Luftwaffen - Eigentum IIIc ?
By: Steven Pavlovich
I am hoping that my LHSA colleagues may be able to assist me. I have a IIIc camera (serial number 367605) and 50 mm Elmar lens (serial number 477984) which have both been crudely defaced by grinding in a manner that is reminicient of the fate of many such cameras after the war. Unfortunately the defacement was very thorough and only one of the original engravings on the top plate FL No 38079 has survived in a legible form.
Since the leather case also seems to have had some sort of marking scratched out on the top cover it leads me to believe that perhaps the entire camera and lens outfit may be able to be traced to a single shipment date. I am not sure what date camera and lens outfits began to be issued together but perhaps this outfit is such an example.
I hope that a fellow member may be able to supply me with some information that might enable this to be verified.
best regards to all
Steve Pavlovich
Perth, Western Australia
UV/IR filters
By: brent perkins
i have two leica UV/IR filters, size 43mm and 46mm. i'm looking to traded them for two 39m UV/IR filters. send me an email if you have what i'm looking for, thank you
A Short Riff on IXMOO Cassettes
By: S. Willis Wright
With some pride and excitement, I recently returned to loading and processing my own black and white film in IXMOO cassettes. It worked, its easy, and is well worth trying. Central to this effort was relearning the idiosyncrasies of the IXMOO cassettes. For the curious, they were listed as “IXMOO-DRXOO” (Leica #14001, page C19) for the cassette and its plastic can, and “IXMOO-SINE” (Leica #14006, page C19) for the cassette alone without the can back in the 1961 Leica Catalog #36.
I have several and the first efforts went well. To my surprise when I used what I’d call a “new” or relatively unused cassette (finish intact and unbrassed with a gray spool), it jammed and would not open in the camera. This was puzzling, as I’d tried it carefully by hand before loading. I still can’t figure out the reason for its not opening with the baseplate latch. The cassette fits freely in the cameras (several M’s and a IIIf), but the latch simply won’t open it. So, the point of all this is to try your IXMOO in the camera before loading it with film. That will forestall a difficult effort to change the loaded spool to another cassette in a changing bag or darkroom.
In hindsight, a well brassed cassette seems to telegraph smooth operation in the cameras. For those M6 or later owners that would like to taste the wine, M2, M3, M4, M4-2, and M4-P baseplates (the bottom base plate in Photo #2) will fit your camera and allow you to use the IXMOO. However, I’d counsel to “try before you buy”. Perhaps a simpler solution would be to acquire a “user” M4-2 or M4-P for black and white work and IXMOO use.
" THE LEICA PURSUIT," a Book
By: IRVING FREED
“The Leica Pursuit,” a book by Irving Freed, LHSA member. As shown on LULU.com, this paperback book cost $14.05,and ships in 3–5 business days. A must read for Leica enthusiasts; you will love this thriller, which is a good yarn with a photographic interest.
Review synopsis: In the book, “The Leica Pursuit,” the main character, Daniel Spanier, is a dealer in old and rare cameras, and photographica. Since his school days, Daniel has been known to his friends and acquaintances as ‘Spaniel.’
While attending a Government surplus auction, Daniel accidentally comes into possession of an old, pre-war Leica. This camera contains a deadly secret which leads to a pursuit across 3 English counties by ex-Nazis, who are intent on regaining the Leica.
Daniel discovers the secret of the Leica camera by enlisting an old friend in Cambridge, who has a darkroom in his house. Meanwhile, the pursuers, intent on regaining the Leica, are hot on his trail. They kidnap Daniel’s lady friend and hold her as a bargaining chip. Daniel leads them to Stansted Airport, where he and friends set up an exchange of the Leica for his lady friend.
With the help of a local rugby team, who create a diversion, he rescues her. Together, with the assistance of an old pilot friend, Daniel and his lady fly to Amsterdam in a small plane. But even in Amsterdam, they are found by the ex-Nazis, and they have to continue to elude their pursuers.
In a series of events, they eventually reach Jerusalem, where the contents of the Leica camera, and all the damning evidence associated with them, are handed over to the Nazi hunters at Yad Vashem.
