Leica LTM Show off your Leica I/II/III/LTM Camera

Leica M39 screw mount bodies/lenses
The rear of my Leica IIIg. My eyesight correction is -3 dioptres. I removed the lens from a suitable SLR correction lens and punched two holes in a piece of double sided foam tape. I attached the tape to the lens and cut around. With this camera you have to be able to get your eye close to the eyepiece. It works really well.
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The adapter was made by Amedeo. Chris Andreyo of Skyllaney calibrated it and to our surprise found that this lens-adapter arrangement compensates for sonnar focus shift. At all distances and apertures the image was perfectly in focus. Chris found that the cam on the Amedeo adapter is sloped to exactly compensate for the shift.

That's very interesting, wasn't aware of that...

The Amedeo adapter for screw mounts is uncommon, but still in production. Availability is spotty due to the ongoing problems in Venezuela.
 


A while back, when these were sometimes sold on ebay, I had a Amedeo adapter for Nikon S>LTM but foolishly sold it. Looking for another I never saw one for sale again. I asked Amedeo several times if he would ever make one and he said they were problematic and he often threw them out after testing. He finally sold me one from his stash. Needless to say, I'll hold onto this one to the end.

The Nikkor lens works great on the II and is plenty sharp for my wants.
 
As said, splitimageview, it was a surprise to Chris and myself. Chris (Skyllaney) is something of an expert on sonnar lenses. In his experience no sonnar lens has a sloping cam and this was the first Amadeo adapter he had seen with this characteristic. I was so surprised I checked it myself and compared it with my Canon 50mm f1.5 lens. As expected the Canon lens displayed focus shift but the Zeiss-Amadeo lens did not. I bought the adapter from Amedeo many years ago and shortly after I heard he had stopped making them because they were too difficult.
 
A while back, when these were sometimes sold on ebay, I had a Amedeo adapter for Nikon S>LTM but foolishly sold it. Looking for another I never saw one for sale again. I asked Amedeo several times if he would ever make one and he said they were problematic and he often threw them out after testing. He finally sold me one from his stash. Needless to say, I'll hold onto this one to the end.

The Nikkor lens works great on the II and is plenty sharp for my wants.

Similar story in my case. 🙂

My IIIc with Amedeo LTM adapter and 50/2 S-mount Nikkor.

Amedeo sent me this new production recently, he has a tech in Venezuela that machines them although Amedeo is now in Florida.

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I've been brought back into the fold.....

I just picked up this Leica IIIa (1936) body in decent condition. I'll have to send it in for a CLA at some point, as the slow shutter speeds are sluggish, but from 1/20 thru to 1/1000 they seem okay. Rangefinder has good contrast and overall the camera is in good shape. I'm going to be trading one of my prints for a hazy Summar this weekend with a fellow RFF'er.

The thing that intrigued me about this specific body was the engraving on the baseplate -- Lutz Ferrando (the Leica dealer/distributor in Argentina and Brazil at the time, and the company still exists as an optical/eyeglasses chain of stores), but also the curious engraving of W.I.O. Co and S.A.P.A. underneath it. Try as I might, I can't find anything online that might even give me a hint of what that all stands for. The closest thing I can find is SAPA aluminum, but I don't think that's it. The other alternative is that it stands for Sistema de Atribuição de Produtos de Apoio (Portuguese), which means Support Products Assignment System, so SAPA could be a department within the W.I.O. Co, but that's just a guess. If anyone has any ideas, I'd welcome the input!


Leica IIIa 1
by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Leica IIIa 2
by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Leica IIIa 3
by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Leica IIIa 4
by Vince Lupo, on Flickr
 
Robert, does that adapter have a focusing mount? And, will it also accommodate focusing of wider lenses, say the 35mm 1.8?

Yes, focusing helical adapter, by Amedeo

No, won't fit the Nikkor S-mount 35/1.8, the back of the lens conflicts with the RF cam.

It does work with the 35/2.5 Nikkor.
 
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Leica I (model E, 1938)
Recently cleaned. A hole in the shell patched and some massive pitting filled in with epoxy. I'm still waiting on a replacement skin from Hugo Studio
 
Having been fully in love with my IIIf for years, I grabbed this IIIg for a bargain last summer:

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Nice story behind this one. According to the guy I bought it from, it was apparently owned by a photographer for a regional newspaper, meaning it’s had some SERIOUS use over the years - the winding knob is actually worn down from how much it’s been used. There's also some legitimate brassing on the back of the top plate - just below the winding knob - from where his thumb would have rested.

Sadly, one of the curtains is cracked, so it'll need to go in to have those replaced. There's also some visible mauling to/around the RF window covers on the front which I wish could be easily repaired, but I dread to think how much replacing RF windows would cost.
 
Sinclair and Co were a well known business. They were famous for retailing a range of mahogany and brass beauties that were made by sister company Newman and Sinclair.

3 Whitehall SW1 is a rather special address!
 
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