

 

[Coldkennels]

1/25 (or 1/30 on older IIIf models, or 1/20th for pre-IIIc models) is suggested as the maximum synchronisation speed for bulbs because at speeds faster than that the curtains would never have a point during the exposure where they are fully open.

If you have a look at the link Beemermark posted, there's actually a chart which suggests you can shoot a lot of different flash bulbs at 1/1000 on a IIIf with the right sync settings and a low guide number (usually 20). It's only electronic flashes which are limited to 1/30.

Part of me is tempted to try to track down some flash bulbs and give some daytime fill-flash a try, but I dread to think how rare and expensive those bulbs are now.

 

[charjohncarter]

I just shot my first IIIf flash in 35 years. I did it at 20 and 1/50 just to see if I'm crazy. It will be a while to post because it is the start of a roll of 36. Not that synch speed between 1/25 and 1/50 makes a big difference; for 35mm flash (electronic) I use my Olympus 35RC (up to 1/500).

 

[charjohncarter]

If you have a look at the link Beemermark posted, there's actually a chart which suggests you can shoot a lot of different flash bulbs at 1/1000 on a IIIf with the right sync settings and a low guide number (usually 20). It's only electronic flashes which are limited to 1/30.

Part of me is tempted to try to track down some flash bulbs and give some daytime fill-flash a try, but I dread to think how rare and expensive those bulbs are now.

Try some AG-1 bulbs, this was shot at 1/25:


Kodachrome 1960s-1970s by John Carter, on Flickr

 

[tennis-joe]

Great Shot

 

[Coldkennels]

I just had a look through my old Flickr to see if I'd got anything up there with (electronic) flash from my IIIf. Found this one, which made me smile:

Technical info: 1/30, HP5, flash sync set to just past the "2" mark (perfectly aligned with 2 never quite seemed to work for me - 2.25 seemed to be the sweet spot), flash mounted on a CTOOM bracket. Can't remember the flash model - nothing too fancy.

Not seen that guy for a few years now. Broke his neck at the 2nd vertebrae falling down some stairs in the rain on holiday - he was lucky he didn't die. Ended up shooting that in his living room by bouncing the flash off the ceiling; had to burn in the shades on the print to hide the reflections, but I think it came out pretty good.

 

[charjohncarter]

Thanks Joe, and good story Coldkennels.