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A new toy

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Yanko Kitanov

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I just sold my S200exr and while looking for a new Fuji that qualifies I want to share my joy with those users that still like old film gear.

Today I got the most intriguing present! My 94 years old granddad decided to give me his ex work tool. A Pre WWII (1941 if I am not wrong) Leica IIIc. It goes in a nice case and a lot of accessories with it. The camera has a great and interesting story, but to be short - it is a present form a friend, who was a German officer, at least prior to WWII, his faith during war is unknown to us. The camera has visited many places, but as my granddad was a state reporter and documentary film operator and director this camera has taken pictures tet-a-tet of general Charles du Gaulle, Vietnamese dictator Ho Shi Min, Chinese, Russian and Bulgarian communist state leaders. Many of these have been published a lot and highly valued in the past decades, of course being this old most are well forgotten currently, but I still have a small part of the films and the newspapers/magazines. And the greatest part - two bags of old films of unknown content so far - I should get the time to check these out soon.

Here are a few fast snapshots of some of the gear:









This exposure meter is not as old as the camera, but came as a gift with it



Have a great day/evening!

Yanko
--
Kind Regards,
Yanko Kitanov

I am dreaming to enhance the sensitivity of my own perception and not the sensitivity of my camera's sensor...
 
What a fantastic gift & amazing story Yanko! I'd treasure that IIIc forever & pass it down when the time comes. Just think...will there be anyone inheriting their grandfathers antique digital kit 70 years from now? I doubt it.

I'd love to see some of your grandfathers work as well if you have any in digital format you could share.

Dan.
 
Thanks!

I have no idea what is in the bags, some family shots and some political shots for sure, but lots of other stuff too! I am planing to get them sorted, scanned and prepare a blurb book and print it in some 50-100 copies for family, friends and people who know my granddad's work.

So I'll post the most interesting of these, or a link to the book once it is done - this will take a couple of months given the quantity and my schedule.

Here is an awful translation from the google translator, but the text doesn't matter - in the photo my granddad is the first from the left, the third from the left is Ho Chi Minh - the terrible Vietnamese dictator.

http://translate.google.ru/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=ru&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=bg&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blitz.bg%2Farticle%2F2951

Thank you once again!

Have a fine day!
Yanko

--
Kind Regards,
Yanko Kitanov

I am dreaming to enhance the sensitivity of my own perception and not the sensitivity of my camera's sensor...
 
Yanko Kitanov said:
I just sold my S200exr and while looking for a new Fuji that qualifies I want to share my joy with those users that still like old film gear.

Today I got the most intriguing present! My 94 years old granddad decided to give me his ex work tool. A Pre WWII (1941 if I am not wrong) Leica IIIc. It goes in a nice case and a lot of accessories with it. The camera has a great and interesting story, but to be short - it is a present form a friend, who was a German officer, at least prior to WWII, his faith during war is unknown to us. The camera has visited many places, but as my granddad was a state reporter and documentary film operator and director this camera has taken pictures tet-a-tet of general Charles du Gaulle, Vietnamese dictator Ho Shi Min, Chinese, Russian and Bulgarian communist state leaders. Many of these have been published a lot and highly valued in the past decades, of course being this old most are well forgotten currently, but I still have a small part of the films and the newspapers/magazines. And the greatest part - two bags of old films of unknown content so far - I should get the time to check these out soon.
Click to expand...
I've retired all of my old film cameras but with a trove like that I'd gladly give up my S200, S100 and even a DSLR, but I think that I'd only use it to shoot B&W.

Member said:
So I'll post the most interesting of these, or a link to the book once it is done - this will take a couple of months given the quantity and my schedule.
Click to expand...
Please do, but there's no good reason I can think of why you'd have to wait until the book is finished before post anything. An occasional photo, even if it's not intended to be included in the book would be interesting, and could be useful for you too, to help gauge what others find interesting and ought to be included in the book.

Member said:
Here is an awful translation from the google translator, but the text doesn't matter - in the photo my granddad is the first from the left, the third from the left is Ho Chi Minh - the terrible Vietnamese dictator.
Click to expand...
What little text I could understand was interesting. I'm not sure that Ho Chi Minh was much worse than Ngo Dinh Diem, President of South Vietnam, who was executed after the 1963 coup that was apparently aided by some U.S. involvement. The air base on the outskirts of Saigon that was mentioned in the article below was where I was stationed when I bought another Nikon F and a pair of lenses a couple of years later.
Member said:
It further said "Soldiers in the army, security service, civil defense force, and people's force...The Ngo Dinh Diem government, abusing power, has thought only of personal ambition and slighted the fatherland's interests...The army has swung into action. The task of you all is to unite...The revolution will certainly be successful."[93] The proclamation was endorsed by 14 generals, 7 colonels and a major. It further added that "We have no political ambitions...We act not for fame or benefit, but to save our beloved fatherland."[93] However a technical malfunction interrupted the broadcasts with twist and cha-cha music; under the Diem regime his sister-in-law had banned dancing and associated music under a series of "morality laws".
Click to expand...
Member said:
After surrendering, Diem rang Lodge and spoke to the American envoy for the last time. Lodge did not report the conversation to Washington, so it was widely assumed that the pair last spoke on the previous afternoon when the coup was just starting. However, after Lodge died in 1985, his aide, Colonel Mike Dunn said that Lodge and Diem spoke for the last at around 07:00 of November 2 moments after Diem surrendered. When Diem called, Lodge "put [him] on hold" and then walked away. Upon his return, the ambassador offered Diem and Nhu asylum, but would not arrange for transportation to the Philippines until the next day.[110] This contradicted his earlier offer of asylum the previous day when he implored Diem to not resist the coup.[111] Dunn then offered to personally go to the brothers' hideout to escort him so that the generals could not kill him, but Lodge refused, saying "We just can't get that involved".[110] Dunn said "I was really astonished that we didn't do more for them".[112] Having refused to help the Ngo brothers to leave the country safely, Lodge later said after they had been shot: "What would we have done with them if they had lived? Every Colonel Blimp in the world would have made use of them."
Click to expand...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1963_South_Vietnamese_coup
 
