Category Archives: Cameras

Things that go ‘Click’

35mm f/3.5 Leitz Summaron RF

Cameras, Leica, Lenses

Some quirks.

For an index of all Leica-related articles click here.

When Leica released the revolutionary M3 body in 1954 the viewfinder could show correct framing for three focal lengths – 50mm (thick frame, always visible), and two thin frames for 90mm and 135mm lenses. The latter two would appear when the related focal length lens was attached or could be previewed with the small lever to the right of the lens throat, viewed from the front.

But Leitz knew that 35mm was a popular focal length so rather than burden the user with a clip on external viewfinder they added ‘goggles’ to the lens itself. These would fit in front of the finder and rangefinder windows of the M3 body conferring the correct field of view, and the lens with this attachment is usually referred to as the ‘RF’ model.

Erwin Puts’s Lens Compendium (free download of all 600+ pages) states the following:




Puts on the 35mm f/3.5 Summaron.

As there’s no record of Puts (no pun intended) ever actually taking a photograph with the objects of his obsession I think we can safely disregard the last paragraph above. For the real thing stand by while Dr. P. puts (ahem) the lens through its paces on the street. As that means film processing is involved, please do not hold your breath.

Now take a peek through the M3’s finder with a no lens attached:


The M3’s finder.See below
for the view through the goggles.

As you can see the thick 50mm frame still has a lot of view outside its boundaries and yes, that pretty much coincides with the field of view of a 35mm focal length lens. So why bother with the goggles, which are easily detached by loosening the thumb screw atop (it’s captive and will not fall out)? Well, sadly the rangefinder is way out when the goggles are removed. A correct distance of 20′ with them attached shows the lens to be focused at 12′ with the goggles removed, which is dead wrong, and significantly so. So using this lens on a later M2, say, with its native 35mm frame and with the goggles detached, is a non-starter. The lens will not focus correctly. On the other hand, attach it to that M2 with the goggles in place and correct rangefinder function is restored, though the view will be rather small given the already lower magnification of the M2’s finder. Seriously, if you want to use a 35mm lens on the M2 or any of its many later variants, buy one without goggles. That way you will enjoy the finder at its best.

Further, there is no infinity lock with the goggles attached – and they can only be removed with the lens set to infinity – the infinity lock comes into play once the goggles are removed and the ball bearing has to be depressed with a finger to allow the lens to focus. That ball bearing also acts as a locator for correct positioning of the goggles on the lens before the thumb screw is tightened. The base of the thumbscrew locates in the divot to the left of the ball bearing, making for perfect alignment. Over engineering at its finest.

Goggles, goggles, goggles. Better pour yourself a stiff one before reading further. The fact that the lens is locked at infinity with the goggles removed is not an engineering error. Think of it as Leitz’s unwritten way of telling the user that the only setting at which the rangefinder is accurate with the goggles removed is infinity. With the goggles installed there is no infinity lock nor is one needed as the goggles provide adequate surface area for leverage (turning moment) when the lens is mounted or removed. By contrast the non-goggles version for the Leica M2 has a conventional infinity lock at the focusing tab which has to be depressed to focus closer. That version of the lens will focus correctly on the M3 body also (the focus cam at the rear of the lens is differently shaped), but you will need a clip on viewfinder for accurate framing as the one in the M3 does not go wider than 50mm. That infinity lock on the non-goggles version also confers leverage when mounting or removing the lens as the barrel itself is rather small for this purpose. Likewise, you can use the goggles version on the M2/M4/etc. with the goggles fitted and focus will be accurate, but the M2’s already smaller 0.72x magnification (it’s 0.91x in the M3) will shrink to something near 0.5x. Not the greatest viewing experience.


The ball bearing infinity lock and locating divot.
Note the superb engraving quality.

Phew! To cut a long story short – and Puts and his ilk seem clueless about all of this likely because they never actually use the hardware they pontificate about – the only way to get correct focus with this lens is to leave the goggles in place. Sure, you can remove them to stash the parts in small pockets but use the lens without the goggles and your focus accuracy will be shot. In later goggled lenses – the 35/2.8, 35/2 and 35/1.4 – Leitz attached the goggles with a couple of machine screws and while you could remove those screws to detach the goggles the same wrong focus anomaly surfaced. I know because I used the f/2.8 version for over three decades, detached the goggles to try using the lens on my M2 and got the same error. No book knowledge here.

In 1958 Leitz added that f/2.8 version of the Summaron with an identical optical design and I can testify to its optical quality, so there’s reason to be optimistic about the f/3.5 I just acquired. Plus, at $550 with a fresh Cleaning, Lubrication and Adjustment, the f/3.5 is half the price of the f/2.8. Over $500 more for half a stop does not solve in my book. And try and beat that price for a used wide angle Leitz lens. As for that CLA, it’s pretty much essential for a lens that is now almost 70 years old, as the chances that the lubricants are dried out and the lens has haze and fungus are high. Don’t believe me. Check the eBay listings.

My lens is in absolutely mint condition. Not that easy to find. And it most certainly did not come from an ethically challenged eBay vendor. The serial number on mine dates it to 1956 and I have no reason to believe that anything changed qualitatively during the lens’s long production run.

Even with those clunky goggles, an M3 with the lens attached is still small. Compare with current full frame DSLRs and you will see what I mean.


Small.

Some ‘experts’ aver that the goggles present a distorted view of the scene. If there is any distortion its very minor barrel distortion and is barely noticeable on straight building lines in use. Leitz cut no corners in the optical design of the goggles as this image taken through the M3’s finder with the goggles fitted testifies. The color fringing is from the iPhone:


Viewfinder image with goggles fitted.

Well, I’m ready to hit the street but first, seriously, have you seen a more physically beautiful machine this side of one of Pininfarina’s Ferraris?


Ready for the street.
Note the rapid rewind crank.

The 39mm UV protective filter ran me all of $8 at Amazon and is even multi-coated. No need to waste money on Leitz or B+W branding. And note the protective Scotch tape in the region of the right hand side of the top plate where the wrist strap is attached and in the area of possible contact with the rewind crank in the area of the ‘Leica’ engraving on the top plate. I use an AppStore app for light measurement using the iPhone – there are dozens available, some are even free, and mine agrees with the meter in the Nikon D800. It takes me 12 seconds to rewind a film using the aftermarket crank at modest, not crazy, speed.

I use Sharp Photo in Wisconsin to process and scan the film, opting for the higher quality Noritsu 30mb scans. I will see how these compare with Nikon D800 ‘scans’ when I get the first batch of M3 negatives back.

About that lens cap: In the 1970s as a new Leica user I joined Circle 8 of the Leica Postal Portfolios. This was the large black and white print group, limited to ten members. You had a week to critique others’ prints and replace yours with the latest masterpiece, mailing the large box to the next member on the list. An engraved lens cap, the ‘L.P.P. Mirfield Award’ was given annually to the member voted as the best photographer by the group. I won it in 1976 and though they got my initial wrong it remains an object of pride. Keeping it on the lens is not a good idea as Murphy’s Law dictates that you will forget to remove it and will be rewarded with a blank roll of film!

To see how to get maximum sharpness out of film images made with this lens click here.

A crank for cranks

Cameras, Film, Leica

There’s one born every minute.

For an index of all Leica-related articles click here.

I extolled the many virtues of the 1954 Leica M3, compared with its predecessors, here. However one failing I did not mention was the poor design of the film rewind knob on the top left, because it’s still a knob, is still small in diameter and is still sharply knurled. This means that rewinding an exposed film back into its cassette is a slow and painful procedure. In the 35 years I used an M3 I avoided this issue by fitting an aftermarket rewind crank and these remain abundantly available today, typically selling for some $55 from the Commies in China.


The aftermarket crank extended and ready for action.

But there are at least 2 alternatives. The first comes from a vendor named Popflash whose products are frequently listed on eBay. The advantage of their design is the inclusion of a small plastic nub on the tip of the retaining Allen screw which means that your precious rewind knob will not be marred by metal-to-metal contact. (Popflash also lists imitation 1960s era Leica lens clones under the ‘Light Lens Lab’ brand, if that’s your thing).


The smart design of the Popflash retaining screw.

As a precaution against marring, I also stick a small piece of Scotch tape to the top left side of the top plate of the M3 in case the base of the crank should come into contact with it when in use.

Mine ran me $79 and right after I bought it the price shot up to $138. This is verging on silly pricing for stupid people. But if you are really dumb, and I mean really, really dumb, why not go for the real thing from Leica, including free marring of your knob, if you know what I mean, something Leica warns about in its promotional materials:


A crank for cranks.

