No more 35mms - Except for a lever Tower / Nicca

[goamules]

Yeah, there are a lot of advantages to these. The thumb winder is the big one, you can keep it up to your face and get ready for the next shot in one second. But you are bringing up some less known features, like being able to focus very close. My Nikor 1.4 on my Nicca will focus almost at a macro distance. Another nice feature is most of these have a rose colored lens for the rangefinder. The patch is pretty clear to see usually. Of course, loading is much easier not having to trim the leader. All in all, an outstanding improvement over a Leica!

 

[OlliL]

Johan, congrats on this gem!

Where did you find it, if you don't mind me asking?
I'm occassionally thinking of adding a screwmount camera to the stable and may prefer this over the several other offerings, due to the advantages metioned.

 

[johannielscom]

Oliver,

found it on eBay. They do show up there in various guises, either search for 'Tower Leica', 'Tower camera', etc. Searching eBay.com is best, sometimes people list as 'only US' but if you ask them will ship worldwide after all.

There were also leverwind Barnacks made by Nicca (type 5L) and by Yashica, some have no back door, some even have a side-swinging back door. I've seen 'em over the past few years, and sometimes one shows up in a not-so-costly sale or an auction. Mine was close to USD 400, EUR 300. Given the current market, that was a nice price.

 

[OlliL]

Thanks!

I'll definetley look into it, as soon as my wallet is filled up enough. 😉
I saw a rather cheap Tower Type 3 at the Leicashop homepage, but this would miss out on the later added features.
http://www.leicashop.com/vintage_de...5mm-viewfinder-cameras/tower-type-3-3473.html

 

[splitimageview]

I've always been partial to Nicca/Tower. My dad bought one in Japan, back when it was occupied. 35/3.5, 50/2 Collapsible, 135/4, and a viewfinder. It fascinated me as a kid.

Having handled many Leica clones, methinks Nicca was the best built of them all. 🙂

 

[OlliL]

I will certainly dig deeper into the topic of Japanese barnack clones,
before I decide on one but thanks for the valuation. 🙂

 

[johannielscom]

 

[goamules]

I took my Tower 46 with only the Nikkor 1.4 on a trip back to the old Farm in South Carolina a couple weeks ago. Shot about 5 rolls, all came out fine. Here is one in color, and one in BW.