My Father’s IIIf RD ST

In dealing with my mother and father’s advanced age and needs I have had to put in many months of efforts to get them stable and cared for. The job is never done and it has flattened my desire to do photography. Wrote about in a thread about finding my photographic mojo again on APUG.

In dealing with a life time of their things my father told me to take his IIIF rangefinder and use it or sell it. I doubt I could ever sell this camera w/50mm f3.5 and the 90mm f4 lens. I sent it to Youxin Ye to do a CLA on it and the lenses. It came back last night. I shipped USPS to him on the 13th of Feb and returned on the 24th of Feb.

Youxin did a CLA on the body, beam splitter, recovered it and CLAed the two lenses in a very short time. I get to put a roll of film in it this weekend and try it, I just have to tell you he did an outstanding job. It looks like it did when my Uncle brought it home from Germany for my dad. (I imagine it looked this clean since I was a gleam in my father’s eye then.)

I look forward to traveling again to see my father and mother and maybe get him to take a few pictures with it of me and mom and such. I too look forward to using it too. I learned on this camera.

Lee

Just make sure you make some images with it that do it justice, these were and still are excellent camears

I assume it's a collapsible Elmar the 50mm f3.5 which makes the camera very compact when not in use so great to carry about all the time. Have fun

Ian

That's wonderful!

Enjoy the camera, and the idea of having Youxin restoring it was great. I'm sure your dad will enjoy shooting a few pictures with it too. I think it's a great contributor to having your photo mojo restored as well. Leicas are fun to shoot with, for sure. Enjoy!

Thomas Bertilsson said:

That's wonderful!

Enjoy the camera, and the idea of having Youxin restoring it was great. I'm sure your dad will enjoy shooting a few pictures with it too. I think it's a great contributor to having your photo mojo restored as well. Leicas are fun to shoot with, for sure. Enjoy!

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Thanks Thomas.
I look forward to some first frames in the very near future.
Lee

Ian Grant said:

Just make sure you make some images with it that do it justice, these were and still are excellent camears

I assume it's a collapsible Elmar the 50mm f3.5 which makes the camera very compact when not in use great to catty about all the time. Have fun

Ian

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It is a collapsible Elmar. That lens cleaned up perfect except for a few wipe marks from years of service. Very tuckable little camera.

Hope you can keep the camera in good condition and pass it on to your son.

Sounds great, I wish I had one!

Jeff

Thomas Bertilsson said:

I'm sure your dad will enjoy shooting a few pictures with it too. I think it's a great contributor to having your photo mojo restored as well.

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Dale, having been through it with aging parents, these were exactly my thoughts while reading your post. This could be very good for both of you. Wishing you all the best in a difficult time.

I shot some "Walgreen 400 ASA" (imagine it is Fujifilm) color neg in my father's Leica IIIf RD ST and it was the first time I have in 35 years. It has really helped me get some of my photo MOJO back since becoming the care taker for my mom and dad.

Here are some of the images with the 50mm Elmar f3.5 collapsible lens. A small bit of lens flair on the water pump image. These are from the Walgreen's neg scanner at time of process.

Big plug for Mr. Youxin Ye for the CLA of the body, lens and recover. Great service, back to me in 10 days in like new condition.

Lee

Photos looks great and that you took them with your father's camera is all the better. Hopefully your father will oblige and take some photos of you and your mother, I imagine it might put a sparkle back in his eye