Really Good Things in Small Packages: My Leica IIIG Camera

Background

The stock market behaved as every economist predicted in response to the chaotic tariff regulations. Our family assets sink with each burp of the markets. That is sure making America great again...... The popular photo blogger, Kirk Tuck, recommended folks buy any cameras they might want immediately. Hmmm.....  

I like that advice!! I suffered another bout of GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) and ordered a camera I have thought about for some years, the Leica IIIG rangefinder. A sale of Leica goodies at Tamarkin Camera in Chicago was too good to resist. The 'Bay lists tens of IIIGs for sale, mostly from Japan. But the Tamarkin price was a bit lower, and all his camera bodies have been checked, cleaned, and adjusted as needed.

The Leica IIIG

The IIIG is the last iteration of the famous Leica thread-mount camera line. Leica made this beauty from 1957 to 1960, with production of only about 40,000 units. Ernst Leitz GMBH had recovered from the war and was selling their top quality cameras and lenses around the world. Leitz had introduced their fantastic M3 camera in 1954, and the IIIG was their last and most sophisticated version of the older thread mount series. Unlike all the previous III models, the IIIG had a viewfinder with movable frame bars to show the coverage of a 50mm lens. It was a major improvement, although not nearly as sophisticated as the finder in the M cameras. 

Framing the scene that a lens will project on the 24×36 mm piece of film is always imprecise with viewfinder cameras. In the past, I have been frustrated with cameras that have a viewfinder only, such as my Vito BL, Kodak Retina IIa, and Leica IIIC. Depending on where I placed my eye, the frame shifted left or right. The projected frame bars in my Leica M2 and my Canonet cameras are a major improvement in aiming more accurately. Therefore, my new IIIG provides this improved function also (see, I just justified GAS). 

 

Leica IIIG viewfinder windows including small window to illuminate viewfinder frame bars

Like the older thread-mount cameras, the IIIG has two shutter speed controls. The dial on the front is for B (bulb) and 1 to 1/30 sec. The dial on the top controls 1/30 to 1/1000 sec. The self-timer is the lever on the front. 

Immaculate engraving and machining

The IIIG is somewhat of an anachronism today, being a mechanical camera that takes film and has no light meter. But it is more compact than my M2 camera, has a hand-crafted jewel-like precision, and has a fun factor that today's electronic cameras lack. And film has certainly enjoyed a revival compared to the early 2010s. Whether it lasts, I cannot predict. 

Loading contemporary film in current 35mm cassettes requires some preparation. You need to trim the film leader to have a tongue about 10cm long, similar to the way film was supplied in the 1960s. You load the film from the bottom. Lacking a back film door, the body is especially rigid.

I already had three 50mm thread-mount lenses that I used with my 1949 IIIC: 

• 1949 5 cm ƒ/2 Leitz Summitar (in the photos above)
• 1962 Soviet 50 mm ƒ/2 Jupiter-8 (a Sonnar type of lens)
• 1950s 50 mm ƒ/1.8 Canon (late production model) 

So, of course, too many camera toys....   

Note: In 1999, Leica issued their 50mm ƒ/2 modern Summicron lens in a thread-mount version. Hmmm... 

Olympic Peninsula, Washington

On a sunny and cheerful April day, my wife and I set out north into the Olympic Peninsula. I mounted my 1949 5 cm ƒ/2 Summitar lens on the body and loaded a roll of Kodak Portra 160. Leitz designed this 7-element lens before the war and continued production until 1953 or 1954. My example is coated and unscratched. I measured light with my trusty Gossen Luna Pro digital meter, set at Exposure Index 100. Here are some examples. Please click any picture to see details.

