[Leica] Back to the fifties

["Doug Richardson" <doug@meditor.demon.co.uk>]

Tom Rice wrote:

>I'm very well served by my screwy old Leicas, thank you.

A few weeks ago I want on the LHSA trip to Wetzlar and Solms. I took
my 'flex and M6 outfits, and in a moment of nostalgia, my late
father's 1939 IIIb, 1938 f.3.5 Elmar, and 1937 f2 Summar. The speeds
up to 1/40 weren't running properly, so I stayed at 1/200 and hoped
for the best. I enjoyed shooting with this old hardware - I'd
forgotten what fun it is to use! I still miss the IIIg I had in the
late 1960s.

Tom, if you still have that CL, get it CLA'd to fix the meter problem,
then buy a CRIS adaptor to allow a modern silver-oxide cell to be used
in place of the 625, and enjoy many more years of using it - I'm
convinced that Oskar Barnack would have loved the CL.

Your "Back to the Fifties!" philosophy has its advantages - folks like
you and I can ignore the ongoing debates about aspheric lenses,
autofocus, and rumoured M7s and R9s, while a '50 jahre' track record
shows that this older kit has no significant quality control problems.
As Marc James Small says in his book on LTM lenses "... in some things
at least, they really did do things better in those days of old!"

BTW, I've found that on the few occasions when it's not resident at
the Leica UK repair department my M6 makes a great exposure meter for
my IIIb and M2.

Regards,

Doug Richardson