I have a IIIf Red Dial Self-timer and owned a IIf as well. Both are superb cameras that I used throughout my years living abroad, so I could that these cameras have sentimental value. The quirkiness has become a ritual for me, and knowing how to properly use them is like a secret handshake that only the Leicapeople know well... hehehe. On the Industar-50 lens, I haven't used that but I did use its cousin the Industar-22. Same specs, but made in a different factory. Anyway neither lens is a slouch, but my favorite FSU LTM lens is the Industar-61 lens paired with the FED-5. Super small yet super sharp. Right now though I use a Chiyoko Rokkor (Minolta) 45mm f2.8 and the Canon 50mm f1.4 (famously named the "Japanese Summilux"). The Rokkor has a stepless aperture like the Summitar as well. Finally on the copies... most of us might be familiar with the Soviet copies FED and Zorki, but Japan actually made more copies (with the number of factories and models, anyway) of Leica Barnacks. Zeiss, makers of the Contax rangefinder line (which was later taken by the Soviets as war reparation and turned into the "Kiev"), naturally did not make a Leica copy, but did have Zeiss lenses for the LTM. Back to Japan, it was probably the Americans who helped with the copycat work, as the Americans (who occupied the region of Hesse, where Wetzlar and Leica are located) brought the blueprints for the Japanese to use in rebuilding their industry for American consumer needs. On the top of my head, brands like Canon, Nicca, Leotax, and Yashica made Barnack copy bodies and lenses. But even before the end of WWII, Canon and Nikon actually used the Leica screw (or thread) mount standard for their lenses and for Canon's first camera, the Hansa Canon, which used a (gasp!) Nikkor lens. This decision is also the nail in the coffin on why you can't technically use Contax/Kiev lenses for the Nikon S mount system... because they used Leica pitch for their lenses that added 1.3 cms to the len's flange distance. Anyway, back to the Leica copycats. I think there were even American and Chinese copycats of the Barnack too.

I watched this last week with my boyfriend and we enjoyed this whole video so much. (We are Leica fans.) I really appreciate the back story about a real photography pioneer. Fascinating character. Thank you!

Nice review Eric…the IIIf is a piece of “metal art”…I was lucky to purchase a complete kit from a co- worker years back that purchased it new in Germany while in service. Always in a bag in absolute mint condition. I dated the body and lens to 1953! The kit with original leather bag, camera case, 5cm screw mount, Leitz filters, lens shade ( two) and original bulb flash! The lens is fully MC. I purchased a Voightlander screw mount to M adapter and I use this fantastic Summitar f2 on my M7! Thanks for sharing…be safe. Cheers.

Your videos are so excellently done. I own several leicas including some Barnacks and I found this video so clear and down to earth. It's sometimes hard to cut through the hype zone on YT.

Excellent review! I just my one my father had in his collection for decades fully refurbished. Looking forward to shooting some films on it!

One of the best film cameras ever! The Leica IIIf and the Elmar 50mm lens produces some amazing photos!

Really enjoyed all the information and photos. Love your piano playing too.

Great video! There's a lot of things I didn't knew about my IIIF, the "double exposure feature" just drives me crazy! Thank you!

Own the entire 3 series, loved your details and useful information! Great job, helpful and educational! Thank you for this! 👍🏻🙏🏻

Just arrived my iiif. Waiting for the 50 f2 to try. Really appreciate your clear instructions. Very helpful

Great review as always! Thank you man!!!

Thank you for this video. It is very comprehensive. All you need to know is here. I have a iiia. This has been very helpful.

Great video as usual, thank you so much Eric

Fantastic look at the Leica. Thank you. The photos at the end of the video have a beautiful gentle look to them.

Thanks for the great video - I own a Leica IIIf and a Leica 1c from 1930 - Just today I picked up a Voightlander Bessa II and your video's helped me narrow down my choice between a number of different cameras.

Thanks so much! I just inherited a Leica IIIf and appreciate your in-depth video!

