Introduction

My interest in classic cameras started when my uncle loaned me his Leica screw thread cameras: a IIIC and a IIIG (for details see http://www.ozdoba.net/leica/schraub_hist_e.html). My uncle sold these cameras years ago. More recently I regained my interest in rangefinder cameras by acquiring Russian Leica copies which I will write about in the future. In today's entry I will describe my experiences with using my recently acquired Leica IIIb with a Summar lens. The Summar lens does not enjoy a good reputation. I tested the camera at a country fair and traction engine rally. This pre-war camera and lens worked but unfortunately the lens exhibited the effect known as Leica glow (another name for flare). The photo on the right illustrates the problem. The white sections of the posts are surruunded by flare. The film used was chromegenic BW and I used the sunny f16 rule.

You can find more pictures from the event taken with a more modern Voigtlander Rangefinder here. Note there are thousand of pictures on my photo blog. I always add nine photogaphs a day. I make DVD and computer slideshows of my photographs and the fotopages imposes a discipline so I do not emd up with a huge backlog to process. It also means family and friends (and up to 200 people I do not really know) see my photographs.