Leica iiif

A Leica family

The (my) Best Leica

Leica rather missed the boat when digital came along so of course I’m talking about the best film Leica. And no, its not another “the M3 is the best camera ever made” review. But to begin, a bit of background.

My first ‘camera’ was a 4×5 I made with my father’s help, and a loaned lens from my uncle who worked at Taylor Hobson in Leicester, UK. The wooden box camera used glass plate negatives – remember those? Focusing was hit and miss, manually sliding the fat projector lens in and out until infinity seemed as good as it could get – then stopping down with a cardboard cut-out sleeve over the lens. I was a teenager and was making the camera for a single purpose – to photograph a comet which was easily visible stretching across the sky.

Front view of camera and lens

Breaking Digital Habits and Relearning Film With a Leica IIIf – By Christopher DellaCorte

This story begins with an afternoon drive through the local countryside accompanied by my spouse. The air was lovely and warm. The skies were clear. The weather was what we expect for late June in Ohio after enduring six months of gray flannel skies that accompany our winters and much of the spring. As we …

Breaking Digital Habits and Relearning Film With a Leica IIIf – By Christopher DellaCorte Read More

Leica IIIf RD

The Leica IIIF RD – My First Impressions – By Alyssa Chiarello

When I first saw the Leica IIIF, it was in a video someone posted on Instagram that demonstrated how to load film into the camera. I’d heard about these rangefinders being a real pain in the butt to load, but I thought, how hard could it be? I have a Leica M2. It can’t be too much harder than loading that. I’m a moron (just kidding). Blinded by the shine and beauty of it, as I often am when seeing a camera I like, I had to have one.

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