This camera came to me from the granddaughter of the deceased original owner.
A sticker on the inside of the bottom plate indicates it was serviced in Israel in 1972, but when I received it the slow speeds weren't working, not terribly surprising for a camera last serviced 50 years ago and unused for the last couple of decades. In late 2021 I sent the body to Youxin Ye, who replaced the shutter curtains and beamsplitter and did a full CLA, and I had him do the lens in 2022 because the aperture control was very stiff (why didn't I send it all at once??). The lens is clean and clear, everything works smoothly, and the split image is much brighter after his ministrations. The one thing I'm unsure about is the T setting - the shutter opens when pressing the release, but it only seems to close by winding the film advance knob. My test roll exposures were correct and the negatives looked fine on the light box when viewed with an 10x magnifier.
This is (now) a solid user with an amazingly quiet shutter and years of service life remaining. It's clean but not perfect with a few tiny nicks and bumps here and there on the body. While I like it well enough, I really don't need another camera, even if it is a Leica.
This sale includes:
Leica IIIc body, s/n 513225
5cm f/3.5 collapsible Elmar, s/n 749329
Chinese copy "Leica" lens cap from eBay
Original leather case (missing carry strap)
Photonbox.com 3D-printed leader-trimming template
My $525 asking price includes insured shipping to your US door. PayPal fees are on me. If you're outside the US I'll knock the price down a little but you'll pay the actual insured shipping cost. Don't ask me to undervalue the camera on international shipping documents, I won't because this limits my ability to insure it.
Sorry about the funky color balance in some of the photos. The iPhone does what it wants.
A sticker on the inside of the bottom plate indicates it was serviced in Israel in 1972, but when I received it the slow speeds weren't working, not terribly surprising for a camera last serviced 50 years ago and unused for the last couple of decades. In late 2021 I sent the body to Youxin Ye, who replaced the shutter curtains and beamsplitter and did a full CLA, and I had him do the lens in 2022 because the aperture control was very stiff (why didn't I send it all at once??). The lens is clean and clear, everything works smoothly, and the split image is much brighter after his ministrations. The one thing I'm unsure about is the T setting - the shutter opens when pressing the release, but it only seems to close by winding the film advance knob. My test roll exposures were correct and the negatives looked fine on the light box when viewed with an 10x magnifier.
This is (now) a solid user with an amazingly quiet shutter and years of service life remaining. It's clean but not perfect with a few tiny nicks and bumps here and there on the body. While I like it well enough, I really don't need another camera, even if it is a Leica.
This sale includes:
Leica IIIc body, s/n 513225
5cm f/3.5 collapsible Elmar, s/n 749329
Chinese copy "Leica" lens cap from eBay
Original leather case (missing carry strap)
Photonbox.com 3D-printed leader-trimming template
My $525 asking price includes insured shipping to your US door. PayPal fees are on me. If you're outside the US I'll knock the price down a little but you'll pay the actual insured shipping cost. Don't ask me to undervalue the camera on international shipping documents, I won't because this limits my ability to insure it.
Sorry about the funky color balance in some of the photos. The iPhone does what it wants.
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