DUH!

Leitz actually added a built in crank with the M4 and most later film cameras. This was angled at 45 degrees to the top plate to clear the optional MR4 Leicameter exposure meter and some reports suggest that the device was on the fragile side. Certainly the massive center shaft of the earlier and simpler knurled knob design was not known to fail, as there was less to go wrong. My M6 had the sloped crank and I did not find it preferable to the stock knob plus aftermarket crank on the M3.


The angled crank on an M4.

Rewind time for a 36 exposure roll? I generally average 9-10 seconds without going crazy. 10 seconds if you push me.

Leica M3

Cameras, Film, Leica

A reunion.

For an index of all Leica-related articles click here.

I have been patiently building a small collection of classic photography hardware in my home theater, the emphasis being on cameras which were revolutionary in the way they changed the medium. Further, electronics are anathema to this collection which focuses on the great machines of the mechanical age.

If there is one 20th century camera which rules it has to be the Nikon F, the first bullet proof single lens reflex camera which, incidentally, can claim to have ended the Viet Nam war. Most of the searing images from the front lines of that conflict were made on the Nikon F which became de rigeur hardware for any aspiring photojournalist. The Nikon came along in 1959 along with a large range of fine lenses, but 5 years earlier 1954 saw an introduction almost as significant, in the guise of the Leica M3.

The screw mount Leicas with their poor ergonomics, unchanged since the 1930s, were suddenly a thing of the past.


Clunky with poor ergonomics –
the Leica IIIF predecessor to the M3.

Gone were the dual shutter speed dials, replaced with a single dial with equally spaced click stops. Gone was the slow and fussy screw mount for lenses, replaced with a robust and long wearing bayonet mount. Gone was the slow and clumsy knob used to advance the film, replaced with a beautifully ergonomically engineered advance lever. Gone was the antediluvian film loading system which dictated a long leader on your emulsion of choice to allow insertion from the baseplate past the twin sprockets. An opening film back made things far easier. Gone was the need to manually reset the film counter for every new roll, for the M3’s counter reset automatically to minus 2 when the take-up spool was removed.


The opening film back greatly simplified reloading.

But, most importantly, the masterstroke of the Leica M3 was the superb combined rangefinder/viewfinder. No more did the user have to focus through one peephole and compose through another. And the latter really was a peephole, one of the worst viewfinders in any camera. Now the generously sized rangefinder patch appeared in the center of the large and very bright viewfinder and, unlike the contemporary Zeiss Ikon Contax IIa, the edges of the rangefinder patch were perfectly sharp allowing for alignment focusing as well as coincident use. A masterstroke, and still to be found on today’s ridiculously priced digital Leica M11 and variants. 80 years and counting testify to the exceptional design. And not only was that combined rangefinder/viewfinder big and bright, it would automatically show the correct frame lines for 90mm and 135mm lenses when they were fitted. And the icing on the cake was that the finder was automatically parallax compensated, the frames moving diagonally down to the right as the lens was racked out.


A masterstroke – the fine M3 finder.
In this snap the 135mm frame appears inside the 50mm one.

As there was no built in light meter Leitz provided a coupling selenium cell version which slid into the accessory shoe and coupled with the shutter speed dial. All you had to do was note the aperture reading indicated by the needle and transfer that to the lens, which was as fast as exposure measurement got before the days of automation. It worked well and I used that slip on selenium meter, which needed no battery, for 35 years. It never let me down.


The Leicameter MC.

You can read more about Leicameters here.

Above all, along with all these functional improvements, the Leica M3 was – and remains to this day – beautiful to behold. And to hold and operate it was a dream, everything in the right place with a wonderful feel of solidity. The M3 was reliable as long as you sent it for a good cleaning and lubrication every decade or so. This, after all, was no Nikon F when it came to brute robustness, but it was no shrinking violet either, being tough and dependable. Whack the body and the rangefinder might go out of alignment but even the home klutz can realign things with two provided screws. Ask me how I know. During its 12 year run Leitz made almost a quarter million M3 bodies. Compare that with the Nikon’s 15 year run through 1974, during which time Nippon Kogaku churned out 4 times as many Nikon Fs. No, the F did not need service every decade.

