New to the list/"New" book on Leica Copies

[Jeff Benedict <raoul@olympus.net>]

Hello-

I have just signed on to this list and would like to take some time to
introduce myself.

My name is Jeff Benedict and I live in Port Townsend, WA. USA- in the
Pacific Northwest.  I've been interested in Leicas for years but only
purchased my first two last year.

I have a III and a IIIa and only a 50/2 Summar.  The IIIa is pretty good-
nice shape and good appearance.  The III is essentially a "parts" camera
which came in the deal for the IIIa.

My goal in Leica collecting is to have one of each major style.  I have
the "earliest" style in the III and IIIa, even though a Leica A would be
great (or even a D).  I'd like to get a IIIc and a IIIf as well as an
M-series.  As we all know, Leica collecting can get very expensive, so I'm
not really after the "collectable" stuff- just good, usable examples of
classic cameras.  I'd also like to get a selection of lenses- at least one
for each camera covering the range of 35 to 135 mm.

I also enjoy Leica copies.  I have a Leotax F (1956) with a Canon 50/1.8-
a great lens!  The Russian copies look interesting as well as the Italian-
wheither I get some are another question!  I've seen the Fed 5C for sale
for about 80 and it is supposed to work fairly well, so that's a
possiblility for my collection- it has a built in meter which would be
handy as a "cheap user"- much less than one of the modern point and shoots
and it will take other screw thread lenses I would like to use.  I'm also
interested in the Zorki cameras with the long-base rangefinders- that
would be handy when using a 135 lens- or one of the 200mm Komura lenses.

I can't forget the Canon copies, either!  I just bought a book on the
Canon rangefinders- "Canon Rangefinder Cameras 1933-68" by Peter Dechert
which goes into great detail about all of the differences in these
cameras, including describing a modification to put the big, bad 50/.095
lens on the M-series Leica. These days, the Noctilux would hammer the
Canon, but at the time, this was supposed to be the hot way to go.

Another book I just got is "300 Leica Copies" by Patrice Pont and
Jean-Loup Princelle.  It goes into great detail about the origins of all
the Leica copies (and goes as far as saying that, in a minor way, the
Contax is a Leica copy!!!!) that they have heard about.  If anyone on the
list is interested in trying to ID a Leica copy (or something which
appears to be a Leica copy), e-mail me a description and I'll try to ID it
with the book. )Same with the Canon stuff!)

Hope all this copy stuff doesn't cause offence- I love 'em all and like to
use everything.  That's my one rule about camera collecting- I have to
take the stuff out a shoot it occasionally!

Jeff