In the finale of the book, Daniel, and his lady, return home to find that the government minister whose deadly secret was contained within the Leica, has been exposed in the world’s media.
M4 Modified for Rapidwinder, Leicavit and Motor Winder
By: Alex Shishin
Don Goldberg (DAG) modified the M4 I've owned since 1987 to take the Abrahamsson Rapidwinder and the current Leicavit and Leica motor winder. (See the first photograph in the above series.) Don also cleaned and adjusted the camera. The Rapidwinder I had originally planned to use on the M4 didn't take. (The locking mechanism was too tight I think, though perfect on my M6s.) The second Rapidwinder, which had been fine-tuned for me by Tom Abrahamsson did take. It is working quite smoothly now in its post-breaking in period. The grip is a first generation Rapidgrip that Tom modified for me.
Super Seattle
By: Christopher Kavanagh
The 2009 annual meeting in Seattle was the best since first attending in 2002. When I told my wife Martha the meeting was in the home of Nordstrom's flagship store, she couldn't refuse! Enough can't be said about the "LEED" certified hotel with all its space age ideas mixed with an Asian touch. The boat trip on Lake Union and endless comaraderie impressed the bride. Martha works with other Leica equipment, hospital microscopes. But that didn't stop her from enjoying the trip, cocktail hour, tours and a sense of a much needed vacation to the west coast.
The work that goes into planning and executing these events is daunting. Professionals make hard work look easy. What a great meeting. Thanks to all.
Chris Kavanagh
The Decisive Sequence
By: Alex Shishin
The “decisive moment” occurs when the photographer captures an instant (often seemingly trivial) in which something beautiful or profound is revealed. This concept, defined by Henri Cartier-Bresson, is similar to James Joyce’s literary use of “epiphany”: “… [a] sudden spiritual manifestation, whether in the vulgarity of speech or of gesture or in a memorable phase of the mind itself.”
A photographic epiphany can reveal itself not only in a single moment but also in a series of moments, a decisive sequence, culminating in a single effect.
A decisive moment or epiphany is both a representation of reality and the artist’s idea of that reality. It thus hovers in between fact and fiction like a ghost. In a decisive sequence the temptation to fictionalize is greater than in a single-framed decisive moment. One can fictionalize by pressing or not pressing that shutter button at a particular moment in the sequence. Later the photographer can rearrange the chronology of the frames to create a very different story.
The four frames presented here are arranged in the order in which the action in the sequence occurred on a train somewhere between Osaka and Kobe in 1991. I used a Leica M2 and a Canadian Summilux 35/1.4 at f 1.4 with Fuji Neopan ISO 1600 film. I had pre-focused at eight feet and shot the sequence “blind” at waist level. Years later I scanned the images with a Konica-Minolta dedicated scanner and cropped to straighten them in Photoshop. There were six frames that were usable.
The two absent frames would have added only a little more continuity to the presentation. How did I choose to eliminate those particular ones? The sequence is a set on my Flickr site. Only those two had no viewer responses. The other four had strongly positive comments.
You can see the set at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexes/sets/72157604283042128/
Leicas in Surprising Places
By: H. Peter Von Pawel
While visiting the Prints and Photographs Section of the U.S. Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., I was pleasantly surprised to find pictures of Leicas affixed to some of the tables used by researchers. The staff had the good taste to use these Leica images to denote that photography is permitted. Although there are some restrictions, hand held cameras without flash may be used to photograph documents and photographs in the Library's immense collection.
Shooting Shakespeare: Leicas and Lessons Learned
By: Alex Shishin
Since 2005 the International Theatre Company, London has come to my university in Kobe during May to perform Shakespeare in our gymnasium. Every year, except in 2009, when the performance was cancelled at the last minute, I have photographed the company onstage and backstage with my Leica Ms and other M cameras. In the process I formed a close bond with the members, who have looked forward to receiving my photographs on CD disks.
For you to better appreciate the accompanying images I must mention that the International Theatre Company, London is minimalist, using simple costumes, few props and small casts. Usually only seven actors perform. This entails doubling up roles and making radical cuts in scripts. Productions can be fitted to almost any stage. Regarding photography, the only thing the company strongly objects to is flash which can momentarily blind actors.
