Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/05/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Robert; This is a fascinating picture. It reminded me of a discussion my wife and I had recently, while watching the A&E Mystery of Hercule Poirot, where the indomitable Captain Hastings was indulging in his most recent hobby of photography. Around his neck was a beautiful IIIa with collapsible lens- my guess a Summicron. I 'oooohed' appreciatively, and my wife stated that the camera was probably not any good as it was a 'stage prop' and since the story took place in the mid- to late thirties, an old camera like that probably wouldn't be much good! I tried to explain, but your photograph will be, literally, worth a thousand words! Reminds me of what my father said about women- and it goes for Leicas as well- 'The older the fiddle, the finer the tune...' ;) Dan'l dwpost@msn.com - -----Original Message----- From: Robert G. Stevens <robsteve@istar.ca> To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> Date: Friday, May 01, 1998 10:45 PM Subject: Re: [Leica] Identity of Leica Screw mount Camera and Bokeh >Alf: > >After reading your comments on the lens, I decided to put a roll of film >through the camera and see how it performs. I went to supper this evening >at our Yacht Club and joined Payson and his wife at their table. The below >linked picture was taken with the IIIa and the 5cm F2 Summar. It >certainly does have a 3d look to it. Not bad for an uncoated lens made >over sixty years ago! It was shot on Tri-X and developed in Rodinal 1-50. >The image is a direct scan from the negative. > >http://home.istar.ca/~robsteve/Payson.JPG > >Thanks once again for your comments on this lens. I had bought the camera >for resale, but now I may wish to keep the lens for use on my M6 with a >bayonet adapter I have. This afternoon I had mounted the M6 on a tripod >and took a picture with the summar and a new 50 2.8 Elmar. It will be >interesting to see the slides and the lens performs in with colour film. > >Regards, > >Robert Stevens > >At 10:41 PM 5/1/98 +0200, you wrote: >>At 16:52 01.05.1998 -0300, you wrote: >>>The serial number of the camera is 258217 and the lens looks like >>>an uncoated 5cm f2 Summar serial number 383584. >> >>According to Laney, it's a Leica IIIa, produced in 1937. The >>lens is produced in the same year, and is kown for it's soft >>front element. It is one of my favored lenses because of it's >>3D rendition. It's best performance is between f 3.2 and 6.3; >>at f 2.0 it's very soft and the corners are a little dark. >>I have chromes, taken at f 9, which agree in sharpness to the >>rigid chrome Summicron, while color saturation is a little >>lower. In Germany, you need to pay for that camera (ex+, with >>box and papers) around DM 1.000, about USD 560, UKP 340, maybe >>more. >> >>Alf >> >> >> >>-------------------------------------------------- >> >>Alfred Breull >>http://members.aol.com/abreull/index.htm >>http://members.aol.com/mfformat/c-mf.htm >> >> >> >> >> >