Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/10/13
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]MArc- Right you are. I have to admit that I am a voracious reader of the net and the available books- and so far... Lager and Laney are something I wish the local Barnes and Noble would have so I could peruse them for free as they are a bit costly!!! You are right, and I appreciate your knowledge and insight! Thanks ! Dan - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marc James Small" <msmall@roanoke.infi.net> To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> Sent: Friday, October 12, 2001 11:30 AM Subject: Re: [Leica] Leica IIIc/LTM lenses/Jupiter... > Dan > > Your version is, well, not really in accord with the published sources. > > There is ONE type of IIIc with very few variations within the run. These > variations are primarily in the shutter material (you are correct in > pointing out that the original material became unavailable during the War, > though the red curtain material was the stuff from Kodak AG and had been > purchased before the War for a potential tropical model) and in the > bearings holding the shutter curtain rollers. Leitz had used pin-bearings > through the early IIIc's; when Germany occupied Norway, the military > discovered that these pin-bearing cameras would freeze up in cold humid > weather. Thus, Leitz installed roller bearings on the "K" series cameras. > This proved to be over-kill, so the later IIIc's (and ALL Leica RF's > thereafter, including the M's) are "half-race" cameras, with one > ball-bearing and one pin-bearing on the shutter-curtain rollers. (Zeiss > Ikon also preoduced Contax cameras which were intended for cold-weather > use, and these were also marked, though internally, by a "K". The Leitz > "K", though, stood for "Kugelläger", or ball-bearing, while the Zeiss Ikon > "K" stood for "Kaltfest", or cold-proofed -- Zeiss Ikon simply stripped > their cameras of all lubricants and relubed, very lightly, with special oils.) > > The peeling-chrome problem afflicts late-Wartime cameras, many of which are > finished in grey paint. Postwar, the problem was in the Vulcanite supply, > and most of the later IIIc's are of a material with a different finish, > generally referred to as "sharkskin". > > The IIIf BD shared an identical shutter with the IIIc. The IIIf RD has a > "lightened" shutter which was reputed to be more reliable -- though HOW any > camera's shutter could be "more reliable" than the bulletproof IIIc's > escapes me -- but, in practice, the principle difference seems to be the > higher flash-synch speed of 1/50" (the IIIc and IIIf BD synched at 1/30") > and revised shutter speeds, though still not a "geometric" progression. As > the IIIf RD has become a bit of a collector's desideratum, the IIIc and > IIIf BD are the best buys in the Leica TM world at present. > > Dan, with all respect, you might spend less time speaking with these > mysterious "gurus" and more time perusing the scholars who know the facts, > such as Laney and Lager. > > Marc > > msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 > Cha robh bąs fir gun ghrąs fir! > > -- > To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html