Vobluda
Well-known
My mint/new condtion 1929 Leica I to Leica III conversion with nickel Elmar:
HuubL
hunter-gatherer
Vobluda, that's a stunning camera!
johannielscom
Snorting silver salts
Shockingly nice condition camera! And I love the serial number too, being born April 17th 1971 myself!
My Leica II is 71917, which was as close to the numerals of my birth date as I could find. Yours would have been an nice contestant too
Happy shooting!
My Leica II is 71917, which was as close to the numerals of my birth date as I could find. Yours would have been an nice contestant too
Happy shooting!
photovdz
Well-known
lukasdinohk
-little camera addict
I used to had a Leica M3 DS but I sold it recently.
After many reading and research I finally bought my first Leica LTM today.
After many reading and research I finally bought my first Leica LTM today.



Ron (Netherlands)
Well-known
I used to had a Leica M3 DS but I sold it recently.
After many reading and research I finally bought my first Leica LTM today.
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congrats, its a true beauty!
btw I like that Rollei box also
lukasdinohk
-little camera addict
congrats, its a true beauty!
btw I like that Rollei box also
Thanks Ron,
I really love this conversion and the red curtain is simply exotic.
It would be better if the box is a Leica one instead of Rollei
Jon
Erik van Straten
Veteran
Leica II with red-scale Elmar, SBOOI, SCNOO and FOOKH.
Erik.
Erik.

Dralowid
Michael
Leica II with red-scale Elmar, SBOOI, SCNOO and FOOKH.
Erik.
A Leica II with dioptre adjustment and presumably the magnifying rangefinder from a Leica III??
Very nice Erik!
Erik van Straten
Veteran
Dralowid;2115915 A Leica II with dioptre adjustment and presumably the magnifying rangefinder from a Leica III?? [/quote said:Thank you, Michael! But I think all the later conversions have the rangefinder of the III. I can be wrong, of course.
More special is the fact that my camera has no synch. Usually the pre-war cameras were converted in the post-war era only to get a synchronisation installed.
Erik.
Dralowid
Michael
Hi Erik,
Just to prove you wrong (!) I have a postwar II conversion without dioptre (or sync.).
I still have post war conversions of both II and III with and without sync. I must have posted pictures ages ago but happy to do so again if you want.
Best
Michael
Just to prove you wrong (!) I have a postwar II conversion without dioptre (or sync.).
I still have post war conversions of both II and III with and without sync. I must have posted pictures ages ago but happy to do so again if you want.
Best
Michael
Erik van Straten
Veteran
Hi Michael,I still have post war conversions of both II and III with and without sync. I must have posted pictures ages ago but happy to do so again if you want.
I would like to see a post war black III conversion without synch but with the diopter.
Do you have one?
Regards,
Erik.
Dralowid
Michael
Hi Erik,
All four post war. I note that post war dioptre levers do not have the 'return' found on pre war cameras or conversions.
(They all have the raised accessory shoe and top moulding)
The more you look, the more you notice. I've never seen another IIIf style advance knob with film type on a IIIa syn.
Only the syn cameras go to 1/1000 but you can find 1/1000 on pre war conversions to IIIa.
Michael

Scan-130412-0004 by dralowid, on Flickr
and

Scan-130412-0003 by dralowid, on Flickr
All four post war. I note that post war dioptre levers do not have the 'return' found on pre war cameras or conversions.
(They all have the raised accessory shoe and top moulding)
The more you look, the more you notice. I've never seen another IIIf style advance knob with film type on a IIIa syn.
Only the syn cameras go to 1/1000 but you can find 1/1000 on pre war conversions to IIIa.
Michael

