Video

It would actually accept 120 or 620 film. The difference was in the size of the centre hole in the film spool, hence the 2-stage 'cog' inside the film chamber. 620 film was discontinued back in the 1960s.

I liked the colors on the bathing huts.

Just got a Pentax Spotmatic F with the SuperTakumar 55 1.8 it was sold very cheaply as it had the mirror staying in the up position...a drop of light sewing machine oil fixed that.

It's really easy to clean one of these lenses inside - the elements unscrew and so you can easily get into it. DON't though try to disassemble the aperture blades as even Leica repair experts warn that there are VERY difficult to put back. If your lens needs cleaning inside then it's no problem to unscrew the various elements and you don't need any special tools!

I recently reconditioned my Spotamatic SP11 it needed new light Seals and a mirror bumper the camera came with a few Takumar lenses the 50mm1.4 radioactive lens, 35mm 3.5 and a 135mm 3.5 the lenses all had the original metal lens hoods

That was a fascinating story. I just heard back from Leica on where some of my cameras were shipped, and my mind is swimming with the possibilities of what images were taken once they were sold on the eve of war in Shanghai, Vienna, and Munich.

in connection with " a look at the Leitz Summitar " dear sir , I hope you'll read my brief comment 1- all lenses were designed by Dr. Max Berek ; the Summitar design was further developed by Dr Walther Mandler to eventually become the Summicron V1. 2. as for the coatings of Summitar and Elmar the story gets a 90 degre turn ; it happened like so ; in early '46 an American colonel ,two revolvers dangling at his waist , cowboy boots an' all thought best to show his importance by kicking Herr Leitz'a study door and simultaneously barking God knows what ; the only words that Herr Leitz understood was that the colonel wanted the blueprints of Leica ; he opened the door of his safe and handed them over ; the colonel still barking left ; not long after he came back in a total rage , again barking that Herr Leitz gave him the wrong plans ; no Herr Colonel , answers Herr Leitz , I gave you the right plans , but I cannot give you the love , the experience ,. the know how and the loyalty of my workers ; I am sorry your people could not manufacture a Leica ; the colonel left in utter silence ; Herr Leitz very soon realized that by loosing the war all German patents will go to the victors ; Dr Berek was working on a different kind of coating as opposed to Carl Zeiss , specially formulated for soft glass ; the coating -only one layer- proved to be not particularly good ; in them times people were mesmerized by coated lenses , alas , only Zeiss ; Herr Leitz's decision brought in some welcome money and comparatively few lost their jobs ; the blades for the iris were made from a special alloy and heat treatment which was in short supply ; nice photograph that with the horses ; as for colour reproduction , tested on my Leica digital an untreated Leica lens gives better colours ; you mentioned something that reduces vignette (ing) ; it is a French word and it is pronounced vinEEeht ; all the story with the colonel is written down in Herrn Leitz correspondence with my grandfather; nice and passionate vlog , I've just subscribed ; bestest from an old painter and Mediaeval Art historian P.S. there are circumstances , albeit rare when a Summitar beats a Summicron ...

Can you supply serial numbers for these? I have the 1950s iiic and I would like to zero in on its year of production.

Really interesting and detailed video: thanks for making the effort! Quite a few differences in operation, compared to later M Leicas. While the mechanics are beautiful, I think I'll stick with the simpler operation of an M6. Easier to work with.

How do you keep your cameras and lenses in such squeaky clean state ? Bravo !

Some sample photos would have been added

Z= Zeit (time).

Awesome info thanks for this video. I picked up a canon L3 body only my old Zorki and industar has gone awol 😡 so I needed a quick Ltm lens just picked one off fb marketplace Elmar 5cm 3.5 not a fake 😂 but it has dust and a bit of haze so I’m not expecting stellar results but at 200 nzd I don’t think it’s a bad price and it’s pretty local so can’t wait to get it and shoot it. Thanks again great vid

That was the first camera I ever bought. I got mine from a pawnshop in early 1961. I thought it was cool the way the bellows extended when the front was opened. The shutter stopped working and I took it back and traded it for another rangefinder model.

Greetings from Sweden! I had an Ensign Selfix 820 6x9 with the Xpres lens for a while. Very sturdy camera and I loved the built-in hinged mask flaps for 6x6. I think the Rosstar on your camera is a triplet. The red dot on the focus scale is the hyperfocal distance. You set it, and then the aperture to the red dot on the aperture scale, and you will have acceptable sharpness from about 10 feet to infinity. Set the shutter speed to the correct one for using f:11 and you have a snapshot camera. But these days the hyperfocal feature is seldom used, since we like to take our time to set the correct distance and other settings for each shot.

I have a very similar camera, a Robra made in Germany by one of the Rodenstock's. It has a Rodenstock lens. You are quite right that the format is that of the professional 645's, but with the folding bellows fits in your pocket! When my Pentax 645z is a behemoth but uses a sensor barely the size of a true 645, one wonders how far we've come? The distinction held by the Robra is that a fledgling Japanese company, Zuiko, copied the camera down to the last screw to produce their first Olympus camera! I own two Olympus 4:3rds digital cameras, and to have the Robra puts the technology into perspective. Perhaps in a photo walk I will take some photos with the Robra-Rodenstock along with the Olympus OM-E series 20mgpxl and compare.

I have one which is the model 1 from 1950. It is almost identical except it has no accessory shoe and the grip material is a finer grain texture. On mine it is the Ensar 75mm f4.5 lens. I have shot one roll of Fomapan 200 through it and the results look good, but I have put it aside until I obtain a proper 120 scanner. The only servicing I've had to do is glue the red film counter window back in place (a common fault, I believe). I think yours may be a model IV, but I'm no expert. Keith

Good to know!

Do you find there is much difference in the user experience between the two cameras for the viewfinder/rangefinder? Are they about the same brightness? Is the iiib any faster?

I sympathize I lost my dads nikon and later a similar nikon. Hope your able to locate anther in better shape. I had no idea there were Kugel editions in existance. VERY GENEROUS OF YOU TO SHARE THIS, THANK YOU. I THINK I HELD A LEICA 3G OR LEICA 2 MADE IN 1937 A FEW YEARS AGO. I SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT IT I THINK. IT HAD THE PORT HOLE WITH THE FILM COUNT ON UPER OR LOWER CORNER. IT WAS A SORT OF POWDER BLUE. I CANT REMEMBER IF IT WAS KNOB WIND OR LEVER WIND. I THINK IT HAD RETANGULAR WINDOWS BUT IF IT WASLEVER WIND I DONT REMEMBER. MAYBE ITS GOOD I DIDNT BUY IT BECAUSE IT MAY HAVE BEEN DOUBLE STROKE LEVER AND I DONT THINK I COULD EASILY GET USED TO THAT. THANKS VERY MUCH . BYE

Do you have any idea why they added Germany under the later model? I have a iiia iiib and now a iiic and the prewar an and b don’t have Germany engraved under Wetzlar.

Interesting, but I'm missing sample pictures as well as sharpness and bokeh test.

A serial starting with a 72 would most likely make it a 1971 camera, and Nikon finished making F's in 1973. The first cameras from 1959 to 1963 had a serial starting with 64, after 1964 the first two numbers more or less coincided with the build year. So for example your black body was built in a batch that covers June 1971 to January 1972. During 1972 the so called 'Apollo' changes were made with a plastic tip on the film advance lever.