In 2005 and 2006, when the company did King Lear and The Taming of a Shrew, I was using my M6s and M7 with ISO 1600 color film. By 2007 and A Midsummer Night’s Dream I had added an Epson RD-1s and Leica M8 to my arsenal.
In 2008 I shot Hamlet with only the M8, M7 and RD-1s. The M8 was set at ISO 2500 (Jpeg Fine) and the RD-1s at ISO 1600 (Jpeg). The M7 was loaded with ISO 1600 color film as usual.
I include only my Hamlet images made with the M8 here.
The university gymnasium’s raised stage was designed for ceremonies, not theater performances. A dark red curtain acts as a backdrop, guaranteeing both contrast and color balance issues for the photographer. A horseshoe balcony traverses the gymnasium, putting one closest to the performance on stage left and right and the furthest away at stage center. The balcony, I reasoned, would be the least obtrusive place for me to photograph and allow me mobility to change perspectives. That is where I worked between 2005 and 2007.
In those three years I primarily employed long, fast lenses. For stage left and right I mostly used a Summicron 90/2, Summilux 75/1.4, Canon 100/2 or Canon 85/1.5. The Elmarit “goggles” 135/2.8 was the only practical lens to use at stage center. The reach was never enough, even with the M8 making it the equivalent of a 180mm lens. My stage center shots always needed severe cropping, while f2.8, even at high ISOs, often proved inadequate for the stage lighting.
In 2008 I decided to sit as close to the stage as possible.
The ideal place to sit would have been in the first row of stage center. That was impossible because the first two middle rows were reserved for VIPs. I could have sat in the third row, but figured I would be too cramped there and might possibly bother people.
Instead I chose the end seat of the first row of stage right. I had plenty of room for my bag, for one thing. For another, my colleagues, who were in charge of projecting simultaneous interpretations of the dialogue on the stage right wall, occupied most of this area. The few audience members near me didn’t mind my presence or thought it interesting.
I mostly used my pre-aspherical Summilux 50/1.4. After that, my Summilux 75/1.4 and Nokton 35/1.4 were the most useful (the former primarily on the M7 and latter on the RD-1s). I used the M8 more than the other cameras.
My balcony shots from stage left and right of previous years showed a lot of the stage floor, which was annoying in many cases. The only big problem I had in shooting Hamlet was that the stage tended to appear slightly tilted to the right in my pictures because of my shooting perspective. I fixed this through straightening and cropping in Photoshop. There were less blurred shots than before. This was my best year for Shakespeare.
All the images presented here were made with the Summilux 50/1.4 equipped with a Leica UV/IR filter but not coded. Depicted are: (1) Hamlet confronted by the ghost of his father, the former King of Denmark, murdered by his bother, Claudius, the present king, who has married Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. (2) Hamlet with Gertrude and Claudius. (3) Ophelia going mad after learning that Hamlet has inadvertently killed her father, Polonius. (4) Hamlet and Horatio talking to the gravedigger, who is holding the skull of Yorick, a jester whom Hamlet knew as a child.
Mini-Test of 75f2.5 Summarit
By: Adah Walker
Mini-Test of 75f2.5 Summarit
TOM ABRAHAMSSON
There have been few sightings of the Summarit series of lenses. I saw the 35f2.5 at LHSA in Rochester last year but Christian Erhardt from Leica USA could not be persuaded to part with it, even for a few hours. I did like the design of it and it felt good, but that is not enough to base a shopping spree on.
However, I have had a chance to use a 75f2.5 Summarit for a couple of days lately. A friend, Terry Cioni bought one and graciously allowed me to put it through its paces. It does face some stiff competition; the 75mm f2.0 has started to achieve almost cult status as a "must have" lens for M-users. It is in my mind one of the best lenses Leica has ever made. Reasonably small and at the top of what can be achieved when it comes to image quality. It is also very expensive and 75 mm still suffers a bit from "is it fish or fowl". Is it a "long normal or a short tele"?
