18 September, 2015

From Russia with Love! NO, from Wetzlar with Love!!!

I was infected with the rangefinder virus in 2006 as I bought a wonderful Zorki 4 from 1957 and a FED 4 type b on a flea market in Hannover, Germany. I'm enjoying very much to shoot with this type of camera and in 2008 a friend of mine wanted to sell some cameras, among others this Zorki 1d:
picture by R. Tyss
Of course I wanted it, because the Zorki 1 is more a Leica II / III clone than the Zorki 4 and I wanted to discover how and what the great photographers like Alfred Eisenstaedt, Gerda Taro and Henri Cartier-Bresson felt and saw when they shot their famous pictures.
But my friend is a honest seller and said to me that this Zorki 1d isn't in perfect condition and he doesn't want to sell it in this condition to me.
As compensation he suggested me another Zorki 1. But due to certain problems, I got the Zorki just right now....Zorki? I said Zorki??? NooooooooNoooooNooo...When I opened the packet today, another camera was inside. A LEICA!!!!!! A beautiful Schraubleica!!!

According to the serial number it is a Leica II from 1936, but with the slow speeds on a frontal dial, which only the Leica III has got and not the Leica II. Well, my friend said, that it is a Leica III. Certainly, there is an error in the old Leica files. The best thing is, that the camera didn't just arrive with the Summar 2/50mm (from 1934), but also with a Jupiter 12 2.8/35mm, a Jupiter 11 4/135mm, a Leitz SBOOI Bright Line Viewfinder 50mm, a KMZ Turret Finder and black&white films from Orwo and Fomapan and color films from Agfa Germany and DM.

I want to use it now with the color films and AgfaPhoto APX 100 and APX 400 black&white films.I'm happy to be able to finally use this beautiful rangefinder!!! :)

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