At 01:56 1/16/00 , David Cochran wrote:
> As much as I love my OMs (2 of them) my little gem is the LeicaIIIf. Now
>that's a gem!
David,
I was referring to the man-made ruby shutter release button on the Contax T
which makes that part of it *literally* a gem. A great sub-miniature with
a superb lens from the 1980's, but it's AE only. My brother has one.
Your Leica IIIf is one of the all-time 35mm gems. It is a real pleasure to
use one of the world-class classic rangefinders and assume you use yours.
Glass, brass, chrome and steel with precision machining. One can read
about their legendary reputations, but using one experiences it.
My gem from the same era is a Contax IIIa, and it gets used enough to keep
its shutter exercised. My style of photography shifts when using it. The
pace slows down, every aspect becomes more deliberate, and the deeply
knurled knobs and leather give it a tactile element. If you've never seen
one, there are pictures of it here:
http://members.xoom.com/johnlind/zeissikon/zeissikonframe.html
and here: http://www.jetlink.net/~cameras/conrf.htm
It's much different looking than the Leica III's, a little bigger, and
strangely they're not as pricey. Probably because the old LTM's have a
better classic look making them a mechanical work of art, especially the IIIf.
-- John
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