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

[Jim Nichols]

Hi Don,

The clip-on light meter I used with this camera needed no batteries, 
though the selenium cells eventually lost their magic.  However, 
somewhere in its lifetime, the camera had been sent to Leitz NY where it 
was fitted with a synchronizer baseplate and flashgun, which worked 
well.  After I retired the camera, I sold the flashgun to a collector in 
London.

Micro 4/3 is my favorite a present.  As for battery problems, the old 
Olympus E-1 still works fine with the batteries I have.

On 1/26/21 12:30 PM, Don Dory via LUG wrote:
> Something we won't see going forward.  Batteries alone will make older
> cameras unusable ~10 years after production.  Hopefully we will see a
> plateau in pixel count, x-axis stabilization, 8k video, ~16 stops dynamic
> range, 50,000 noiseless ISO, framing rate ad nauseum.
>
> Sony's latest e-mount drops to 50mp but adds 8k video and a 9k viewfinder
> and 20+ frames per second with flicker free viewfinder.  I find the 60mp of
> my current camera to be quite freeing.  I know the folks using the Q2 find
> that camera's capabilities to be amazing.
>
> I am not sure what things realistically need to be added in the future.
> Ergonomics is one area, maybe a rethink of micro 4/3's with a 40mp sensor.
> That direction might be useful to get lens sizes down.  Current high
> performance lenses are quite large.  Pick up a Zeiss Otus sometime.
>
>
>
> On Tue, Jan 26, 2021, 12:07 PM Jim Nichols <jhnichols at lighttube.net> wrote:
>
>> 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
>>
>>
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-- 
Jim Nichols
Tullahoma, TN USA