I have had 75’s since they first came out in 1982, big hulking 75f1.4’s and later the small and compact 75f2.5 Color Heliar from Cosina/Voigtländer and for a couple of years now, the Summicron 75/2. It is not my primary user focal-length, but they certainly get their fair bit of use. The idea of a new 75 was interesting and I have had a chance to shoot (and process a handful or rolls with the Summarit).
First impression is very favorable. From the point of handling, it is the best of the three Leica offerings. The lens barrel is substantial, with a very nice rubberized focus ring, a simple but effective lenshood (and a lenscap that fits over the front of the hood to boot). It is by no means a small lens, but more compact that the 75 f2 Summicron and considerably smaller than the 75/1.4 Summilux. Nice and smooth focus with no sticky spots and distinct detents for the aperture.
However, what counts is the performance. It is roughly 1/2 price of the Summicron 75 and the now out of production 75f1.4 and 4 times the price of the Color Skopar 75f2.5. Where does it fit in? Optical performance is not as "scalpel" like as the Summicron 75f2. That lens has an almost unnatural sharpness and contrast. I highly recommend that it not be used for portraits; at least if you want the subject to talk to you after you have shot them! The Summilux 75/1.4 has a different look. Wide open it has a minute depth of field and a dramatic drop off from sharp to unsharp and though not as bitingly sharp as the Summicron, it has its own look. It is also a lens that requires top notch equipment to handle it. I have found that I often have had to calibrate a specific body to it and spend considerable time setting up the focusing of the camera with occasional "drift" in focus ranges. In short not an easy lens to deal with. The Summarit 75 showed none of this, maybe because the maximum aperture of 2.5 can hide some of it, but it focused flawlessly across the range as far as I can see. It has less contrast than the 75f2, which is not all bad as too much contrast, at least with black/white plays havoc with printing. The 75/2.5 and the 1.4 has a similar smoothness to the image and with the 75f1.4 stopped down to f2.5 and the Summarit wide open at 2.5, the Summilux looked marginally sharper, but by the time both lenses hit 5.6, I could not see a difference between any of them. The small and compact Heliar 75f2.5 is softer at 2.5, but again, at f5.6 they all look a like!
The Summarit 75 also has very even illumination, very little vignetting at 2.5 and no flare, though I haven’t tried to see if it can be induced. The test will continue until Terry insists on getting the lens back!
Would I buy one? I must admit that if I did not have three 75’s already, it would be a very tempting lens. Build quality and handling is fully up to Leica standards at its best. It is comfortable to use and so far the 100+ negatives have not shown any problems that I can blame the lens for.
The Summarit 35f2.5 and the 75f2.5 would provide a nice "walk about" package and if one could get a MP with only the 35/75 lines in the finder it would remove the temptation to start hoarding lenses of different focal lengths. Of course, there is nothing to prevent you from adding another set for cutting edge sharpness though higher contrast shooting, a Summicron 35f2 Aspherical and a 75mm f2.0 Apo-Aspherical, though you would have much less money for film after that!
Leica M Digital Photography – M8/M8.2
By: Adah Walker
LEICA M DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY— M8 / M8.2
by Brian Bower
A Lark Photography Book, Sterling Publishing Co,
New York and London, 2009.
Book Review by DICK GILCREAST
If you don’t already have an M8 or M8.2, you’re going to want one before you get very far into this book. Brian’s beautiful and pin sharp photographs, many reproduced full and double page, will show you what can be done with digital M8 cameras and Leica lenses. And, beyond that, the very useful advice and information provided will save you much time and effort in catching up with the technology train.
A first impression is that the photographic reproductions -- especially the big ones -- are cleaner and sharper than ever before. Tiny details in the backgrounds right at the edges can be picked out. Even a photo made with an earlier lens is impressive. Take a look at the photograph of the Macclesfield Canal on page 91. It was made with a classic chrome 50mm Summicron from the mid 1960s, and shows the structure of two extremely small and distant high tension towers against the sky as well as distant children on a swing set (not more than 1/8th of an inch tall on the page) and side lit by the sun against a shadowy background. These details are very sharply rendered in only a few square inches of the upper right hand corner of the picture, not to mention the leaves on the trees and the canal boats and the geese swimming in the water! This improvement in sharpness on the printed page, whether from the digital capture in the camera alone or in combination with new methods of translating it onto the page, shows how good our Leica lenses -- old or new -- really are.
