Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/10/13

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Leica IIIc/LTM lenses/Jupiter...
From: "Dan Post" <dpost@triad.rr.com>
Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2001 11:40:20 -0400
References: <B7EB55B3.6268%pkolodny@fibertel.com.ar> <00bb01c15285$66c1f600$bd3afea9@oemcomputer> <3.0.2.32.20011012113019.014f6c4c@roanoke.infi.net>

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!
>
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In reply to: Message from Pablo Kolodny <pkolodny@fibertel.com.ar> (Re: [Leica] Leica IIIc/LTM lenses/Jupiter...)
Message from "Don Dory" <dorysrus@mindspring.com> (Re: [Leica] Leica IIIc/LTM lenses/Jupiter...)
Message from Marc James Small <msmall@roanoke.infi.net> (Re: [Leica] Leica IIIc/LTM lenses/Jupiter...)