Ok Let me tell you in How to fix the shutter without spending $$$ on the shutter repair, When I got my 2nd Nikon that I notice that I was seeing a small white cloud on top right side of the photo, So I used a Agfa Lupe to see in what is the problem, and there was seen a Small slit hole just like your shutter, and they quoted me about 200 Dollars at the camera repair shop, and I was going to Photo art school, as I could not afforded it, So my Photo Teacher told me try something that is quite strange as I did go to a Art store, and got Black Photographic Masking tape, and when I got he shown me, and cut a small sliver of the tape, and with a Cotton swap tip, and then with the mirror lock up feature, he shown me, and with the tape on the shutter plane that he use the Q-tip swap to hold the tape in place, and then with Tweezers he place on the other side with the other piece of tape. SO both sides have this FLAT piece of tape on the shutter. Now like I said that is my 2nd Nikon F that I bought, and today it is 2023, and Still have the Nikon-(Will Never sell my Gear!) and it is 2023 as the TAPE is still On the shutter, that it has not DRY out, and use it when I was in Japan, and Denmark, and France as ROLLS of film went through the model without a light leak... Oh that 50mm Nikkor H f/2.0, I have 3 of these lenses as One is the 5cm F/2.0 H, the other is 50mm F/2.0 H AI Converted, and the 50mm HC Nikkor F/2.0 AI as I find all the above one of the Nikon BEST SHARPEST lens that I have use, and use them on my DSLR Fuji's, and Nikon.... My Nikon F's date back as 2 are from 1968, and other one is from 1969 as it is motor drive Compatible as I have the F36 drive.

When I was a driver there, we had to stop at the end of the back road before turning right. I drove 862 quite a few times in my ten years as a driver there.

Thank you for this video! I really enjoy these types of videos where there aren't many (or any at all) cuts since it's a nicer way of hearing people speak about things. A 37-minute video full of jumpcuts would be very tiring on the brain, but I had no problem watching this video all in one go 😄.

Great review

I got fungus in my front element. Is there any way to open that up?

Old shutter curtains are often problematic in old Leicas and Exaktas. Pinholes are very common and really show up when running a roll of film.

I have to agree Summitar's are one of my favorite lenses in my collection. I have a 1946 10 bladed f2- 12.5 beautiful, and excellent performer copy. I don't know what original body it was on, but it is on my 1955 Leica iif. Love Barnack Leica's. To me they're the most beautiful camera's ever made and also underrated to the M models. Fantastic Video! Hope you get your 10 bladed Summitar Back.

I think that's unlikely to happen Harry but if it should I will bare your advice in mind.

In case it ever helps you when playing Scrabble with elderly French ladies, 'ASA' is in the official list of acceptable words for the French version. And it means the same in French as in English. Good stuff!

The only thing that you skipped was the depth of field markings on the lens barrel and their relation to the aperture settings.

very helpful tutorial, I am searching to buy a IIIG if I can get one in good condition, I always liked these classic vintage cameras. Thanks for the video

I can do it😊😊😊

The only lens I have attempted to fix was a Zuiko 50/1.8 with sticky iris blades. I ended up with a box of bits and a full swear jar. I am now retired and have a queue of cameras and lenses that need a little attention/swearing at. I hope you get it back together!

Fascinating. I wonder if it is being used or just sitting in a display cabinet somewhere.

Thank you so much. This was excellent information and demonstration!

Be careful when taking off and putting in the lens, it shouldn’t be collapsed when doing that as you may damage it. Great little lens, goes great with film and the Monochrom camera too.

Excellent video, very helpful. 👍

Very Nice Lens! I have one on my Leica iif, I believe it was made in 1946 early single coated serial # 604571 aperture f2- 12.5 10 blades. It's definitely one of my favorite lenses. Happy Shooting! Thanks for sharing and Fantastic Captures!

Great video! I hope to own a Leica/Leitz one day

Very interesting, thank you. I have two WW2 iic's with Summitars. I bought the appropriate filter holder and I will either add a standard UV filter or a red filter and try black and white film.

Hi! I recently got a nice IIIb, got cla'd and seems works like a charm (I'll use the first roll during christmass with family) but I noticed that when I set it at 1/1000 the dial it's still slightly up in comparison as the other speeds. Have you ever noticed that in yours?

That's why I regret selling a lot of my former cameras.

There isn’t a “Spotmatic 1” it’s just called a Spotmatic SP.

That was very informative. I learned two things specifically I did not know about my camera. Thanks.

I just found your channel having purchased a iii made in 1938 .😊

Enjoyed the video. Looking to buy a Leica and your suggestions will help. Thanks

Great comparison. I have the Pentax ES II that came just after the Spotmatic 2. Can you advise what film types you are using in these cameras.