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Mikela and Jillian as Luffy and Chopper at Anime Expo

Los Angeles, CA

I recently lucked into a surprisingly large collection of old film photo gear at a garage sale. The guy was a motivated seller (he was planning to move and didn't want to take his deceased hoarder uncle's camera stuff with him on another move). All of the cameras had been stored outside in an automotive garage for a few years, and only a few lucky ones were protected by having lids on the boxes where they were stored.

This camera was covered in a thick layer of grime, which had effectively seized up all of the external moving parts. I feared the worst. After several hours of deep cleaning, I'm honestly shocked by the condition of this beautiful camera. I'm even more shocked that it appears to work as well as it does!

The diopter adjustment lever is pleasantly damped but easy to move.

The lens extends and locks into place easily, and the focusing is smooth and firm. The aperture mechanism is a little stiff in most of its range, but still moves freely.

All of the shutter adjustment features move freely and give positive feedback, and the shutter fires at all speeds (though it is clearly slower than it should be, with the 1 second speed clocking an inconsistent 1.5 seconds most of the time).

I shot a test roll of the cheapest black and white film I could find, mostly to determine if the shutter is intact, and to help judge how far off the exposure times are. I'll updated with some shots once I develop and scan it!

#leica #barnack #leica iiib #leica iii #antique camera #film photography