Old school Leica IIIb

[apguy]

Actually it's 64 years old. Purchased in 1946 for the huge sum of £79 13s 3p











No real reason for posting other its lovely collection of engineering, lens, rangefinder and other finely manufactured goodies. I really should buy some 35mm film It makes my Canon look and feel positively clunky.

[CarMac]

They don't make 'em like they used to. What a beautiful object.

[james_tigerwoods]

That is a work of art - thanks for sharing

[Elderly]

Nice old Leica outfit! Which prompted me to dig out my Robot Royal which I've (only ) had since the early 6o's.

It's absurdly heavy but it does have a built-in clockwork motor drive
allowing 5fps.



Edit to say that I could never afford the normal price of colour negative film and processing in those days
and so I used to go along to a movie processing lab in the West End where I was given 'short ends'
of 35mm movie stock and they would then process them for a nominal sum

Edited by Elderly on Friday 27th August 10:39

[dibbly dobbler]

apguy said:

Actually it's 64 years old. Purchased in 1946 for the huge sum of £79 13s 3p

Assuming an average inflation rate of 3% for 64 years £79 in today's money is ... ... rather I lot I would think !!

[theRossatron]

Very cool!

I bought a Leica M3 last year. Don't use it as much as I'd like but it's great fun to play with. Challenging without a light meter and just the sunny 16 rule, but makes the results that bit more satisfying.

[apguy]

dibbly dobbler said:

apguy said:

Actually it's 64 years old. Purchased in 1946 for the huge sum of £79 13s 3p

Assuming an average inflation rate of 3% for 64 years £79 in today's money is ... ... rather I lot I would think !!

Actually I stuck it into the inflation calculator at:
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/education/inflation...
and it was the equivalent of £2488.41 in 2009 terms

As it's a IIIb and was actually made during WW2, I think it was actually purchased 2nd hand in '46. Making it even more expensive new!

It belonged to a family friend, who sadly passed away a year ago, who was the purchaser in 1946 and kept every box, instruction manual and receipt for his things. He was an avid collector and a keen photographer, but we have found surprisingly few of his photos considering the equipment he possessed.

Sidenote: Wallace Heaton was a very famous photography shop on Bond St, that sadly was absorbed into Dixons