Leica LTM Best ever Barnack?

Leica M39 screw mount bodies/lenses
Read through the whole thread again. ... Hmm. Best Barnak? I only have the experience of using three: my father's IIIf (which I inherited), and the IIc and IIf that I bought in 1969ish ... with two lenses! ... for about $100. All three were lost over the years, but used a lot.

If I could have any of them back, it would be that IIc with the Elmar 3.5cm lens. It was a lovely camera. I've occasionally thought of buying another, but somehow just can't 'go home again', as they say.

G
 
In my opinion the pre-IIIc barnack-cameras are the best, so the Leica III. These cameras are extremely strong. They are less complicated and much easier to repair and to adjust than the IIIc, IIIf and IIIg. The Elmars 3.5cm and 5cm will fit. These cameras are also available in black paint at normal prices.

gelatin silver print (elmar 50mm f3.5) leica ll

Amstelveen, 2002

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gelatin silver print (summilux 50mm f1.4) leica m3

Dutch author W.F. Hermans on his 65th birthday in Paris in 1986. He was a Leica lover too. In one of his books - the best seller "The darkroom of Damocles" - a Leica lll is an important object. In the book is also mention of the number of the camera: 256789. The number of the lens - a Summar - is 222456. Of course I looked up the number of the camera; it turned however out not to be the number of a Leica lll, but that of a Leica llla! I pointed this out to Hermans and damn it, in the next printing of the book he changed the type designation!

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Derek Leath said:
My vote is the Leica IIIg, and not to start anything but isn't a Barnack a Leica?
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I have never understood this populist fashion. How about we screw thread Leicas start referring to the 'M' series cameras bodies by the name of their original designer ???? :D:D
 
DLox said:
The 'Best' Barnack? Obviously the one which you are currently using. :):):)
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I have multiple M bodies, not to mention Nikon and other larger formats as well. I just went overseas for 8 days and carried a IIIf with 21mm and 50mm Color-Skopars, shooting monochrome.

That camera is a delight. It is small and unobtrusive. It does suffer from the need for auxiliary finders and a short focusing baseline, but it makes up for in portability and weight. I've been printing the results and I am happy with them. I would note that for LTM cameras, I much prefer the Color-Skopars to the old Leica "vintage" lenses. I find the "classic Leica look" to mean low contrast, mostly.
 
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chuckroast said:
I find the "classic Leica look" to mean low contrast, mostly.
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This is true, but it's going to depend a lot on (and/or influence) what film you're using.

I was always perplexed by people claiming that Pan F+ was a "contrasty" film. With the way I shot and developed it, it looked fine. It was only later that I realised my preference for uncoated lenses might have something to do with it!

Also, as has been discussed elsewhere in recent days... a lot of early Leica lenses have a subtle amount of haze in them which often reduces contrast quite a bit more than you'd imagine. A proper deep-clean will bring all that contrast right back.
 
Coldkennels said:
Also, as has been discussed elsewhere in recent days... a lot of early Leica lenses have a subtle amount of haze in them which often reduces contrast quite a bit more than you'd imagine. A proper deep-clean will bring all that contrast right back.
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I had a really clean LTM 50mm f/2 Collapsible Summicron I sent out to have cleaned. It came back sparkling clean. It was a coated lens with absolutely no blemishes or imperfections, haze, fungus, or any other optical imperfections. Was it good? Yes. But the LTM 50mm Color-Skopar that replaced it is definitely snappier and possibly even sharper than the 'Cron, at least for my monochrome only purposes. In fact, that lens compares well with my 50mm V3 Summicron-M.

So, while I think a good cleaning is mandated for older lenses, I think there is something to be said for newer lens designs. I know that Leica did make some late model lenses in LTM but they are in the nosebleed price range so I never have owned one of them.
 
Funny you should say that... I just got my collapsible Summicron back from Skyllaney this month. In Chris' report, he said - and I quote - "you have a good optical copy of this lens, most LTM 5cm Cron’s we see, there optics are way worse then your copy."