Hunter Farm, Rte 106, Union

Fix me up, Center Road, Quilcene (1/250 ƒ/5.6)

Fixer-upper house, Center Road, Quilcene

Waiting for repair with a bit of fungus, Rte 101, Quilcene

Skeleton man on patrol, Quilcene

Also waiting for repair, Rte 101, Quilcene

Rte 101 bridge over Hamma Hamma River (1/125 ƒ/8.0½)

Motel, Rte 101, Lilliwaup (1/60 ƒ/4.0½)

Country store, Rte 101, Lilliwaup

Oh, oh, no coffee here, Rte 101, Lilliwaup

Summary

OK, I am thrilled. This  IIIG certainly passes the test. The body looks great, the finder is clear and clean, film spacing is even, and exposure is uniform across the frame (meaning the shutter curtains are running smoothly). The old Summitar lens is contrasty on a bright sunny day. But it has serious field curvature and is not as uniform across the frame as a modern lens. On the scale of internet display, the frames look fine. The entire package is fun to use, with a mechanical watch-like precision. 

My recommendation: Buy a Leica thread-mount camera and get back to the basics of film photography! Have fun! 

Reading

One of the best reviews of the IIIG camera is by Mike Eckman. 

Appendix - Leather Case

Genuine E. Leitz case for Leica IIIG with short or collapsing lens

Tamarkin Camera included a traditional ever-ready ("never-ready") leather case. Such cases were ubiquitous pre-1975 or so, but they fell out of favor with most photographers. I had enormous bulbous leather cases for my Nikkormat and Nikon F cameras in the 1970s. 

I stopped using cases for most 35mm cameras years ago. However, the one for my Retina IIa was useful and compact, and the square one for my Rolleiflex 3.5E adds almost no bulk. Despite the criticisms, cases can be handy because you can walk around in a rain and have your camera protected. But the camera remains easily accessible. And, you can toss it into a backpack or the floor of your car, and it will be reasonably padded. 

The case above is beautifully made of molded brown leather. And this one still has good stitching. It is a compact model with short lens snout, probably intended for collapsing lenses or a tiny unit like the 35mm Summaron. My Summitar fits when collapsed. 

Leitz also made taller cases that, I assume, were designed to hold the camera and a mounted selenium light meter.

Would this be handy for a bicycle outing? The leather straps are old and need to be replaced for safety, and a light meter will need to be in another pouch or a pocket. Hmmm, something to consider.

Around Olympia with Kodak T400CN (Abandoned Films 13) (Oly 08)

Introduction

Dear Readers, it happened again. I intended to no longer use expired films because of the risks of blotches or other issues caused by old age and improper storage. But a few months ago, an eBay seller included a complimentary roll of Kodak T400CN film in an order. I loaded it in my Leica IIIC camera and tried it around town. 

T400CN was a 1990s C-41 black and white film. It could be processed in common C-41 chemistry almost anywhere on earth (such as by any 1-hour processing kiosk) and yield black and white prints. I used it a few times in the past. When fresh, it was very fine grain and high resolution for a 400 speed film. Other companies also marketed C-41 black and white films, but today, only Ilford XP2 is left. 

Kodak discontinued T400CN in 2004. The Professional Portra 400BW film was similar (or the same?) and was discontinued about the same time. Kodak replaced them with BW400CN, which I have used in my Abandoned Films series. The last few rolls were more grainy than when they were fresh, so possibly the BW400CN changes chemically when old. Of course, other factors, like the brand of C-41 chemistry, may affect the appearance of the film. Has this T400CN aged more gracefully? 

Because of the age, I decided to expose it at EI=120 rather than the original specified 400. I took the film to Photoland at The Evergreen State College. They called me after 3 hours to report that it was ready! I scanned it on my Nikon Coolscan 5000 scanner. The advantage of a C-41 film, either color or B&W, is that the infrared ISRD function can identify scratches and correct them. It is a convenience because you do not need to touch up as many flaws on the film with a heal tool. Unfortunately, this does not work for traditional black and white film. 

This was also a test of my Leica IIIC camera and its 5cm ƒ/2 Summitar lens. In the past, the IIIC suffered from a zone that was out of focus on the far right. I suspected that the film was buckling or not lying straight in the rails. I added another nylon washer on the post that pushes the film canister up into the body. The reloadable Leitz film canisters, which were common in the 1940s, may be marginally taller than modern commercial 35mm film canisters. Even if the film lay perfectly flat (which never happens in any 35mm camera), the Summitar has field curvature, so the best focus curves towards you at the sides of the frame. 