An even older lens was used to make a two-page infrared b&w photograph on pages 98-99. It was made with a 28mm f/5.6 Summaron and Leica infrared filter and shows one of Mr. Bower’s signature subjects -- the 300 year old Little Moreton Hall National Trust house with its Tudor timber framing. Perhaps the filter was an early A-36 version, and this was the only wide angle lens in his inventory that it could be used on for the shot? But the mixture of new and old gear is a constant fascination in his working methods.
With the single exception of the very recent 18mm f/3.8 Super Elmar-M ASPH, all the newest lenses are written up individually, including the Summarits, with photos made by many of them. And some were made at wide open apertures such as the double-pager taken in the Paris Metro with the 28mm f/2 Summicron-M ASPH on page 26-27. And there’s advice that you won’t find in the instruction manuals on such things as viewfinding options with the various focal lengths, pros and cons on using the UV/IR filters, using 135mm lenses with the M8, using older accessories -- even the Visoflex! -- and allowing for the slightly different frame line coverage in the M8.2.
And, whether it is the influence of the new camera system or not, there are more action and people pictures in this book, perhaps facilitated by the higher ISOs that are available now than there were with with the leading color slide films used in his earlier books. There are several large high-quality available light photos captioned as ISO 640, which would have been impossible a few years ago with fine-grained transparency film.
SECTIONS:
The book starts out with an overview of the rangefinder style of working, followed by specific features of the M8 and M8.2 cameras and the digital controls and the menu items, some are illustrated, with explanations of each including the S or Snapshot mode of the new M8.2 which can make this camera into a virtual point and shoot. The section on new lenses is followed by a section on older lenses and third party lenses. The Accessory Section includes such things as viewfinders, eyepiece magnifiers, UV/IR and polarizing filters, the SF24D TTL flash unit, cases, camera supports, batteries and chargers.
There is a whole chapter on hardware and software with tips on recommended file types such as DNG (raw), the four JPEG resolutions, and methods of downloading and image processing. Chapter 7 talks about working with flash, the various units which can be used with the M8 cameras, direct and bounced flash, the slow sync programs, and first and second curtain sync. There are a number of illustrations of different techniques.
There is a section on closeps with the digital M cameras which includes working with the 90mm f/4 Macro-Elmar-M and two of the old copying gauges 16526 (BOOWU) and 16511 (BEOON), and the Visoflex III. An example of Mr. Bower’s thorough research is a note on page 87 that a preliminary light reading should be used with the Visoflex III since there is insufficient time for an automatic reading to be made by the camera between mirror rise and shutter release.
The section on choosing an outfit goes through the various advantages and disadvantages of ultra wide, wide, normal, and telephoto lenses -- with comments on the choices in his own travel kit.
A section on achieving the best image quality is particularly valuable, with everything from focusing and camera shake to raw capture and ISO settings and exposure with and without using the histogram.
There is a section on care and treatment of cameras and lenses, including the all-important ways to keep the camera clean internally, and treatment of batteries during use and storage.
APPENDICES:
The appendix sections include detailed instructions for updating camera firmware from the Leica website, lists of present and discontinued M lenses which are capable of 6 bit coding, spec sheets on both M8 cameras, lists of data on all earlier M lenses, charts of specs on all M cameras from the M3 on, all Screw Mount lenses from 1932 on, Visoflex lenses, and current M lenses.
There are a very few minor errors here and there, such as listing the initial aperture of the 28mm f/6.3 Hektor as f/2.8 in the chart on page 187. But, considering the mach 2 speed at which the book must have been put together after having to be modified to include the suddenly introduced M8.2, the number is remarkably small.
This is a spectacular book, valuable for both its technical expertise and its photographic ideas and execution. I highly recommend it to all present and future M8 owners, for whom it will be a useful reference for many years to come.
Applied Leica Technique
By: Viewfinder Archive
APPLIED LEICA TECHNIQUE
A review of the English language edition of an important new photographic technical manual.
