Leica LTM Leica Screw Mount Conversions - Show Yours

Leica M39 screw mount bodies/lenses
Michael,

CRR did a wonderful job with the vulcanite of your camera. It looks very good. Unfortunately the vulcanite on all my Leicas is still excellent, so I cannot try the covering of CRR. I talked to Peter about covering my 2003 MP with the same material. He said it could be done. However, recently I've tried Aki Asahi's 4032 ($18) and the result is so fantastic, that I've decided to leave it on the camera for a while. The stuff Leica themselves put on the camera is the most terrible rubbish on this planet. What a shame to put that kind of ... on an expensive camera like that.
Your Leica III is from the late thirties. One can see that from the shape of the frame around the viewfinder and from the placing of the "DRP" marking.
I love the release guard! Never saw one like that before.
I would like to make pictures of my shutter release guards, but a. I think they are not very special and b. I do not have a digital camera.
The Summar is a wonderful, very much underrated lens. It is however prone to flare. I would like to have a coated one. Coated Summars do exist.

Erik.
 
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Erik,

It is easy. Go into any cycle shop and ask them if they have any of the rings that hold the valves into the inner tube fitting. Chose some that have appropriate knurling and take them home and check that the thread is right. Then you can start filing or sawing with a hacksaw. After a couple of disasters you will make something you are proud of!

Most of them are brass covered with a thin nickel coating.

Michael
 
My Latest Conversion Find - 1945 Leica IIIC to IIIFBD

My Latest Conversion Find - 1945 Leica IIIC to IIIFBD

I just received a 1945 Leica IIIC to IIIFBD conversion, not sure if it had full race bearings like my other one had, but more than likely so, it`s like EX++ condition, that`s been recovered by Camera Leather and has a professional engraving of the past owners name (I figure a US Army Officer) the really FUNNY :) part was when I opened the bottom of the camera it had a CANON POPUP spool in it!!!!!!!
(one of my many practices to make living everyday with a Leica IIIC easier - so that guy knew what he was doing when it comes to using a Leica the easy/fast way) - to me this camera was also a bargain at $188! BIN from evilbay
(my other Stepper IIIC to IIIF I think cost $150 and it`s an ex- Full Race K "Kugellager" shutter camera)

Camera needs a simple CLA and a missing shutter button collar, that`s all.......

Really this just goes to show there`s still some very interesting "stepped rewind" conversions out there for sale, so keep looking! :D

Tom

PS: I`ve had like 3 emails already asking me to sell this camera - But this camera`s already as good as gone now, Leo`s always wanted a Stepper/Conversion so I promised him the next one I get will go to him.......I`ve got this one going out to trade back my old 1946 Leica IIIC #3974xx I bought from Jack`s Camera last year, so you`ll see that again soon posted here at RFF
 
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Nice one Tom,

Helps me with another 'rule of conversions' (if there are such timgs!)

Pre IIIc cameras converted to something akin to IIIfs have replacement top housings (not top plates) that are higher than the original around the shutter dial and have the flash numbers engraved into them.

IIIc cameras converted to IIIfs have a plate with the flash numbers attached to the original housing.

Am I right?

Michael
(Nice black III with good paint and unusually chrome fittings just arrived. Seized solid but can be brought back from the dead. Will post pics in a few days)
 
I have a question on the IIIc to IIIf conversions. Were there any done to IIIf RDST standards? I just picked up what I thought was a IIIf on ebay, mostly for the nikkor 50/2 attached to it, as I already have a IIIf BD and a IIIg. It arrived today, and as I was looking over it the serial # puts it as a 1949 IIIc. (per the head bartender) but it has black numbers on the flash sync plate and a self timer on the front.

It's actually in pretty good condition, and I was just going to sell it on, but I think I might keep it after all... (oh no, I've become a collector! Don't tell my girlfriend.)
I'll post some pics in a few days, after my finals are over.
 
This is my user Leica II, a post-war conversion (without synch) with SCNOO rapidwinder.

Erik.

3765683580_8d6304f338_b.jpg
 
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=71975&d=1249145853

Doesn't look too bad from a distance Leica I converted to II postwar no sync, no blanking plate...unfortunately the blinds are shot, the rangefinder needs a new beam splitter and I am not going to spend the effort because someone has repainted it not particularly well! Oh, and I forgot, the lens barrel is scored by a runaway ball bearing and the retaining rings within are cross theaded!

Shame

Michael
 
Nice camera, Michael, that Leica I. If my information is correct, it dates from 1928. It seems to me that it has been updated at some time. It originally had the mushroom release and the lower profile wind knob, like this one, nr. 10941. Your wind knob does not have the same fine knurling as the rewind knob.

Erik.
 
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Dralowid said:
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=71975&d=1249145853

Doesn't look too bad from a distance Leica I converted to II postwar no sync, no blanking plate...unfortunately the blinds are shot, the rangefinder needs a new beam splitter and I am not going to spend the effort because someone has repainted it not particularly well! Oh, and I forgot, the lens barrel is scored by a runaway ball bearing and the retaining rings within are cross theaded!

Shame

Michael
Click to expand...

Can the repaint be removed? It often can, with acetone. CRR can install a new beamsplitter. It is a very rare conversion, without the blanking plate. I presume the shell was still in great shape when the conversion was undertaken.

Erik.
 
I suspect it has been stripped. The fittings are all virtually perfect and the vulcanite is good. Forget the lens. I don't quite know what to do with this camera, have talked to Peter at CCR about it and although we can certainly sort it out the finish is the issue. I thought beating it up a but might help!!! Rare indeed, who would convert an early I to a II in the fifties? If you look at the sheet of costs posted earlier in this thread it wouldn't have cost all that much more to go to a III or at least II sync. Whatever, to me at least, it is one of the prettiest of these postwar conversions.

Michael
 
Dralowid said:
I suspect it has been stripped. The fittings are all virtually perfect and the vulcanite is good. Forget the lens. I don't quite know what to do with this camera, have talked to Peter at CCR about it and although we can certainly sort it out the finish is the issue. I thought beating it up a but might help!!! Rare indeed, who would convert an early I to a II in the fifties? If you look at the sheet of costs posted earlier in this thread it wouldn't have cost all that much more to go to a III or at least II sync. Whatever, to me at least, it is one of the prettiest of these postwar conversions.

Michael
Click to expand...

Well, the conversion II I showed in this thread was originally a Standard, the same story as with yours. I think, in the fifties there was a great demand for camera's, but people didn't have much money. A coupled rangefinder added was already a substantial improvement.

Erik.
 
This camera started life as a chrome IIIa in 1936. After the war it has been converted into a black IIasyn. Despite all those troubles, it was appearently almost never used afterwards.

Erik.
3781005786_3b18fb4015_b.jpg
 
Dralowid said:
I suspect it has been stripped. The fittings are all virtually perfect and the vulcanite is good. Forget the lens. I don't quite know what to do with this camera, have talked to Peter at CCR about it and although we can certainly sort it out the finish is the issue. I thought beating it up a but might help!!! Rare indeed, who would convert an early I to a II in the fifties? If you look at the sheet of costs posted earlier in this thread it wouldn't have cost all that much more to go to a III or at least II sync. Whatever, to me at least, it is one of the prettiest of these postwar conversions.

Michael
Click to expand...

We must also keep in mind that in the fifties repair of the oldest camera's no longer was done under warranty. So customers were almost obliged to convert their old Leicas. That's the reason so many are around. To have an old camera converted was evidently cheaper than buying a new one.

Erik.
 
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