Tower Type 3 with Nikkor 50/2

raid

raid

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How can I tell the age of my Tower Type 3? It has serial number 362xx.
I got today the camera and lens back from Youxin Ye. 😀

Who is using suh a camera or similar Leica copy?
 
My camera has flash attachment in the front of the camera. The camera looks petite. It may be smaller than the IIIf.

How do you use the lose focus setting? The lens stops at 4 ft and then turns to 1.5 ft.
 
They are high quality, they work identically to pre-M Leicas.

I have about 6 of them. The 50mm Nikkor lenses are mostly close Sonnar variants. Very sharp lenses.

There's nothing really not to like about them, if you know how to shoot with a Leica you know how to use a Nicca/Tower.
 
I have a Tower 3, but lack a LTM lens for it. I currently have a Skink pinhole on the camera, but have only taken one role of film. Results so-so, but I think it more the learning curve of the pinhole rather than the camera.
 
I have about 3-4 Tower/Nicca cameras and once Youxin Ye cleans and works on them they are great. The Nikkor Lenses are tops also. But one thing about the III is the viewfinder in the middle of the camera makes it harder to use with my nose pushed on the back. I prefer the viewfinders placed to the left of the camera back to make it more comfortable to focus.
I am thinking the Nikkor lenses are the best part of the package.
Joe
 
The Tower 3 came back to me from Youxin Ye as a camera that functions very smoothly. He replaced the shutter curtain, and the speeds are also now all fine. The Nikkor 50/2 is a hidden gem among the better normal LTM lenses out there. The CLA cost $280, so it has now become a camera that is not that inexpensive anymore.
 
Ye cleaned a Tower/Nicca 5 for me with lever advance and view sight looks like new. Smooth shutter advance and with the Nikkor lens it is one of my favorites.
Joe
 
Hi David,
I may have the first version of Tower-3, converted to flash synch. The screw that is in the center of the flash synch part is smaller in my camera than what I see in Version 2 cameras, so maybe mine was factory converted at some stage.
 
I have the Tower Type 3. It is slightly smaller than my Leica IIIc. Mine works extremely well and is very, very smooth in operation. I have the Nikkor H 50mm f2 lens, which is very good, but a bit heavy. It is a coupled rangefinder and mine is extremely accurate as well with the 50 and with the 35. I have not tried anything any longer with it yet but I suspect it will respond fine with my 90 as well.

Mine does not have a flash sync port but based on the serial numbers mine is likely a bit older than yours. Mine is 34xxx. It is my understanding that some of these have a synch port and some do not.

Youxin Ye recently did a full CLA and replaced the shutter curtain which was rotten and pinholed.

I love working with mine. I have been shooting Efke KB25 in it most recently. I haven't printed or scanned any of the film yet but the negatives look good. I'll run some of this through the scanner this week and post some of it so we can see how the shots turned out.

Interestingly the Nikkor H 50mm f2 lens seems to be very, very good. I used my M9 to do some side by side shots of my refrigerator using this lens and some other 50s I own right now and it seems to hold up pretty decent. It is not quite as nice as the Zeiss Planar 50 f2, but it is as good or better than some of the others I have. It definitely out shoots my Nokton 50mm 1.1 at f2.
 
Take it from me, whatever you do, DO NOT get in the way of this mob!! They WILL run you down! 😀

A picture from my Tower Type 3 and my Voigtlander APO Lanthar 90/3.5 on Efke KB25. It ain't a Canon but it doesn't do too bad with sports shots!

Out-of-the-way.jpg
 
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