[Leica] IMG: My First Real Camera, Leica IIIa, 1952

[Jim Nichols]

Sitting at home in more or less confinement, I started looking through 
my images for ones that seemed significant.  This one caught my eye. It 
was taken about 13 years ago, but has much more history.  I began to get 
the photography bug in 1951, but could only afford a Kodak Brownie. As a 
young USAF Lt. with a wife to support, new photo gear was a dream.  I 
spent some of my free time in Trader Horn's used camera area of the 
Salem Camera Shop near our apartment in Dayton, Ohio, watching for a 
buying opportunity.  I finally found a used Leica IIIa with a new focal 
plane shutter and a coated Elmar 50/3.5 lens that I couldn't resist.  
Researching the serial number told me it probably started life around 
1934 as a Leica III, and was later factory converted to a IIIa with the 
addition of a top shutter speed of 1/1000 of a second.

This camera introduced me to a life-long hobby that has taken me through 
a number of cameras and systems, but, the quality of its images  was 
first class.  The early images are just as sharp as the ones I make today.

http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/20210126-2006_0219LeicaIIIa0003small.JPG.html

Polished up in Lightroom and Photoshop.

-- 
Jim Nichols
Tullahoma, TN USA