I've not had the chance to shoot it on film yet but it doesn't look too shabby on an M240. This is a straight out of camera JPG, no adjustments:

L1000341 copy.JPG

Maybe the Color Skopar is sharper, sure - I know the original 28mm Color Skopar is one of my favourite lenses of all time - but I'm not sure I really need more contrast than that, to be honest!
 
Coldkennels said:
Funny you should say that... I just got my collapsible Summicron back from Skyllaney this month. In Chris' report, he said - and I quote - "you have a good optical copy of this lens, most LTM 5cm Cron’s we see, there optics are way worse then your copy."

I've not had the chance to shoot it on film yet but it doesn't look too shabby on an M240. This is a straight out of camera JPG, no adjustments:



Maybe the Color Skopar is sharper, sure - I know the original 28mm Color Skopar is one of my favourite lenses of all time - but I'm not sure I really need more contrast than that, to be honest!
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Try the 21mm f/4 Color-Skopar. It's an absolute razor.
 
chuckroast said:
Try the 21mm f/4 Color-Skopar. It's an absolute razor.
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I own that one, too. Sadly, mine is a tad hazy. I still like it, but I do find 21mm a tad too wide sometimes. I typically prefer a 50/28mm kit.

That said, the 21mm on a Leica Ic is a lovely combo - a very easy walk-about setup. A yellow filter goes a long way with a lens that wide though, I find:

Leica Ic - Roll 17 - Rollei Retro 400S - LC29 (18) - FINAL EDIT.jpg
 
Coldkennels said:
I own that one, too. Sadly, mine is a tad hazy. I still like it, but I do find 21mm a tad too wide sometimes. I typically prefer a 50/28mm kit.

That said, the 21mm on a Leica Ic is a lovely combo - a very easy walk-about setup. A yellow filter goes a long way with a lens that wide though, I find:
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Really nice image. What film/dev combo did you use for that?
 
That's Rollei Retro 400S in LC29. It took me a bit of time to dial in that combo - I now use a 1+19 dilution for 6:00 at 20ºC, and do ten seconds of agitation every minute.

I find it can be too contrasty a lot of the time (hence the reduced dev and agitation times compared to the datasheet), but with an uncoated lens like a Summar, it can often work in your favour:

Leica IIIf - Roll 85 - Rollei Retro 400 - LC29 (6) - FINAL EDIT.jpg

I shot a lot of this stuff last winter, and I think I'm probably going to be making the swap back over from FP4+ again soon.
 
Coldkennels said:
That's Rollei Retro 400S in LC29. It took me a bit of time to dial in that combo - I now use a 1+19 dilution for 6:00 at 20ºC, and do ten seconds of agitation every minute.

I find it can be too contrasty a lot of the time (hence the reduced dev and agitation times compared to the datasheet), but with an uncoated lens like a Summar, it can often work in your favour:

View attachment 4845587

I shot a lot of this stuff last winter, and I think I'm probably going to be making the swap back over from FP4+ again soon.
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Here is some stuff I shot at the beginning of the month in Italy with 21mm and 50mm Color-Skopars. Some on Double-X developed in D-76 1+1 and some Tri-X semistand processed in Pyrocat-HD:



https://ozzie.tundraware.com/ITM24/
 
Godfrey said:
Read through the whole thread again. ... Hmm. Best Barnak? I only have the experience of using three: my father's IIIf (which I inherited), and the IIc and IIf that I bought in 1969ish ... with two lenses! ... for about $100. All three were lost over the years, but used a lot.

If I could have any of them back, it would be that IIc with the Elmar 3.5cm lens. It was a lovely camera. I've occasionally thought of buying another, but somehow just can't 'go home again', as they say.
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I went home again, a few weeks ago: Now have a very nice 1946 Leica IIIc. Perhaps I'm not sensitized enough to the subtle differences between the pre-IIIc etc Barnaks, but it feels just right to me.

G
 
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