Thanks! I learned a lot from this. I have a iiif that I got 12 years ago. I don’t use it as much as my M2 but it does have its own unique charm and the fact that it’s slightly smaller than an M is attractive. I have a summitar and a Russian Orion 28mm/f6 lens as well as the same Russian rotary finder you do.

Thank you very much for a review so well done, and with such honesty and relevant details.

Another excellent video. I learned a lot. Thanks!

I like mine iiif quite a bit despite not shooting is too often. I really like shooting the 5cm f/2 Nikkor LTM with the camera. But I find that even with a 50mm lens that a external finder makes the shooting experience more enjoyable. A very solid and somewhat compact package.

Great overview, thanks so much.

Hello Eric, I enjoyed your thorough assessment & review of this camera. I have a red dial IIIf & a 1936 Leica II. The simpler & more compact Leica II is my favourite. The slow speeds on my IIIf need a CLA & competent people who can do this work are getting hard to find. The magnification of your camera's rangefinder is 1,5x. The rangefinder magnification on the Leica II is 1:1. This is better than it sounds given that the viewfinder presents an image that is about 1/2 life size. Thank you for the 'show & tell' on your gorgeous machine. A true treasure! Ciao, fm.

Gem of a camera. Great review!

Eric - I was just starting to get acquainted with a iif, and feeling a little overwhelmed; your video was just what I needed to get over my sense of intimidation. I'm thinking I'll take it to a pro to get tuned up and then start shooting with it. Thank you!

I think I've fallen in love! Great video, thank you.

Great video as always! Thanks!

Hi Eric, thank you so much!!

Very good video, well made. You're making me want to buy one!

I briefly owned a 1951 Canon iv-f, which is a Leica iii copy. Put a few rolls through it before the cloth shutter ripped. Big, heavy, with a really tiny rangefinder patch. Not a good shooting experience, but a great conversation piece and a beautiful machine to look at.

A great short history. Perhaps it was TB in the same time frame? I have one sitting in my cart as I learn from you and others. Thanks!!

finally another video about the iiif..They dont get enough love

Thank you , this video was so awesome informative, gorgeous camera

Great video thank you very much!

Hello. You made really good material about my favorite camera. I have IIIa Leica and it is my favorite camera. I have m4 too but still Leica IIIa is made for my small hands ^^ Best Whishes. Thank You for video Sir!

Excellent video. Thank you.

Respect, Thank you!

great video!!

Best Leica presentation I have seen yet!! I now own 3 Canon ltm rangefinders but still "need" a Leica.

I have a IIIf and have never had to trim the film on loading. I do however make sure that on closing the bottom plate I take the slack out of the film with the rewind before winding on at least two frames. I sometimes lose the third frame which is the first exposed frame so I make sure that I take that twice.

Thank you so much for the video. I love the look of these cameras, so substantial. Everything was well made, no modern day plastic knobs and gears. I have a Zorki 4, and a Zorki S, but someday I hope to get the real thing. And by the way, the Russians started making Leica copies after the war because they carted off, or looted some of the Leica factories as war reparations against Germany.

Very cool! Would be nice to see something about one of it's main competitors, the contax iia--i've had the pleasure of using one of these, but was curious about what the leica had to offer too. Thx for sharing!

Very informative video. I have a couple of Leica IIIc's plus a couple of the Russian copies. I had Cameras West in Monterey CA do a CLA on one of them. They moved out of state since then. I miss going to their shop. Thanks for the lens tips, I can't afford the Leitz lenses. I'll try the two Russian lenses I have.

Really good video - thanks

After WWII, the allies cancelled German patents for cameras and it was then legal to copy the features as well as the whole camera. During the war, the allies sponsored copies of the Leicas for wartime use though I don't think they managed to build it before the war ended. A LOT Of Russian copies were made with their own brands but a lot of THOSE have been modified to say Leica, essentially turning a legal copy into a counterfeit Leica. Also since the russians scored an entire Zeiss factory, a lot of lenses, even on leica copies were more zeiss clones than leica clones in terms of optical design.