Yes, I know, this experiment had too many variables. There were too many degrees of freedom to be able to isolate contributing factors. But you readers can decide if it all worked out. Here are some random scenes around Olympia, Washington. Click any photo to see it at 1600 pixels wide.

Olympia

Impending storm, East Bay, March 2, 2024. The Capitol is in the distance. 

Farmers Market, Olympia, March 2, 2024

Where did all the hail come from? Olympia certainly has interesting weather. What happened to spring?

Unused tracks off Olympia Avenue in the drizzle - where did spring go?

Former Golden Gavel Motor Inn, mid-century architecture at its finest. The unit is being renovated. (5cm Summitar with light yellow filter.)

Traditional wooden houses, view from Legion Way (with medium yellow filter)

Gas meters, Olympia Avenue

Gas meters scanned in full color RGB

I scanned most of this roll using 16-bit grey scale. But my Nikon Coolscan 5000 occasionally shifts to the default setting of full-color RGB (meaning 3×16-bit). I like the effect. It resembles selenium or one of the red toners. I may use this more with this T400CN film, but it would only be effective for certain subjects (artsy-fartsy stuff). 

This is a crop of the scanned file. It shows how much detail this film can capture. And this is from a lens designed before World War II! Note how this film does not have grain in the same way as a traditional black and white film. This, and all C-41 films, have dye clouds, instead.  

Door at 215 Thurston Avenue

Emerging from the 7th Avenue tunnel

Nature

How does this film work with nature topics?

Spurgeon Creek from the Chehalis Western bicycle trail south of Olympia

Olympia Avenue tree (with light yellow filter)

Industry

Foss Waterway, Tacoma

Tacoma is full of interesting topics. I will be returning!

Summary

T400CN film: I am pleased. This long-expired film was fine-grained and recorded a large exposure range. It does not look like traditional black and white film, and it may be less contrasty than Fuji Acros. But T400CN is more convenient to get processed if you have access to a photo lab nearby. Next time, I will expose at EI=100, so two stops more than the original 400. (A few years ago, I tried Ilford XP2, the only current C-41 B&W film, but did not like the results.)

The Nikon Coolscan 5000 film scanner: It is higher resolution than my Plustek 7600i. And the Coolscan has a higher dynamic range, meaning it extracts more data from the film. Also, the Coolscan does a focus adjustment with each frame. But the Nikon Scan software is clunky in a 1990s manner and needs a computer running WIN XP or 7. I will test Silverfast 9 on my Mac for future use, or may try a Windows emulator and load the NikonScan on my Mac. The native Mac versions of NikonScan would not run on the Intel chips. 

My 1949 Leica IIIC:  The extra washer on the bottom post may have solved the problem of the buckling or curved film. It is nice to keep this old family friend in operation. The 5cm Summitar is an impressive lens, especially considering that it was designed in the 1930s.

Kodak Technical Pan Film at the Acropolis (Abandoned Films 11)

Technical Pan film

In the 1980s, Eastman Kodak heavily advertised their Technical Pan as being an extremely fine grain and high resolution panchromatic film. The data sheets stated:

This is a black-and-white panchromatic film with extended red sensitivity. It has micro-fine or extremely fine grain (depending on the developer used), extremely high resolving power, and a wide contrast range for pictorial, scientific, technical, and reversal-processing applications. 

Kodak made this film for either copying documents or for aerial reconnaissance by the military (I have read both theories). Kodak discontinued sales in 2003 or 2004 but stated that they had been selling off stock that had been stored for years. Many astronomers used it for celestial photography. 

Most document films are very fine grain but also high contrast. Therefore, for pictorial use, the photographer or laboratory must use special low contrast developers to provide a normal tonal scale. Kodak sold a proprietary Technidol developer for pictorial use, but it has been discontinued for at least a decade.

