which barnack leica have black painted with silver chrome?

inman

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I got a really beautiful summicron v1 "yellow glass", I want find a barnack style leica for it.
The most of black barnack leica, I found was with nickel color not really match the color of my lens (
 
The nickel hardware sort of faded away in the mid-1930s, so any later version of the III series would be chrome. The black paint also became rarer at that point. I seem to remember there being some IIIf bodies in black, which would match the age of your lens.
 
Leica III and Leica II came black and chrome.

And then there are rarities at bargain prices:

 
Any IIIf black paint bodies you find will be repaints (technically dechromed and painted) unless they have 3 little crowns on them. Then I would check the price 😬.
Some of the repaints I've seen are really purdy! So unless you're wanting to have original..... They're out there and not necessarily overpriced.
 
Here's some data I saved from a source I cannot remember:

"I have collected many black and chrome cameras, Models III, II and Std. They represent only a small percentage of leica black paint cameras. I have, via several hundred collected serial numbers, estimated the black/chrome production at Std. = 4095, III = 3800 and II = 2450."
 
When chrome became common, it was used on the whole camera as it was more durable than both paint and nickel.
You may be lucky finding a black Barnack that was converted later by leica, and retained the original black parts but were upgraded with chrome furniture.
A bit of detective work and patience is required by you, but is very possible.
 
There are prewar Leicas l, II and lll that are post war renovated in black paint with chrome trim. Not really rare. I have a very nice post war renovated Leica II in black paint, chrome trim and early Leica M3-type vulcanite. The rangefinder is of the Leica lll type, so with the 1,5 enlargement. Not for sale.

Erik.
 
Welcome to the forum!

The Leica "IIa syn" and "IIIa syn" cameras come to mind. Mid 1950s conversions of prewar models. They feature flash synchronisation and often beautiful black paint bodies with silver chrome trim. Here is my IIIa syn as an example:

View attachment 4878477
I will second this, I have an equally stylish IIa syn. But the downside is that they are basically IIIa engineering so will not have the later shutter developments of the II/IIIf.
 
I guess the earliest with the nickel trim.
That was too easy.

The next question is where did a nickel speed dial with 1/1000th come from? The only camera that it might have come from would have been a late black 250 Reporter. Who knows, this camera went back to the factory in 1933, 1940 and 1942 so anything is possible.
 
That was too easy.

The next question is where did a nickel speed dial with 1/1000th come from? The only camera that it might have come from would have been a late black 250 Reporter. Who knows, this camera went back to the factory in 1933, 1940 and 1942 so anything is possible.
Just speculation but from what I see generally Leitz were not always that bothered about matching parts on upgrades. That 1 to IIIa was probably done early and the other knobs would have been kept. It likely ended up with a chrome knob that stuck out like a sore thumb so some previous owner may have stripped it down to nickel. This could explain the small quantity of paint remaining on the speeds. But there is probably a better explanation.
 
Ummmmm. My want-o-meter is pegged. I don't have any black paint Barracks and I'm not sure why. Just chrome of various kinds. I was drooling (in the privacy of my own home) over both of those 5- digit conversions. I'd be thrilled to acquire something like either of those. Not going to trade the black paint M for it though.

-More on topic- I see recent repaints that look stunning. I would probably suggest one of those for the OP. I'm personally not interested in those; being a sort of purist, I go for the stuff Dralowid showed us. Especially those beautiful early conversions. I've noticed that such beauties command substantial prices these days. Missed my chance to get one (or more).

There was a repaint IIIf in our classifieds sometime earlier this year, I think. Prob long gone now?
 
Welcome to the forum!

The Leica "IIa syn" and "IIIa syn" cameras come to mind. Mid 1950s conversions of prewar models. They feature flash synchronisation and often beautiful black paint bodies with silver chrome trim. Here is my IIIa syn as an example:

View attachment 4878477
I didn't expect this to be such a passionate forum. Your collection is really great.
 
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