The M3 was my first ‘serious’ camera bought after three years of scrimping and saving in 1971 when I was 20, and was my ‘go to’ camera for the next 35 years. It was finally sold in 2006 when the Canon 5D full frame DSLR came along. Yet, truth be told, I never quite got over that sale, which bowed to my vow not to own anything I was not using. Well, that vow has been broken with the arrival of my home theater collection and finally a Leica M3, the last addition, has joined the other classics on display.

These include:

  • The Minox B spy camera of the 007 Cold War generation
  • The Contax IIa similar to the one Capa took to Omaha Beach on D Day
  • A Nikon F of course
  • The Rolleiflex 2.8D which every fashion maven was using in the 1950s
  • A Bolex H16 movie camera on which Spielberg cut his teeth
  • A Calumet/Cambo monorail studio camera which takes 5″ x 4″ sheet film, much loved by the Hollywood glamor photographers of the early days of the talkies
  • Classic Leitz, Linhof and Gandolfi tripods, the latter over a century old

Not a microchip, sensor or battery to be found in the lot.

The Leica M3 had a long life, being made through 1966, and while there were minor variations, it was largely unchanged during those 12 years of production. Early models had a two stroke lever wind as Leitz wrongly believed that a rapid single stroke would tear the film’s sprockets, or maybe cause electrostatic sparking and fogging. Choose which version you like, but I tend to the sparking story as early models had a glass pressure plate, eventually replaced by a conventional – and conductive – metal one, which worked every bit as well. Or better. Somewhere in early production the film transport gears were switched from soft brass to steel, conferring harder wearing properties. Some nuts claim that the earlier brass gears were smoother to which all I can say is …. nuts. About the same time the strap eyelets were moved from the side of the top plate to the front of the body, making for a better balanced whole with a more elegant design.

Early shutter speed progression was the non-linear 1/2, 1/5, 1/10, 1/25 etc. one, later replaced by that in use by every other maker, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30 and so on. Sometime around 1958 the rangefinder rectangle sprouted two protruding rectangles top and bottom which approximated the depth of field at f/16 and f/5.6 with the 50mm lens if the misaligned coincident images fell within their breadth. Hmmm. A solution looking for a problem.

While all M3s appeared to come with the front panel self timer lever, early models did not include the frame preview lever which allowed previewing of the 90mm and 135mm fields of view if neither of those lenses was fitted. The thicker 50mm frame lines were visible regardless of the lens fitted and if a 35mm optic was your thing Leitz provided one with auxiliary ‘goggles’ which made the 50mm frame show the wider field of view. A tad clunky but it worked for me for over three decades.


The 35mm Summaron with goggles for the M3.
These were easily removable on the early f/3.5 version.

And when my first Leica M3 arrived on August 2, 1971, with a modest 50mm collapsible Elmar lens, I was ready to hit the streets, having spent the scrimping and saving years boning up on Cartier-Bresson and Doisneau. These were two great if humorless French street workers, whose work I was determined to emulate with an added soupçon of humor. I eventually added two more modest lenses, a 35mm Summaron and a 90mm Elmar, sufficient for most tasks for which the camera was designed. And while my trinity of lenses represented the bottom of the line Leitz options their resolving power was just fine for big prints.

That Leica M3 was simply made for me and represented as fine a street snapper as was available, before auto everything and zoom lenses rendered it and its many derivatives obsolete.


As fine and humorous a street snapper
as was available.
Crufts Dog show, 1972. Leica M3,
90mm Elmar, TriX.

And now it’s in my collection and, yes, the serial number is almost identical to that of my first one, making it August 1958 vintage.


The Leica M3.

Now all I have to do is find a lens for it. I rather fancy that 35mm Summaron with goggles which was used for most of the pictures in my book ‘Street Smarts‘.

Want to buy one? Either make sure it has had a recent documented CLA (Cleaning, Lubrication and Adjustment) or budget up to $500 to have it brought up to snuff. Even the youngest M3 is almost 60 years old and those lubricants, if original, are probably dried up. Cosmetic appearance and function are unrelated.

The Rolleiflex 2.8D

Cameras

Not cheap, but most special.

The one thing the nutty retro film movement has succeeded in accomplishing – and it’s not great photography – is the wild escalation of the prices of some of the classic cameras of the 1950s and 1960s. Quite why anyone would waste time processing film with its poor quality and great fragility compared to digital images beats me. Yeah, I know. And LPs sound better too, right? Uh huh. Just go easy on the funny cigarettes.