With a degree of hyperbolae or over-enthusiastic marketing, Kodak claimed Technical Pan in a regular 35mm camera rivaled the results from normal film in a 4×5" camera. Well, maybe - sort of. I cannot find an example right now but recall seeing these advertisements in camera magazines in the 1980s.

I used Technical Pan 2415 in 35mm cameras only twice. Once was in Texas (see my 2017 post) and the second in Athens, Greece. I agree that the film was incredibly fine-grain, but it was hard to develop and was contrasty, even with the Technidol developer. It had a "soot and chalk" tonality. My ultimate conclusion was why bother? If you want high resolution and smooth continuous tones, just use a medium format or 4×5" camera.

The Acropolis, Athens

We will make this a double abandoned films treat: Technical Pan from 1985 plus a couple of 1951 comparisons with other long-discontinued films. Let's take a walk around the Acropolis on a brilliant sunny July day. Click the 1985 frames to see the amazing detail. 

Parthenon east side, July 7, 1985 (Technical Pan film, Leica M3, 50mm ƒ/2.8 Elmar-M lens)

Parthenon east side 1951 or 1952 (Kodachrome slide, Leica IIIC camera, 5cm ƒ/2 Summitar lens)

The magnificent Parthenon is under perpetual preservation and reconstruction. It is amazing to think that Aristotle himself must have visited this temple and walked among the columns. And consider modern famous visitors such as Lord Byron, Winston Churchill, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Princess Elizabeth, Margaret Thatcher, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin, Elizabeth Taylor, etc.

Archaeologists and marble masons have spent over a century on repair and preservation. All the stone on the ground has been catalogued, measured, and fitted using 3-dimensional CAD software. The dilemma is what to do where original stone is missing. How much reconstruction is "authentic?"

Checking the Parthenon

Summer in the city - checking out the Parthenon

The Erechtheion under restoration.

The Erechtheion or Temple of Athena Polias is an Ionic temple-telesterion on the north side of the Acropolis. It was primarily dedicated to the goddess Athena. The geometry and placement of features within the temple is unknown. It may overlie a palace of Mycenaean age.

1985 south view of Erechtheion

Erechtheion photographed in 1951 from the porch of the Parthenon (Kodak Plus-X film) 

Looking down to the Anafiotica neighborhood.

Acropolis from the Temple of the Olympian Zeus (Leica 90mm ƒ/2.8 Tele-Elmarit lens)

This scene is an extreme example of high contrast that demonstrated a soot and chalk rendition. I am glad I experimented with Technical Pan film. With the revival in film photography recently, it has become a cult favorite among some film users, and they buy remaining stock eagerly. But for me, a normal panchromatic film is fine.

Appendix A

Here are some curves for Technical Pan film from Kodak Professional Black-and-White Films book F-6 © 1984. 

Photographer Michael Elliott has been getting excellent results from Technical Pan with a 2-part developer based on metol. I am impressed with his energy.

From the Kodachrome Archives: Athens and Central Greece in 1951

Background

My father moved to Athens, Greece in February 1951. He had just returned to USA from an overseas position in the Pacific, spent a week job-hunting in New York City and was offered this posting. He visited relatives in Boston and Orlando, bought a few supplies and clothes, boarded Pan Am, and left for Greece. He traveled light and efficiently (unlike his son).

Greece must have seemed exotic. But he had read classical literature, and Greek architectural features were popular in early 20th century American buildings. On weekends, he had time to explore. He sometimes had access to the company car and by mid-year, bought a new Chevrolet. 

He and other American engineers lived in hotels for a few months and then found apartments. He co-rented a flat near Kolonaki Square with two other Americans within easy walking distance to the office on Merlin Street. The flat came with a man-servant who did laundry and cooking. 

Here are some examples from approximately 1951 and 1952 (plus one from 1957). My dad did not label his slides, so I am guessing the dates based on his diaries. For some frames, I know the exact date because he wrote a detail like "went to the market with two cameras." At that time, Kodak did not print the processing date on the cardboard slide mount. He used his 1949 Leica IIIC camera with its 5cm ƒ/2 Summitar lens (both of which I still use 70 years later). 