Scan-130412-0004 by dralowid, on Flickr
and

Scan-130412-0003 by dralowid, on Flickr
Erik van Straten
Veteran
"I note that post war dioptre levers do not have the 'return' found on pre war cameras or conversions."
My literature (Leitz spare parts list) states that only older II models without enlarged image had the plain eye cover glass.
"I've never seen another IIIf style advance knob with film type on a IIIa syn."
The same literature states that the IIIa syn has the winding knob with the film type reminder.
Great pictures, Michael, very informative. Thank you very much.
I guess that not two conversions are identical. That makes them so very interesting.
Erik.
My literature (Leitz spare parts list) states that only older II models without enlarged image had the plain eye cover glass.
"I've never seen another IIIf style advance knob with film type on a IIIa syn."
The same literature states that the IIIa syn has the winding knob with the film type reminder.
Great pictures, Michael, very informative. Thank you very much.
I guess that not two conversions are identical. That makes them so very interesting.
Erik.
HuubL
hunter-gatherer
Beautyful cameras Michael!
Erik van Straten
Veteran
63028 is very interesting. It was orginally a I, but it became a III, without strap eyelets, but with III covering! No synch, but that's how I like them.
Thank you for sharing, Michael.
Erik.
Thank you for sharing, Michael.
Erik.
johannielscom
Snorting silver salts
Thank you, Michael! But I think all the later conversions have the rangefinder of the III. I can be wrong, of course.
More special is the fact that my camera has no synch. Usually the pre-war cameras were converted in the post-war era only to get a synchronisation installed.
Erik.
My Leica II from 1942 (serial 352xxx) is not a conversion for as far as I can tell, but it does have the III RF housing with no dioptre installed (the mounting hole is covered with a bright chrome stud) and the III front around the VF window. It also has a III shutter speed dial, which has a '20-1' setting.
My guess is that as the II production carried on and the III was already in production too, the later-made II's were fitted with III parts. Might have been shortness in those specific II parts, or continuing to sell the II while it resembled a III, in order to sell the remaining II's while the demand for III's picked up.
Assumption: Eriks Leica II left the factory as the last one of a batch of Standards made in 1936, according to the Laney serial number list in my Leica Pocket Book. If the camera was upgraded to a II at the end of the 1930's or early '40s or shortly after the war, it might have been fitted with III parts due to shortage in II parts. The body with the blinded slow times hole suggests this too. This was probably fitted to add strap lugs to the camera, since the early Standard did not have those IIRC.
It's a lovely camera and the combination of camera and all those black paint accessories is really something special, Erik!
Jerevan
Recycled User
I've read somewhere that they took whatever they had, and especially during wartime. I remember wondering what the stud was for, as it sits on the side of the housing. Now I know some more. 
LeicaTom
Watch that step!
My Leica II from 1942 (serial 352xxx) is not a conversion for as far as I can tell, but it does have the III RF housing with no dioptre installed (the mounting hole is covered with a bright chrome stud) and the III front around the VF window. It also has a III shutter speed dial, which has a '20-1' setting.
My guess is that as the II production carried on and the III was already in production too, the later-made II's were fitted with III parts. Might have been shortness in those specific II parts, or continuing to sell the II while it resembled a III, in order to sell the remaining II's while the demand for III's picked up.
Assumption: Eriks Leica II left the factory as the last one of a batch of Standards made in 1936, according to the Laney serial number list in my Leica Pocket Book. If the camera was upgraded to a II at the end of the 1930's or early '40s or shortly after the war, it might have been fitted with III parts due to shortage in II parts. The body with the blinded slow times hole suggests this too. This was probably fitted to add strap lugs to the camera, since the early Standard did not have those IIRC.
It's a lovely camera and the combination of camera and all those black paint accessories is really something special, Erik!
Did you have this researched at all?
Wartime delivered Leica II's are pretty rare, I might be able to get more info on this camera, if you can send me the full serial # (email me) and let's see if I can dig up any info's on it's origin....
Tom
P.S. Leitz/Leica II and III NL's may have also been delivered during WW2, I know that the Paris Leica "Tiranty Paris" received odd stuff during the war like Leica II's and III's and MOOLY C drives, not all the stuff was engraved though.
Dralowid
Michael
"I note that post war dioptre levers do not have the 'return' found on pre war cameras or conversions."
My literature (Leitz spare parts list) states that only older II models without enlarged image had the plain eye cover glass.
Erik.
Hi Erik,
The point I was making is that the actual dioptre lever itself is different pre-war to post-war.
In the picture of two conversions below, the top (post war) camera has a lever that is almost flat and the bottom one (pre war) has the lever with a 'return' like a letter 'L' which is the same as a 'normal' camera.
Hope this makers sense...
Michael

Scan-130413-0001 by dralowid, on Flickr
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