The two ‘go to’ makers of the time were Franke & Heidecke – Rolleiflex – and Ernst Leitz – Leica. Both were German, needless to add, and that’s a good thing as the last thing you want in your camera maker is a sense of humor. (If you wanted large format the maker of choice was Linhof, sharing roots in the Fatherland).

When the highest quality images were required without resorting to cumbersome plate cameras the Rollei, with its large 6x6cm negatives (over 3 times the area of the 35mm alternative) was the choice of the most famous photographers of the time. Beaton, Capa, Lee Miller, Avedon, Arbus, Adams, Erwitt, Vivian Maier all used Rolleiflexes. Heck, Fred Astaire, trained by none other than Richard Avedon, used no fewer than three in Funny Face, and if you have not seen that then your have little interest in photography.

So my small Home Theater display of the great classics could not possibly be complete without a Rolleiflex from the peak film era and I opted for a 2.8D made in 1955. This took a good deal of searching as most cameras of that era have been beaten to death. Not this one:


The Rolleiflex 2.8D, manufactured
between Aug 1955 and Sep 1956.

It’s as near mint as these things get right down to the dual lens cap (bayonet the top part, snap closed the lower one), pristine leather case and the original instruction book. And the latter is wonderful. Read it without knowing anything about picture taking and you will be half way there by the time you are done. Why, even the self timer works, reflecting a repair by the previous owner.

Having offered supplication to the Market God (he responded favorably) I laid out a not inconsiderable amount of cash and the Rollei now adds a touch of class to the Home Theater which includes a Nikon F, a Minox B, a Contax II, a Bolex H16, a Calumet field camera and …. my first camera, the 1959 Kodak Brownie Reflex 620, given me by my parents when I was 8.


Alongside the Kodak Brownie.
The only thing these two share is the 6×6 film size.
Note the Leitz table tripod supporting the Rollei.

In operation the Synchro Compur shutter (1-1/500 and B) is almost silent, much quieter than the one in the contemporary Leica M3. You are limited to 12 exposures on a roll of 120 film which will ensure you waste none. And the exposure guide on the rear of the camera is beyond ingenious, far superior to the near useless ones which simply recite exposure values in later models.


The intuitive exposure guide.

You can couple the shutter speeds with the aperture values by a 90 degree twist of the front right dial between the lenses, or uncouple them if you want to separate the setting of the two variables. EVs never really caught on because 1 second at f/2.8 is a whole lot easier to remember than the fact that it’s EV3 at 100 ASA. Still, they are there if you want them, but you should probably dress eccentrically and affect a German accent when using them.

The Rollei is one of the truly great exemplars of the film era.

Minox B

Cameras

For the spy in you.


Minox B and 36 exposure film cassette.

Having made 150,941 of its various predecessors, with production starting in Riga, Latvia in 1936, Minox had refined their spy camera to the extent that a dual range, coupled selenium meter was included in the ‘B’ model, first made in 1956. Production totaled a startling 384,328 through 1972, suggesting there were either more Russkie spies than even the CIA counted, or that there were some 300,000 plus twits who thought they could get decent sized prints from the 8 x 11 mm negative the camera produced. They couldn’t.

That’s not to denigrate the ingenuity of the design which includes neutral density and green filters, shutter speeds from 1/2 second to 1/1000, B and T, and focusing to a scant 8″ using the included lanyard as a distance scale. Film cassettes held up to 50 exposures and the very decent viewfinder has a suspended, illuminated frame. The lens has a fixed f/3.5 aperture and with a focal length of 15mm the depth of field is large.

The Minox was part of a complete camera system which included a binocular attachment for the super spook, a projector, an enlarger, a tripod holder and tripod, and a flash attachment for AG1 peanut flash bulbs for midnight spookery.


Minox B with flashbulb attachment. The reflector retracts.

This is the latest addition to the Home Theater photographic hardware display and dates from 1962. Believe it or not, it has a properly functioning exposure meter, activated with the button at right. By the time the B was made production had moved to Wetzlar in Germany and the camera is quite beautifully made, just like the Leica M3 next door. But now that everyone on earth has a spy camera – it’s called a cell phone – the Minox is no more than a charming period piece on display with a variety of other classics, and it is most assuredly a classic piece. However, if you need huge prints, stick with that iPhone.


Michael Caine has at it in The Ipcress File, 1965.