In Which We See Three IIIc's At Work
The Leica Illc with collapsible 50mm f/2 lens can be a compact and capable personal camera, very usable even with its built-in viewfinder's 0.5x minified image. The illustrated camera's 50mm f/2 Summar has a small front flange like the previous 50mm f/3.5 Elmar, neither of which cut into the viewfinder image the way all the larger later-model 50mm f/2 and f/1.5 lenses do. So, using ISO 200 or 400 color negative film, this small camera can work anywhere with no other accessories needed. 1/1000th at f/12.5 will handle the brightest snow scenes, while using the extra speed of the Summar's f/2 at a handheld 1/30th it can work in low living room ligh. Or, in even more extreme low light, with a braced hand held 1/10th at f/2 it can equal what I used to get with my big old M3 and 50mm f/1.0 Noctilux combination at 1/30th! However this little Illc can be carried in a belt case or a pocket and pulled out anywhere at a moment's notice.
Photo #1
Photo #1 is a portrait of a Leica Illc from 1950 with a 50mm f/2 Summar from 1938, which had been coated at some point. This picture was made with a second Illc mounted on a screw-mount Visoflex II using black 65mm f/3.6 Elmar-V and chrome OZFO mount on a tripod. The setup was put together on a card table facing a large window, lit by skylight, with a white cardboard backdrop. Exposure was 1/10th at f/16 on ISO 400 color negative film. A cable release attached to the Visoflex tripped the mirror and released the shutter in correct sequence.
Photo #2
Photo #2 shows the setup while making the portrait of the camera. The second camera with Visoflex is on a tripod lined up for the shot, as seen from behind. The Illc on the Visoflex is an ex-Luftwaffe camera from 1940, evidently liberated during the war, showing the filed-off brassy backplate where the original "eigentum" engraving was obliterated, but the tell- tale "FL No. 38079" on the top plate remains. The camera also shows it had received Leitz flash synch at some later date. The picture of this setup was made using a third Illc from behind and looking over the top of the Visoflex rig. This third Illc, also from 1950, was mounted on a second tripod with elevator feature, and used a 1946 50mm f/2 Summitar lens and lmarect viewfinder. Rangefinder focus was used at closest one meter distance. A Kodak grey card for a reflected exposure reading is seen at the left side.
Aligning this picture was made complicated by having to compose the frame with the nearby Visoflex rig seen correctly in relation to the more distant subject camera. Ordinarily, with a rangefinder camera at closest focus, the shoe-mounted viewfinder is corrected for parallax by tilting it down slightly using its built-in control. However that method would not allow for properly aligning the two cameras at different distances, so parallax correction was made by the following alternative method. The lmarect finder had its parallax correction set at infinity, and the view in the finder was set up exactly as wanted in the final picture. Then the camera was raised by the elevator tripod 59mm (the distance between centers of finder and camera lenses) so that the camera's lens was then elevated into the exact same position as the finder's lens had been, and the exposure made with a cable release, also 1/10th at f/16.
A previous use of his same technique can be seen in Viewfinder Volume 32, #4, 1999, pages 32-33, showing a ground-level view of an architect's table-top model of a proposed boarding school dorm building. This photo was made using a close-focusing 21mm f/4 Super-Angulon-M. It is then compared to a subsequent ground-level view of the actual building after completion, made with the same lens. This elevator parallax correction technique can be used for other closeup scenes like model train layouts, etc. Any range- finder normal or wide angle lens that can be made to focus close enough with extension or additional diopters (usually also needing a measuring tape) can give results just like those from a modern single lens reflex. But the 21mm S-A used in the above pictures came out in 1958, well before SLR cameras became popular.
Photo #3
Photo #4
Photos #3 and #4 show the third Illc with Summitar and lmarect in the two positions - viewing and shooting - behind the second camera with Visoflex. A measured cardboard spacer marked "Imarect" was used to raise the tripod elevator to the correct 59mm level for the picture to be made. These two pictures were made with the Illc seen in picture #1, using its 50mm Summar at closest one-meter focus by rangefinder, and handheld at 1/100th at f/5.6. All three camera bodies played their parts in this project, using all three of the lenses.