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  #1  
Old 21st July 2015, 03:10 PM
ImperatorFury ImperatorFury is offline
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Question Doubts about Leica... Leica II or Leica IIIg?

Hi all!

I've thinking about selling some of my material in order to invest in a Leica.

I'm thinking about Leica II or Leica IIIg. Besides the price difference, what are the biggest differences?

I have found one of each in here
http://www.camarasetvoila.com/en/35-...-cromada-.html

, but still I cannot make a decision.

Any tips???
THANKS!
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  #2  
Old 23rd July 2015, 06:49 PM
Alan Clark Alan Clark is offline
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Hello! It seems that you have been overlooked for some reason.

I'm just curious; have you actually handled either of these cameras?
The reason I ask is because my next-door neighbour has a Leica 111g which he doesn't use and he let me borrow it for a few days. I have to say that, compared to the big bright viewfinder on my Olympus OM1, the Leica viewfinder was disappointingly small, and quite dim. He offered to sell me the camera at a very reasonable price but I didn't buy it because I knew that viewfinder would put me off using it.

Any chance that you could "try before you buy" ?

Alan

P.S.
To add to my blasphemy, I have to say that I didn't much like the lens either - a 50mm Summar. It had the characteristic of draining most of the detail out of the shadows, and giving a rather strange look to the prints. My neighbour, who is a bit of a boffin (well, a lot of a boffin actually) said that a lens on its own can't do this. But it did.


I'm going into hiding now...
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  #3  
Old 23rd July 2015, 10:35 PM
big paul big paul is offline
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Fury and Alan I have my Nikon F and Nikon F5 and my F5 is so much clearer and brighter and I have a good screen in the F ,so its fare to say that newer cameras are easer to focus than old ones ,also I think that modern lenses snap into focus better than a lot of older lenses ,plus there's the ware and tare and dirt and grease they suffer over the years.
Don't get me wrong I use my old cameras alongside my newer cameras ,but I think if you are going to use very old basic cameras I think that some experience of film photography helps to make up for the lack of anything modern on a camera, as we know the less automation on a camera the more we have to think before we press the button .I think I would buy a more modern film camera ,but every body to there own and if you fancy a Leica good luck I think that if you enjoy using a particular camera and it makes taking photos more fun you cannot loose .I always wanted a Hasselblad and just recently bought two and some lenses ,they haven't made me a better photographer but they give me pleasure using them ,and maybe that pleasure I get comes out in my photographs who knows ,all I know is that when I put a roll of film in any of my film cameras the fun begins .there are a lot of Leica owners so I am Shure you will get some great advice ...




www.essexcockney.com
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Old 24th July 2015, 07:17 AM
Paulographic Paulographic is offline
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I used a Leica IIIf for fifteen years selling it only to return to SLRs (Nikon). Totally reliable. I wouldn't have liked the Summar either a pre WWii design. Mine had the f2 Summitar a sharper contrastier lens and when the Iiig was introduced that had long been replaced with the Summicron a still current design.
If you can find a IIIg at an affordable price go for it and try and find a Summicron as a standard lens, if not a Summitar. It was introduced after the M series bayonet models and has parallax correction.
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  #5  
Old 24th July 2015, 08:36 AM
John King John King is offline
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Default Leica's

Concentrating on the two models of Leica that was the main subject of the question. Basically the Leica 11 as far as I can remember did not have any shutter speeds less than 1/25th apart from being older than the 111g. The 111g has a full set of speeds from 1sec to 1/1000th plus the benefit of a bright line finder.

A really good 111G in mint condition both cosmetically and mechanically will fetch a premium price, I have seen a really good one as much as £1400 -£1500 whilst a usable one can be bought for around £600-£750.

I have used 111g in the past and found it very easy to get on with and the finder quite good and as good as cameras got when they were manufactured.

As for lenses an Elmar 50mm/F3.5 so long as it is a coated version, will not dissapoint. For a few (quite a few) more pounds/Euros a 50mm/F2.8 Elmar is superb. The 111G I had use of actually had a Nikon 50mm/F2 which was possibly as good as a Leitz Summicron of the era.
(and a whole lot cheaper if you can find one - they are quite rare).

Having said all of that, both of these cameras are quite elderly now so I would give serious thought to a full service to ensure that the speeds are accurate and the rangefinder has no nasties. They are known to loose their silvering and become difficult to use.

My choice - the 111g


have a look at this site http://www.peterloy.com/ the owner only deals in classic cameras and knows his stuff about Leica's

Last edited by John King; 24th July 2015 at 08:41 AM.
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Old 24th July 2015, 11:00 AM
big paul big paul is offline
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bloody hell John you could have put a warning next to that website ,I just about got of it without buying something .....But I have put it in my favorites , he has some nice cameras OH that Nikon S3 Olympic is calling me ,I must resist for the sake of my marriage :-)))))))))





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  #7  
Old 24th July 2015, 09:23 PM
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cliveh cliveh is offline
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I have a Leica II and a Leica IIIg. Although the IIIg is a beautiful design, (used in Audi car advertisements as the ultimate in design) I don't really get along with it. It tries to do too much in terms of size and handling and is slightly too small for what it is trying to achieve. The Leica II on the other hand is probably the most tactile and Zen like camera ever made.
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