Leica IIIa and 50mm Elmar – The Pleasures and Challenges of a Barnack Leica

I’ve posted a number of pieces on this site, all but one featuring images from my Leica M3 with a Zeiss 50 mm F2 lens.  That set up has been my primary one for film photography.  Recently, though, I became interested in the Leicas that preceded the M mount cameras, the so-called Barnack Leicas.  The more I read about them, the more intrigued I became.  I found a Leica llla at Blue Moon Camera in Portland, Oregon, that was represented to be in excellent condition and fully functional.  I decided to purchase it.  These old Leicas are a relative bargain compared to most Leicas.  One can get a relatively inexpensive setup without too much difficulty, at least I did.  I knew I wanted a vintage lens for the llla and settled on a classic pairing, an Elmar 50mm F3.5 collapsible lens, which I obtained through a very reputable site for vintage film equipment, Victory Camera in Colorado.  I gather a lot of the old Elmar lenses are not in great condition, but this one was in excellent shape.  The llla was manufactured in 1937 and the Elmar in 1950.  Of all my film gear, this was by far my oldest setup.  I was very excited to work with this primitive gear.

What follows is not a review, per se.  I’m not qualified to provide one.  Besides, there is plenty of information about this gear online and from people far more experienced than I am.  What I am attempting in this piece is to detail my reaction to the llla and Elmar F3.5, relating my experience with this equipment and what has been challenging and what I love about this setup.  With all this in mind, I will proceed.

I knew from reading about the llla and the Elmar that using this equipment would be much different from shooting with the M3.  The llla is a quirky camera.  The first problem that I encountered was something I did not anticipate.  That was forgetting to extend the lens.  The first roll I loaded was largely useless due to failure to extend the lens.  If you don’t extend the lens, you get this.

I felt so stupid that I had neglected to do something as basic as not extending the lens.  The only thing I can say in my defense is that I had never used a collapsible lens before.  I have since concentrated on making sure the Elmar is extended before  pressing the shutter button.  I leave the lens extended as much as I can.  I have read that it is possible to burn a hole in the shutter cloth if the lens cap is not left on the Elmar lens.  I like to leave my lens cap off the lenses of my Leicas as much as possible because I have an annoying tendency to leave them on when I am taking pictures.  Leave a lens cap on when you take a picture and you end up with nothing.  I generally have the Elmar stopped down and pointed to the ground so I have not experienced any issues so far with leaving the lens cap off.

I knew that loading the camera might present some issues since you must cut a roll of film to make a longer leader.  That hasn’t been much of a problem, though loading the camera takes longer than with the M3.  One issue I’ve encountered  is that a couple of my rolls apparently did not advance properly. On the llla, all three dials of the top of the camera, the film advance, shutter speed and rewind dials, should turn when you take a shot and advance the film.  The film is properly loaded if all three dials move.  On a number of rolls this did not occur immediately.  I was not concerned because the rewind dial on my M3 usually does not move immediately but does so after several exposures.  I assumed the llla would do the same.  Unfortunately, on two rolls, the rewind dial did not move until after many attempted exposures.  When I had the film developed, one roll had hardly any usable exposures and only about half of the intended exposures on the other actually produced an image.  After watching some online videos, I learned that when loading film on the llla you should turn the rewind dial to take up slack and create tension.  That seems to have resolved the issue.

One of the great things about the M3 is the large viewfinder where you can focus and compose all on one screen.  On the llla, focusing and composing are done on two separate, and very small, screens.  I wear eyeglasses so focusing and composing is a bit of a challenge.  But one gets used to it.  On the plus side, the composing screen is quite bright.  Some people have expressed concern about scratching eyeglass lenses using the llla.  So far that has not happened to me.

As for the Elmar lens, I like it, though changing the aperture on the lens is not at all convenient.  That must be done by moving the small dial on the front of the lens with you fingernail.  It has taken some time to get used to this.  On a sunny day, using the lens is easier.  Just set the aperature once to F16 and rely on the Sunny 16 rule.  In changeable light, though, when more frequent aperture changes may be required, the lens presents more of an issue.  But, again, this is something you get used to.  One other thing to note is that the focusing dial on the lens has a long throw.  It is not ideal but once again, it is not that difficult to adjust to.

Everything about the llla and the Elmar 50 mm F3.5 is slow, even more so than my Yashica D TLR,  which also requires a deliberate, slow-paced style of photography.  So why put up with all the quirks and hassles of a primitive 1930s camera?  First and foremost, I really like the results I get from this camera and lens.  I also love the way the camera looks and feels.  It is smaller and lighter than the M3 and feels really nice in the hand.  The build quality is excellent.  It is simply fun to use such vintage gear.  I am in no rush taking pictures so the fact that using this camera and lens is a slow process makes little difference to me.  If I do my job correctly, all the hassles are worth it.  The following are some color images from the llla using mostly Kodak UltraMax 400 with a few Fugifilm 400 exposures mixed in.

Of course, where my setup really excels is with black and white film.  The following were all taken with Ilford XP2.  I loved the results.  I particularly like the sharpness and contrast of the exposures.  A few architectural shots from downtown Portland to start.

Next are a few shots from Saturday Market in downtown Portland, including a couple of musicians providing atmosphere to this weekly marketplace of locally grown fruits and vegetables, among other items.

Next are some images taken inside an historic courthouse in downtown Portland.  The Elmar lens did a nice job in these interior locations.

Finally,  some miscellaneous shots from various locations.

So, they are slow, quirky, fussy, fiddly and inconvenient.  Yet, the Leica llla and Elmar 50mm F3.5 collapsible lens are a fun, compelling pair capable of some really good results if you keep your wits about you, take your time, do your job properly and simply revel in a very old-fashioned photography experience.  Much as I love my M3, I think I enjoy the older Leica even more.  Sure there are challenges, but the joys of old-time photography outweigh the hassles.

Go ahead and give this equipment a try, even if you wear glasses like I do.  Thanks for reading this. If you get a chance, you might check out CurtisHeikkinen.smugmug.com or @curtisheikkinen on Instagram.

Share this post: