[Leica] Re: Another Leica story (LONG)

[Cummer Family <cummer@asiaonline.net>]

Dear Luggers,
I have been off the LUG for seven weeks travelling in England and Scotland
and then North America with my newish M6HM TTL along with 35 summicron
Asph, 24mm ASPH, 90 Elmarit and the Voigtlander 15mm Heliar plus a Metz
32ZM2 all tucked away in a Domke bag. I used mostly the 35, followed by the
Heliar, with only a few times when the 24 seemed just right. The 90mm saw
very little use except when I was stalking deer along a roadside on
Vancouver Island. After seven weeks with the M6HM TTL I must confess I
really like the TTL flash, although 1/50 as sync speed is limiting in
certain sunny conditions, especially if you are used to 1/250. Still, by
balancing LEDs with the flash, very effective fill flash can be obtained.
The other thing that did not bother me about the M6TTL was the direction of
the shutter speed dial - I just got used to it and now like that the LED
points in the direction you should turn the dial. I think I will have
trouble going back to my M6 classic.
On to my Leica story: while in Western Canada I had dinner with old German
friends and talk turned to Leicas. It turns out that on the birth date of
the wife of my host - October 3, 1933 - her father, a Doctor in Hanover -
went out and bought a Leica, together with a collapsible 5cm Elmar F3.5.
(#674XXX) My host went down into his basement and brought up a box of Leica
equipment, including the above camera (black paint - unscratched - serial
number 116XXX - a model III F according to Dennis Laney's book - but by the
serial number it should be chrome and it isn't?? another one of those
interesting Leica mysteries) with an as-new case and two other lenses - a
3.5cm Summaron F3.5 (#1159XXX) and a 5cm Summar F2.0, (#286XXX) along with
a Vidom view finder and another rangefinder with prism in a separate
leather case. Unfortunately the Summaron and the Summar, having lived in
the damp basement for many years were cloudy with fungus but the Elmar was
quite clear, although the front element was scratched a bit. Also in the
box were a selection of Leica filters UV "fiola", yellow 1 "fiooc", Yellow
"figro", Yellow "fihel" and Green "fbxoo" all with original cases and an
Ising tripod. The camera is missing one circular front cover for the
rangefinder window, and as might be expected the rangefinder is quite dirty
and the slower shutter speeds are slow but the over all condition is near
mint - as is the camera case. It seems the Doctor used the camera to take
pictures of his daughter and her siblings and then when she grew up he gave
the camera to her - having bought it when she was born to pass on to her
when she could appreciate it. The camera survived the war - it was at the
Doctor's office when their house was bombed - and then was taken to New
York where it was used to take pictures of the daughter's young family.
Finally it was taken to Toronto and hence to Western Canada where it wasn't
used much any more. I think it remarkable that such a complete history of a
camera can be traced and find it's cosmetic condition hard to believe (it
is as good as my nearly new M6HM TTL) - even though it does need to be CLAd
and the view finder window cover needs to be replaced (are there spare
parts for a 66 year old camera I wonder?) Finally, I promised my friends
that I would ask the LUG what would be a fair price for all this equipment
and what are the possibilities that the Summaron and the Summar could be
cleaned of their fungus? Welcome your thoughts everone,
Cheers
Howard Cummer.