Nicely Done Fake "Leica II" with "Elmar"

[CameraQuest]

Pictured here is a nicely done fake Barnack "Leica II" # 387234 with fake Leitz 50/3.5 Elmar lens. Once upon a time before the internet was popular (mid 1990's) entrepreneurs could turn a quick dollar by remanufacturing an official Russian Zorki or Fed into a reasonably believable "Leica." It worked too, because the info on how to spot Leica II fakes quickly was not all that well known or easily shared before the internet. I like this particular fake because its rather well done and an interesting part of pre-internet Leica collecting lore. Fake Leica and Fake Elmar are for sale.

see more pics at http://cameraquest.com/leica_II_fake.htm

Stephen

 

[Platinum RF]

Still it looks fake to me

 

[stratcat]

Interesting. I did not know there were fake M3's and M2's around; much less that they were better made than the originals!.

 

[MaxElmar]

Offhand - I'm no maven, but the VF looks way wrong, the shape of the acc shoe area and shoe itself is wrong, and what's with the funny concentric rings on the shutter release? Three screws on the shoe? Isn't always two or four?

I don't know my way around lenses yet - Steve - care to point out some of the clues on the lens? The knurling on the edge? Font? Infinity lock?

 

[johannielscom]

For one thing, that's likely a pre-war FED 50/3.5 lens mounted on a postwar FED body.

The pre-war FEDs weren't standardized yet and the postwar body is. As a result, the focus stop ends up at the 12 o'clock position, where no Leica, FED or Zorki ever had it.

If it does focus correctly after all, it will no doubt have been worked over by a competent technician. Still, it's a real nice conversation piece if it doesn't! The chrome is a really good job, most of the time the top plates are ground, re-chromed and re-engraved, leaving the top plate being plated with a different color chrome than the rest of the body. This one looks the real deal.

 

[greyelm]

There are a few web sites around giving fine detail on how to spot a fake LTM so I won't go into details except to say that one of the things that sticks out is that Leicas have black headed screws on the front, not silver like the Soviet ones.

MaxElmar is correct in spotting the wrong infinity lock button.

 

[batterytypehah!]

I think we're all trained to look for the VF surround but the second thing I noticed is what looks like a B instead of an R at the rewind lever. Half-covered by the top, no less. Clearly not Wetzlar fashion.

 

[MaxElmar]

And the film-counter arrow should be at the back, not the front, no?

 

[Frontman]

A quick giveaway of a fake is the vulcanite, which has a different texture on the FSU cameras, smells different (some old Leicas have a strong vulcanite smell), and rarely cracks or lifts up. They are even easier to spot when the fakester uses later Zorki cameras with the mushroom type shutter button or camera body with trim lines on the edges and around the lens mount.

Harder fakes to spot are remakes of the old FED-1949-Zorki. I have found plenty of fakes, and only once have I found the real thing.

 

[xayraa33]

And the film-counter arrow should be at the back, not the front, no?

It should be at the front as it is.

The FED and Zorki 1 were Leica II copies after all.

All Leicas up to the Leica IIIb had the arrow at the front.

The arrow at the rear happened on the IIIc and later models coinciding with the new elliptical gear frame counter mechanism on these models.

 

[MaxElmar]

Ahh. Well noted, xayraa33 - my IIIa is hidden away in a drawer - time to break the old girl out and take her for a spin. She's a family heirloom so I use my IIIc and others most of the time....

But the copy has a wartime Leica IIIc serial number, yes?

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

Look at the focusing scale on the Elmars. At 9 o'clock (facing it) the figures will be the right way up on an Elmar and upside down on a FED 10. Here's three originals to show it;

Having said that I'd be quite happy to have a decent fake like that in the collection. The ones I can't stand are the FED 4 versions: there was one on ebay this week...

Regards, David

 

[Dralowid]

The viewfinder surround is not an 100% check, early Feds are very Leica like with the 'hip' for the rf adjust screw, 'lavatory bowl' mouldings and even collimation plugs.

Michael

 

[EXksporry]

This is quite interesting. I'd love to get my hands on a good Leica copy from the early years, but I prefer it to actually have a different brand labelled on it, like the shanghai or FED cameras.