Athens

Hadrian's Arch and the Acropolis

East side of the Parthenon. 

The Parthenon (built 447 to 432 BC).  

I remember when you could walk all over the Acropolis site and climb up into the massive temple. Today, visitors must walk on wooden boardwalks. The millions of tourists were literally wearing out the stone. 

Think of the awesome passage of history during which this temple has stood. Aristotle may have walked among the columns. More recent visitors have included Lord Byron, Winston Churchill, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Princess Elizabeth, Agatha Christie, Vladimir Putin, Elizabeth Taylor, Margaret Thatcher, Barack Obama, and Bill Clinton. 

Checking out the Cariadids on the Maiden Porch of the Erechtheion.

As of 1957, these Cariadids were originals. But in subsequent decades, air pollution disfigured them and Greek authorities removed for safe-keeping, They are now in the Acropolis Museum. In their place are replicas based on an example in the British Museum. The one in London, taken to Britain by Lord Elgin, had been preserved indoors are was largely intact. 

Temple of Olympian Zeus (construction 6th century BC to 2nd century AD)

This scene has not changed much over the decades. There may be some tall building in the background now.

1994 view of the Acropolis and Phaleron Bay from Lycavitos mountain (Kodachrome 25, Leica M3 camera, 135mm Tele-Elmar lens)

This is a modern view of the Acropolis taken at dusk. 

Central Greece

According to my dad's diary, this was a 1951 4-door Chevrolet Sedan Skyline Deluxe. He ordered it from a Chevrolet dealer in Athens but paid by sending a check to General Motors in USA. It cost $1629 plus some extra for hubcaps and a spare tire. A ship delivered it, along with cars that other American engineers had ordered, to Piraeus. He got it out of customs on August 6, 1951.

I vaguely remember this Chevrolet. I used to stand up in the back (this was the era before we worried about car safety). I recall him telling me that in the early 1950s, only diplomats and Americans could afford to own cars. Recall, Greece was very poor because it had been looted by the Nazis during World War II and then suffered three years of brutal civil war. An automobile was a luxury item. Petrol was a luxury.

Somewhere in central Greece near Volos

Once, tourists dressed properly. Today, Americans look like homeless people.

View of Volos looking west

Pelion

Plateîa with Platanos trees, Zagora, Greece

Zagora is a cheerful mountain town perched on the Pelion Peninsula facing east towards the Aegean Sea. My grandfather's family came from Zagora, and the municipal office has records dating to the late-1800s. 

Lady of the Lake (stream), near Zagora, Pelion, Greece

Closing notes

Consider what an amazing amount of information is stored in these 70-year-old slides. And it is accessible! All you need to do is look at the slide with a magnifier. It is a time machine into the past. As long as the slides are not damaged by fire, flood, or fungus, some sort of optical device, like a camera with a macro lens, will be able to retrieve this image data for decades to come. Will our hard drives loaded with digital jpeg files be readable in 70 years? Will people look at a billion cell phone dump Instagram uploads on the "cloud" in 70 years? 

In those days, it was a challenge to get the Kodachrome processed. In that era, Kodak included processing with the purchase of the film. I remember my dad  telling me that he would give an exposed roll to an American who was returning to USA. The colleague would send the film to Kodak when he was back in USA. Then he would take the slides back to Greece or give the package to another American heading to Athens. He would also deliver fresh rolls of film. Turnaround must have been months. This would certainly not suit the modern Instagram generation. Greece is dry, which helped preserve these slides and retard growth of fungus.

I scanned these Kodachrome slides with a Plustek 7600i film scanner operated by SilverFast software. Most frames were almost perfect with the Auto CCR setting. On a few frames, I used the neutral grey dropper to correct the color. Afterwards, on some frames, I cleaned lint and splotches with the heal tool in Photoshop CS5. I resized for web display with XnViewMP. Please click any frame to see it magnified.