I think Barnack made the first 'Ur' cameras to test short lengths of motion picture stock (which was inconsistent, and needed testing). It was later that he turned his testing device into a dedicated stills camera. (Is that right?)

Outstanding explanation

A handful of iiig bodies were made with M lens mount. ;-) Very rare but I have seen one. 👌

Thanks a lot! I can always learn a lesson from your video. Could you help me find out why my Leica sbooi shoe mount viewfinder cannot fit a Leica iiif. By the way Iitcan be put smoothly on a Leica m3, that really confused me 😢

Nice video!! Are you sure your body was converted? The IIIf also had a the film reminder you have but the IIIc's had a solid top in the advance knob. If you verified it by serial number then you got quite a nice conversion. The add on viewfinders had a feature you did not mention, they corrected for parallax which is significant for close ups at 50mm and gets more important with longer lenses. Also shooting with old wide angle lenses is a lot different from good modern wides. The older ones were subject to the cosine to the fourth power law. A 28 mm covers 65 degrees or 32 degree half angle. That results in the edges being one stop less exposure. It gets worse on the corners and lot worse if you go shorter than 28mm. IN the mid 50's reverse telephoto wides made illumination uniform at very wide angles which Cosina Voigtlander exploits. One more caveat about the shutters. At 1/1000 sec teh slit is very thin and very susceptible to dirt and dust. This shows up as streaks very prominent at 1/1000 and noticeable at 1/500. My experience is that the Nikon and Canon lenses were a bit better largely because they had bubble free glass, which reduces veiling glare and the Japanese had very good lens designers. Lastly, if you are not aware, there were wonderful books about the these Leicas written by Morgan and Lester. The books cover all the models and accessories and even give formulas for film chemistry. The books are usually very inexpensive. If you don't have one I think you might enjoy reading one. Thanks for the videos!

Very interesting video. I have always preferred the look of a screw mount Leica over the M bodies as well as the feel in the hands. I had a 111f and found the viewfinder too small so I recently got a mint 111g and love it with the bigger finder. However, after watching your earlier video on the M3 I feel like I am being pulled towards buying an M3 like a black hole.If you could only have one, a screw mount or an M, which would you choose?

Good video. The Russian "copies" were part of German war reparations. The factories, designs and machinery were sent to Russia from both Leica and Contax. There may have been others, I am not sure. Zeiss lenses also.

Superb video, I just picked up a user iif, because I stumbled upon a spotless uncoated Summitar which has just been through Youxin Ye, and it seems like the perfect camera for that. I had a iiif many years ago, shot probably a hundred rolls with it. Dumb question: Where on earth can I find a brass eyepiece like yours? My plastic one is crumbling.

I noticed that the eye piece on your camera is brass like a iiiC. I wonder if your camera is a conversion of iiiC to iiiF or if someone just changed the eye piece part. I prefer the brass ones as the plastic ones tend to fall apart with age. Congratulations on a beautiful camera.

Thanks for your informative vid. Back in the 1970's, & 80's Had my own darkroom shooting B&W mostly on Minolta rangefinder and SLR cameras along with a Nikon that is currently MIA somewhere. (was young and poor then). Now doing digital filmmaking shooting a lot in L.Momocrome D ... NOT converting color. Always had a thing for the Barmack III's but never had the opportunity to use one. Where do you get your film in 100 ft bulk for that? I was shooting in mostly ASA 125 and some 400 back then. I think the vintage Leica's would require slower than 125.

Yes, nicely done and....also for me Matt is responsible for a lot of buys. I took a late IIf Red scale serial number 821...same camera except

Will those industar lenses focus well on the leica? I've read that the Russian lenses don't pair up with the leica standard. Maybe that's just the jupiters? I've seen that both you and Matt (Mr.leica) use the industar. I really appreciate your insight on that. Thanks for these videos! I could listen to you all day long!

