Another Round with my Barnack

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.

Barnack's

In my continued quest to expand my ‘challenge’ ….to push my 35mm learning curve etc…. and of course to do so using film; I purchased a Barnack 1930’s Leitz 1 Model A camera.

I am off digital…..well, with the exception of taking ‘snapshots’ of my grandkids with my iPhone, or perhaps roaming the streets with a Ricoh GRD or GR2 or GR3…. Digitals are a different species, simply put. The enjoyment I get from my Ricoh’s is capturing the human in the wild, their expressions…their mannerisms etc… Yet I find myself not being driven to digital with any substance, depth. Frankly, most people who shoot digital or even film; lack impact…lack depth, lack subject matter. They are purely snapshots at best.

As I having been shooting my Leica MA lately, I have enjoyed it all. Love film. It has been a bit cold outside with the windchill and all, so I have been ‘Ebaying it’ and perusing my Leica books and ran across the older Barnacks. In the past I haven’t given them a thought as I was too focused on the latest, as opposed to earlier models which might actually be better. I found a few Barnacks and put myself thru the ‘history lesson’ of learning the family tree of Leica’s from the word GO. Model A or B or C, or 1, 11, 111, or F or G or Compur or Standard or or or or….. Go ahead, look em up…. It is quite the family tree and all of this occurred within 20-30 years. (1925 thru the 50’s). I settled on not getting the Leica 111 in any ‘letter’ which might follow. They were simply too close to the M3 and M2.

I narrowed it down to the Barnack version 1 or 2 (and there are sub-versions in between). I’ll let it go at that but did see a few on Ebay that I ‘watched’…never pulled on though, just watched. Today, as I walked around with my MA, I needed to ‘relieve my bladder’ so went into the local Unique Photo Store (Philadelphia) as they always have len’s I like, or more importantly, they had a bathroom I could borrow. On the way to the bathroom I started talking to the staff and they said they had Barnacks to sell… A Leitz 1, Model A…..a Leitz 11 and a Leitz 111F. Wow, all 3!I immediately perked up my energy to take a look but knew from the start that I didn’t want the Leitz 111F. That left me with the Leitz 1 and Leitz 11 as they stared at me on the counter. Pick me, pick me please. I picked up one, then the other. Tried this, pulled it to my face….pressed the shutters etc…. Gees ….which one? If they just had one of them it would have made a decision earsier.

Ultimately I decided that yes….screw Ebay….It would be better to buy one from the local camera shop who is aware of the camera’s history. Both of these came from the same collector so I knew they were in good shape. Sure, will most likely need a CLA but heck…who cares. I went back and forth and just decided I wanted the Leitz 1 Model A. No rangefinder….nothing, as opposed to the Leitz 11 which does have a rangefinder although not all what we think of what a rangefinder is, as we compare it to the current crop of focus models in the M line.

I liked the Leitz 1 Model A….. I focus by distance only. So, tonight I was grabbing my measuring tape and practiced distance…. How many feet from here to there? For, that is how I focus the Model A. I set the shutter, the ISO is film so already set, and I move my aperture and most likely to either F6.3 or F9, but they as those are the options. If I know the distance, and plug it in, I win….I get focus.

Does it work? Not sure……. I will play with it and expect some off-focus images until I know distance. If I can keep the shutter at 500 and F8 or F9, I should have enough depth of field where I can be ‘off in distance’ and still have focus. Again, will see…. More to come.

Barnacks Leitz 1 Model A, circa 1930. Black Paint with 5cm (50mm) lens.