I hope that I and my digital skills are any good for this cam....
--
Kind Regards,
Yanko Kitanov

I am dreaming to enhance the sensitivity of my own perception and not the sensitivity of my camera's sensor...
 
He was more a movie operator than a photographer, but still all my shots done so far are about 1% of what he shot ))) My father is also a fan of photography, but he shot mostly using a films SLR.

Thanks!

Cheers!
--
Kind Regards,
Yanko Kitanov

I am dreaming to enhance the sensitivity of my own perception and not the sensitivity of my camera's sensor...
 
As soon as I get the scanning rolling I will update some scans here, currently I am working over my PP workflow for these, I will need to fine-tune my skills under film PP, not digital as I am used to right now. Film processing takes a lot of per channel work in lab and a lot of colour and contrast matching from what I see so far. Of course I am not going to PP those any more than just matching what would have been the actual real world conditions, digital editing, I believe, can easily spoil the supremacy of analogue rendering.

I agree regarding B&W I will try some Fuji Astia with it of course, but Ilford professional B&W films will match best this cam I believe.

Very interesting story about Vietnam!

Thank you!

Have a great day!
Yanko
--
Kind Regards,
Yanko Kitanov

I am dreaming to enhance the sensitivity of my own perception and not the sensitivity of my camera's sensor...
 
This Leika looks much like one of my first cameras. It was a russian Kiev rangefinder. I've sold it then for buying a Zenith SLR(another russian camera).

Even i know that Kiev was a replica made after Leika, I feel sorry that I've lost it.
You are so lucky to own that piece of history.
 
Gorgeous kit Yanko, I once had used iiic, loading film was a basket of snakes for me!! LOL rick
 
I have two Zorki 4 and two FED, one of them NKVD special edition. My father shoots Zenit SLR with great success. My first ever introduction to photography and my first rolls shot were all on a Zenit. Currently I use about 8 old Russian SLR lenses on digital, these are my most preferred lenses. :)

Thanks!

Have a fine day/evening!
Yanko
--
Kind Regards,
Yanko Kitanov

I am dreaming to enhance the sensitivity of my own perception and not the sensitivity of my camera's sensor...
 
Thank you!

Yes loading the film is difficult and there are many other quite difficult aspects, when I compare this to the digital workflow that I am used too. But I guess I will take my time to master these steps once I get the time. And I'll teach my son Stefan to shoot film, prior to shooting digital - I see sense in this.

Cheers!
--
Kind Regards,
Yanko Kitanov

I am dreaming to enhance the sensitivity of my own perception and not the sensitivity of my camera's sensor...
 
Great to rememmber those days, with you, Yanko!

I remember a summer, back in '93, when I did the impossible to buy a 300mm lens for Zenith.

Saddly I don't remember the name but that lens looked like a gun , with triger and everything. I bet you can tell me what the name was and guess you own one :)
Have nice evening you too.
 
I don't own one unfortunately, but there were some good lenses at 300mm. The oldest is a Tair 3A, or 3C in M39 mount(still for SLR), nut the one you owned id for sure the Zenit photo-sniper with the 300mm MC Telezenitar, there were also tow versions the later of them had a higher resolution in the frame centre - some 60lpmm!!!! and was a bit lighter, this was the MC APO Telezenitar. I have never used one of these though :)

Cheers!
--
Kind Regards,
Yanko Kitanov

I am dreaming to enhance the sensitivity of my own perception and not the sensitivity of my camera's sensor...
 
Thanks! I believe that this babe with the Summitar 50 and another 35mm Leitz will do some excellent job on the street and on the other hand I don't have the resources to buy the X100 anyway.

Another nice part of the story is that after selling the S200EXR my wife is getting an Oly Pen E-PL1 due to its very weak AA filter and good in-camera jpgs, so I can use these M39 RF lenses not only on the Leica, but for the fun's sake on the E-PL1 too!

Cheers!
--
Kind Regards,
Yanko Kitanov

I am dreaming to enhance the sensitivity of my own perception and not the sensitivity of my camera's sensor...
 
Thanks! i've found it. It was a Zenit Photosniper FS12. It was a "love story" for me at that time. Even today i try to find, on newest cameras, the beauty of that focal length, but with little success on bridges like HS10.



 
So your version has the first lens I mentioned - the Tair 3. It is a heavy tool but a good one! Great stuff!

Cheers!
--
Kind Regards,
Yanko Kitanov

I am dreaming to enhance the sensitivity of my own perception and not the sensitivity of my camera's sensor...
 
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