A year ago I went on my usual Australia trip to visit my grandkids. I decided to take with me my Leica 1 Model A and my Leica 11. That’s it….film and oldies at that.
Sadly while I did shoot a few rolls with the Leica 11 my Leica 1 Model A had serious issues. The film jammed and I couldn’t advance it, thus no images taken other than that partial roll. Now, after a year…..I decided to send it into DAG for complete overall and CLA. It recently was returned to me and it is a beaut for sure. ,
Yesterday I took it for a quick walk-about. And while ‘quick’ might be more appropriate to show the amount of minutes or hours I spent walking with my Leica 1 Model A, it sure does no justice in explaining the slow process that goes into the actual taking of a photograph.
And that ‘slow process’ is exactly what makes this camera my favorite. To load the film I need to cut more of a ‘lead’ in order to have the film advance work. I don’t look at ‘focus’ but I look at distance, so more along the lines of zone focusing. But on this model of a Leica, you never view by the focus as we do in other film cameras, modern or vintage or historic. You really need to get your distance down. IE….6 feet, 8, 10 etc…. I use a FOKOS which is attached to where a normal hotshoe is attached on your normal more modern camera. This FOKOS is akin to a rangefinder in how you view thru it. But the figures that come from it are either ‘feet or meter’ based, showing the distance from you to your subject.
So…..I gather that information for the FOKOS. Then I look at my lens and adjust the distance on my lens to match the FOKOS. Then I advance the film and determine my shutter and aperture. Once there, I shoot. The determination of the distance slows up this process heavily. But it is all a part of shooting this truly historic camera. See below….you can take a look at my Barnack Leica Leitz 1 Model A + the FOKOS….. enjoy.