Some leica III have that arrow too in take up spool. Not sure wchich but IIIg i supose. Ty for material. Im already waiting for my IIIa and can't wait :3

I sent my eBay M6 to Mr. Ye. It came back working perfectly. Can’t recommend him highly enough.

I think Leica IIIF is still the most affordable way to get into the Leica rangefinder world (unlike M2/M3 which price is slowly but steadily increasing). Well, as a glasses user who previously used the M3, composing on the IIIF is less comfortable. On this aspect I prefer the Canons (like VT or IVSB2). Unfortunately, unlike Leica M, there aren't many modern lenses made for these screw mount bodies.

How is ot using this camera with glasses with this small viewfinder ‘hole’? Thanks

I have the IID as I learn in NOT trimming the film, luckily I found a Leitz film trimer at the time where I was working at the camera store, and have trim the film, and no problem in shooting with my IID. I know that when I use my 35mm lens that I would have to place a 35mm finder. Love my IID, I Notice that you have a Russian lens on your Leica, how are the optics? Thank You - Good video...

hi! I just got one of these! I was wondering if this camera could use the Industar 61

Leica Body-serial number: 400000-440000 IIIc-1946-47

Since most films are pre-cut; the procedure we see here, is not necessary (I own a Leica lllA since 1968, and I love(d) it).

The Zeiss Contax was a rival to the Leica, not a copy of it - the only copies of the Contax are the Ukrainian Kievs (some of which are metered, like the Contax III). The Nikon rangefinders look like Contax externally (and have a Contax-inspired bayonet mount), but are built to Leica tolerances, and have internal Leica mechanisms.

I have the Leica 2f. The Leica M3. The Leica D Lux 7. And finally the Leica Q. German quality at it best.

Thanks. great video. i am an Om-1 user (*lol, i have two and they are fun cameras, so easy to shoot) i have just bought an iiif. your video was very useful.

How did you get the Peak Design connectors through the lugs?

"how far apart", You mean how close together the windows are, don't you? They don't compare with a Contax. Still, it's a great, great camera!

What are those things in the strap lugs? The dangly red things

Hello Eric, I have a Leica IIIf without a spool. What would you recommend?

Hi Eric, do you think this model is a good investment?

Leica 3G? So old! I've just got the new Leica 5G. Download speeds are insane! 😉

People that know me, know that I always say that the Leica IIIf is the best camera Leica ever made. Not M3, not IIIg - IIIf.

Good video, I em thinking about getting one now 👌 I was wondering do you know if the Zorki copy of Wetzlar leica are good or is it best to wait and find an original? Do you recommend getting this specific leica III f or are the a, b, c, g also as good and fun to use? I looked the different version of the leica III but I did not see major differences

50 YEARS FROM NOW, IT MIGHT STILL BE WORKING. MY GUESS IS THAT TODAYS FUTURE CLASSIC/COLLECTABLE ,USEABLE, CAMERA WILL BE SONY A7 ALPHA SERIES, HOPEFULLY BATTERIES FR IT, TOO :)IF THIS READ IN 2072, WAS I RIGHT? SONY IS WELL MADE,METAL,COMPACT.ENJOYED YOUR GOOD VIDEO

Found a IIIG for 5 bucks at the fleamarket sadly it needs repairs

Beautiful camera, pain to load!

A most beautiful camera to fondle and to tout. Too bad it's got a (problimatic) chammy shutter.

Man, *you must know* there's an easier way to load Barnack models; remove the lens, set the shutter to T (or B), with the curtains open load your spools and fit them into the sprocket teeth. De nada!

25:00 Russian got patent from Germany as World War II reparation same as other country.

Thx nice video

Robert Frank used a III.

Wow so many adverts make your video unwatchable.

You dont need to cut film... just use credit card... put there and its done

Probably someone already had mentioned that, but this revolver viewfinder is made by KMZ in Soviet Union, here is wiki-page en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krasnogorsky_Zavod about the factory and user manual for the viewfinder www.sovietcamera.su/src/Uniview_manual.pdf