Back in 2015, I was picking up some prints
from chemical and digital lab guru Bruce Starrenburg at his Light Box lab, when
I noticed a couple of old Leica IIIfs on his desk. He said they were given to
him recently and that there was some history attached to them. They
previously belonged to artist/photographer/journalist Florence Arquin. I
picked one up and was impressed by the solidity of the camera and the
smoothness of the controls. I asked if I could borrow one for a bit.
Sure his said, take your time with it.
When I got back to the studio, I Googled
Florence and was able to find quite a bit of information on her. Several
old black and white and color photographs of her travels through South America
and even a few shots of her taking pictures with a Leica IIIf. It had to
be one of the cameras that I borrowed I thought to myself.
The Leica IIIf came mounted with a series
one Leitz Summicron 50mm f2 lens. Some of the most famous images in
history were made with this combination. I was eager to try out the lens
and wondered if it had the same character as my vintage Carl Zeiss 50mm f2
Sonnar? I had owned and used a Leitz Summicron 50mm f2 with my Leica M6
and liked it very much. I imagined however that the early version of this
lens would give a softer image, with more character and color in the bokeh.
This was my experience with my Carl Zeiss 50mm f2 Sonnar, and the main reason
that I still own it.
Sadly, the Leitz lens was stiff and nearly
frozen. No doubt years of neglect and lack of use had caused the grease to
hardened making the lens inoperable. Nothing a skilled camera technician
couldn’t take care of.
I did take a couple of weeks using the Leica
IIIf with my Carl Zeiss Sonnar and realized that using this camera made me think
about my compositions. Framing and focusing are done using two separate
finders. Setting lens speed and aperture requires taking incident
readings with a hand held light meter, or relying on your knowledge of light
and the Sunny 16 rule. I imagined as I walked around using the camera how
different and deliberate photography was back in the 30s, 40s and 50s.
How one had to not only have framing skills, but also complete knowledge of how
shutter speed and aperture will affect the final exposure. Patience was
also needed as no one was going to use this for grab shots. All of the controls
worked smoothly, precisely and effortlessly. An experience I have never
forgotten.
When I returned to camera to Bruce I let me
know what a gem it was. He smiled and said that he would likely never use
them, as they do have quite a bit of historical significance. Here are a
few iPhone shots of the camera taken back in 2015.
