Leica iiia

Leica IIIa

5 Frames with a Leica IIIa, Canon LTM 50mm f2.8 lens and Kentmere 400 – By Richard de Bulat

I have used this little Leica for a couple of years having bought it 2nd hand during the Lock-downs. The original lens was the Elmar 5cm f3.5, the type that sits inside the camera body and you pull out when taking photographs. This lens was not terrible, but lacked the contrast I expect from a Leica camera and, having read about photographers from back in the day who substituted it for a Canon lens, I decided to do the same. This is now the lens that I use, with better results, in my opinion. I decided to use Kentmere film simply to try it out and was surprised at the result in a number of ways.

Leica iiia rangefinder

Leica IIIa Review – My Final Roll with an Underused but Long-Prized Camera

I’ve had my Leica iiia for a long time now, and though I didn’t use it for about 4 1/2 years, I hadn’t been able to rationalise selling it. At least, that was the case until a couple of weeks ago when I bought a third Leica Barnack camera. In a moment of almost entirely planned GAS, I bought a Leica ic, a camera that I’ve convinced myself I will get more use out of. As such, I’ve decided the iiia is for the chop, but – just like the Minolta 28mm f/3.5 G-Rokkor I wrote about a week or so ago – I couldn’t let it go without saying a little goodbye.

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