REVIEW BY: Alfred Clarke & Tim Curry
First Published in Viewfinder Vol. 18, No. 2 – 1985
Excellence In Photography: Applied Leica Technique, Günter Osterloh; Umschau Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, 1984. Translated in English from the original German version by Rolf Fricke.
This is a book that should have a wide appeal to those interested in better understanding the potentials of the Leica system of photography. Anyone seriously interested in photographic excellence from essentially a technical point of view will profit from the kinds of insights this book contains. It should be noted, however, that Applied Leica Technique discusses Leicaflex and Leica R cameras only – it does not include M cameras, even though the title would suggest that. It is our understanding that a book on Leica M cameras is in preparation (The tentative title presumably will be, The Advanced School of Photography: Leica M Cameras).
The author approaches his subject with impressive credentials. Günter Osterloh is a member of the Leica Technique Department at Leitz headquarters I Germany, and for the last 15 years he has been able to observe and influence the development of Leitz single lens reflex cameras. He has 30 years of photographic experience and is well published in the photographic literature.
A further comment about the background of this book is appropriate. The original Applied Leica Techniques was written in German and translated into English by LHSA member Rolf Fricke. Rolf has updated parts of the earlier edition by including the latest lenses such as the 35-70 mm zoom, new 2/90 and the new R4s. References are also made to current films (including color) available in the U.S. Perhaps more importantly, a conscious effort was made in the translation process to use English for the American market rather than British English. It is a good translation.
The book’s organization is well thought out, and lends itself to finding information quickly. Some of the sections will be familiar to those who have collected Leitz literature and technical bulletins over the last few years. It is most convenient to have this information under one cover, particularly since the Leica Manual has not appeared in a new edition since 1973.
This book is full of techniques and explanations, profusely illustrated with handsome photographs, and the schematic drawings are first rate. There are a couple of very minor sub-heading errors that are almost inevitable in a technical manuscript. Like the Leica, the book will withstand heavy use. It is printed on quality paper, well inked, and has a heft to it that is characteristic of fine craftsmanship. There is a lot of well-tested information and helpful hints based on personal experience passed on to the reader by an author who obviously "knows the territory."
Readers of the VIEWFINDER who are familiar with the history of the Leica will note this book perpetuates the notion that the Leica came about as a kind of by-product of Barnack’s early experiments with motion picture photography and a device for measuring exposures accurately. The most complete historical record suggests, however, that Barnack had offered a very early model of his 35 mm camera to the management of the Carl Zeiss company where he previously worked, and they turned down his idea. Later, during his employment at Leitz he was encouraged to pursue this revolutionary idea, and the rest of the story is well documented. Perpetuation of this legend blurs the record, but this is not a book about photographic history. It is a book about how cameras, lens, and photographic technique work together to make a good image. In short, it is a book about excellence in Leica photography, and it is currently the most complete, up-to-date statement on the market. It sells for $29.50 at A Photographer’s Place, P.O. Box 224, Prince Street, New York, NY 10012.
The Midland M's
By: Viewfinder Archive
The Midland M’s
By Charles Duckworth and Randol Hooper
It is well known that Leitz Canada produced a significant number of M2 and M3 cameras at their Midland, Ontario facility during the years 1958 – 1966. Information concerning these cameras and other Midland M cameras has been sketchy at best with reliable data regarding serial numbers and top plate engravings lacking. Total Canadian M2/M3/M4/etc. production remains unknown. Most were engraved "Wetzlar" on the top plate; the number engraved "Midland" has heretofore remained unknown. Recent conversation and correspondence with a retired Leitz employee involved in the M camera manufacturing process at Midland has revealed new information regarding M production at Leitz Canada.
The first five M2 cameras were assembled in October 1958 with specially engraved top plates. The usual M2 identifier and serial number were replaced by a "PL-P" marking and a special six-digit number. The original body number was engraved internally on the bottom of the shutter crate. The third M2 assembled at Midland is shown with a top plate engraved "PL-P 000 003." A bottom view of the fourth camera, PL-P 000 004 reveals the original number on the shutter crate. The purpose of the special top plate engravings remains a mystery although they could indicate some sort of prototype status. The type style of the large "PLP" was carried over to the "M2" and "M3" of later Midland cameras so one often finds "big" M2 or M3 engraved cameras that fall into the Canadian serial number list. Unfortunately previous lists have failed to indicate which cameras should carry the very rare "Midland" markings.
Conventional serial numbering was resumed after the first five M2 cameras were finished. Table 1 shows that a total of 1620 M2 cameras were subsequently produced in 20 lots of 50 to 100. Of the total of 1625 M2 cameras from Canada, only ten were engraved "Midland." These fall into a small batch at 1102501 – 1102510 that was released on 11/15/65. This batch falls into a larger group of 500 numbers previously thought to have been entirely assigned to MD production at Wetzlar. The reasons behind the assigning of the Midland engraving to this small batch remains unknown but the small quantity involved seems to indicate a special order.
M3 production at Midland began in November 1955 with the first batch of 100 double stroke cameras with serial numbers 746451 – 746551. Leitz Canada continued to produce M3 cameras for more than nine years; the last batch, 1097851 – 1098000, was finished in January 1965. Table 2, which may be incomplete, indicates that a total of 5200 M3 cameras were built at Leitz Canada during this period. Only eight were engraved "Midland." This small batch of eight cameras, 840573 – 840580, was shipped on 12/14/56 and probably represents a special order for one customer. M3 camera 1065100 is known to have been used by ELC for experimental purposes; it was converted to a half frame format! 1065100 was the first fully functional 18x24 format M camera and does not carry an M2 or M3 marking on the top plate. The original M3 film counter mechanism was discarded and replaced with a counter of the M2 type. This was done because the M3 counter stops at 36 and will continue only if reset when the camera is opened while the M2 counter continues uninterrupted so long as the film is advanced.
A cursory examination of Tables 1 and 2 shows conflict with previously accepted ELC serial numbers and production totals taken from the usual Hove sources eg., Rogliatti, LEICA Pocket Book, etc. This is troubling and cannot be easily explained but several observations may be helpful. I believe the Hove lists originated with a Wetzlar source. This source developed a serial number list for Leitz which was periodically updated and supplied to Leitz sales/repair organizations around the world. This list guided those early collectors fortunate enough to obtain a copy from their Leitz distributor and the list subsequently found its way into widely accepted reference sources such as Rogliatti. There was no great urgency on the part of Leitz to insure the accuracy of this serial number list, indeed, it was treated at one time as a sort of "trade secret" and its distribution to early collectors discouraged. The Wetzlar list gives only numbers assigned to ELC production. These were not always completely used by ELC. The numbers in Tables 1 & 2 represent a list kept by an ELC employee of numbers actually engraved on cameras produced at the Midland plant.
Adapting Cosina/Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 to take IR-Cut Filters
By: Benson Shulman
Many of us would like to use the 15mm Cosina/Voigtlander lens on an M8 (effective focal length of a 21mm on film) but face the problem of how to attach a UV+IR filter. There is a new version of this lens with a rather large front extension designed to accept a 52mm filter and it is rangefinder coupled, but it costs $550, is significantly larger, Leica doesn't make a 52mm UV+IR, and I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I've used the rangefinder to focus a 21mm on my Leica film cameras, so I don't miss the coupling with the tiny original 15mm. At f/4.5 the depth-of-field is already so great that it's hard to spot the actual plane of focus even when pixel-peeping.
Some people have resorted to using gaffer tape, Blu-Tac, rubber bands and such to attach a filter to the 15mm, but those are temporary solutions and the (expensive) filter can fall off. One person makes (or made) an adapter, but it is (was) expensive and (so I've heard) vignettes. Being the innovative type, I decided to come up with an inexpensive and simple solution, and after using it for more than a year, decided it has passed the test of time and I wanted to pass it along.
What you will need (besides the lens of course!):
-One B+W or Heliopan filter in size e39. (Doesn't matter what type of filter, but B+W and Heliopan have brass rings and that is important).
-Small metal pick or tweezers and/or rubber stopper and rubber kitchen glove.
