Strange flash contacts on a Leica...

[physiognomy]

Has anyone else seen this auction? The flash contacts on it look just like the ones on my Tower/Nicca type 3... Is this just an aftermarket addition? The ring around the shutter release is different to my Tower, the slow speed dial is also different, and the surround to the viewfinder window is also a different shape... I just havent seen a leica like this before...

Peter

 

[John Shriver]

Looks convincing to me. There were lots of standards parts kits for aftermarker flash sync. Otherwise, looks like a Leica IIIa to me.

The collar around the shutter button might be a replacement, a bit short.

The case is from a IIIg. Mildewed, however, which is never a godo sign.

The Summar lens even looks decent, from the few glints on it in the lousy picture.

Might well wind up a good buy.

 

[Solinar]

That viewfinder window looks wrong to me. Why did the seller post such dark photos?

Anyway, this one was more tempting and I already have two IIIf's.

 

[Solinar]

Holy smokes - another one .

There must of been a cottage industry converting IIIa's to accept a flash.

 

[ZorkiKat]

Holy smokes - another one .

There must of been a cottage industry converting IIIa's to accept a flash.

Many users of non-synched cameras had their cameras modified by independent repairists. Many camera shops offered this service in the late 1940s to 1950s, and perhaps until later. This allowed cameras like the III/IIIa (and any pre-IIIf Leica) to be used with flash without using the clumsy add-on flash synchronisers like the Geiss-Kontakt 😀. Leitz also offered synch conversion services for their older cameras, making them converted IIIf cameras complete with the synchro dial. A factory converted IIIa would likely be called a "IIIasyn "

Jay

 

[pshinkaw]

I owned a Leica IIIb very similar to this many years ago. It was an aftermarket modification made in Austin, Texas by a repairman in about 1940 to a camera sold to the Texas Health Department. The Leica repairman who did a CLA for me even remembered the name of the initial modifier and said that he had seen others like it.

It is a fairly simple modification inside the body to achieve the flash synchonization. The double prong connector is a Graflex connector. I'm sure it was done in many other places as well.

-Paul