-Access to a small bench grinder or someone who has one and can help you out here
-Epoxy glue (regular or 5-minute, doesn't matter)
Directions:
First you will need to remove the glass from the e39 filter. Some have spring-steel retaining clips and some have threaded retaining rings. The spring clips are pried out with a metal pick or tweezers; the threaded rings can be removed with a rubber stopper, holding the filter down against a table against a rubber kitchen glove, for frictional hold. Don't worry about scratching the glass because you're going to toss it out anyway. Just watch out not to crack it and cut yourself.
Now that the glass is out, you want to grind off the MALE threads from the empty ring. Grind them flush with the ring, so you have a flat surface. See illustration in upper left of the photo. Be advised that if you're not experienced with a grinder, this is probably best left to someone who is. The filter is small, there's not much room for fingers, and when brass is ground on it gets very hot very quickly. Go slow, wear gloves, keep a cup of water handy to quench the heat, and by all means wear eye/face protection!
Prepare a SMALL amount of epoxy, and spread a THIN coat on the underside of the filter ring where you ground. DO NOT apply too much, as you don't want it oozing . Carefully position the filter ring inside the fins of the front of the lens. You have time to move it around a little to make sure it is centered, then apply a little pressure and let it cure overnight. Even the 5 minute epoxy is best left overnight. You now have added front threads to the lens, as seen in the upper right illustration in the photo.
Once the epoxy has set, you can attach any e39 UV+IR filter. The lower illustration shows a Leica UV+IR in place.
Notes:
-The reason I recommend using a B+W or Heliopan filter to make the adapter is because they are made of brass, and tend not to bind as much with aluminum filters such as the Leica-brand UV+IRs. (I use mostly Heliopans and one or two B+W 486s, reserving my 2 free Leica filters for emergency backups.)
-I have verified that with the UV+IR filter removed, the adapter will not vignette on full frame, so you haven't prevented using the lens on a film body. You can't put another filter into the adapter when using it for film, because that will vignette.
-The screw-to-M adapter you'll need is one that brings up the 90mm framelines, and does not have a cut-out opposite the M8's code reader. Early Leitz 9cm adapters work fine, as do the Voigtlander Type-II adapters. I coded mine as a WATE (16-18-21 Tri-Elmar) and find that either the 16mm or 18mm (default) work well to correct cyan corners. I permanently coded my adapters, and my wide-angle M lenses myself, by milling just the recesses designed to be painted black, but that is beyond the scope of this article.
A 180 mm Lens for the M8
By: Richard Santee
Because the M8 is aimed at use with wider angle lenses (logical because of the sensor- size dictated 1.33 x magnification factor) it does not key in frame lines for the 135 mm focal length. That of course did not prevent me from attaching a 135 mm lens to the M8 shortly after I received it. I was disappointed to see that many of my images were remarkably unfocused. Apparently there is a good reason the M8 does not offer 135mm frame lines!
Next, I asked my friend Tom Abrahamsson if he could manufacture a 135 mm rangefinder/viewfinder for the camera. This suggestion was met with little enthusiasm but he did comment that the 135 mm f:2.8 Elmarit-M with “goggles” would fit. This lens was manufactured between 1963 and 1997. This suggestion made a lot of sense to me. The lens was the fastest 135 mm ever produced for the M system and was focused by keying in the 90 mm frame lines and magnifying them to the correct field of view for a 135 mm lens. This allowed the lens to be accurate for close focusing and fast enough for stage and nightclub photography without flash. It works perfectly on the M8 because the camera has 90 mm frame lines and the magnification of those lines corrects for the 1.33 x digital conversion factor. In theory, just bayonet it on and it should work.
In order to test the theory, I was able to find such a lens at modest cost on eBay. Scheduled shortly after this acquisition was the annual Brays Island Plantation Middleton Hounds equestrian fox hunt. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to test the lens and camera combination. It was a cloudy day and I set the white balance to “cloudy.” Like with slide film, I underexposed by 1/3 stop. Because of the 1.33 x digital conversion factor, the 135 mm lens becomes a 180 mm lens in field of view (it still has a 135 mm depth of field).
The images of the hunt speak for themselves. The close-up image of the horse’s eye is important because it illustrates accurate close-up focusing at a wide-open f:2.8. This is a useful lens that expands the capabilities of the M8 beyond its design intentions.