Now I hate to start a review off with negativity about a camera, but the Leica IIIF is probably one of the most frustrating cameras I have ever used! With its tiny viewfinder, delicate shutter, and absolutely frustrating way of loading film among the list of cons, it can be hard to say if the Barnack Leica is worth the hassle in 2025 when there’s so many other choices. But wait Leica fanboys, stay with me here, because this is not an article to hate on the IIIF.
I’ve written several articles about my “adventures” with the Leica IIIF, you can read one here, and one here. In those “adventures” I ran into everything from pin holes burned into the shutter curtain, to loosing tons of film frames because of the arduous loading process. Are you still with me? Because I’ve grown to realize these were all user errors. If you’re here to decide on whether you want to buy a IIIF or not, don’t make up your mind just yet because the IIIF has become one of my go-to cameras, and I’ll tell you why. Stick with me, because there’s a lot to share.
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The Leica IIIF – History
Oskar Barnack, an engineer who started out in the motion picture camera department of Leitz, created the Leica prototype in 1913. What I like about Barnack is that his debilitating asthma hindered his photography, but didn’t keep him from it. Instead he created the small 35mm camera since he wasn’t able to carry the large plate cameras of the time.
After WW I in 1925, Leitz created Leica ( LEItz + CAmera = Leica) with the vision from Barnack to keep the camera small. He designed the horizontal shutter allowing for more frames with a 24x36mm frame size and a 2:3 aspect ratio. This new ratio meant he had to create a lens that was sharp enough to create larger images. Max Berek, another Leitz employee, came up with the first Elmax 50mm f/3.5 lens. Together they created the Leica I and sold 1000 cameras the first year.
Fast forward and 1932 saw the Leica II, 1933 saw the Leica III, and by 1935 with the Leica IIIG. At this point Leica is the most profitable department in the Leitz company in NY.
Leitz Saves Lives
During WWII, the Leica department in Germany sent Jewish refugees to New York as “essential workers” with their families so they would avoid deportation to concentration camps. The Vice President of Leitz in New York, Mr. Alfred Boch, would interview 15-30 refugees a week finding them jobs in New York.
Barnacks Dreams Realized
Christmas of 1950 the IIIF is announced . Brand-new this camera was the equivalent of $3500 today. It was the Fujifilm X100V of its day in that it was on back order for its first several years of production.
There were several versions of the IIIF over the years. The first being the “Black Dial” version. This just meant all the numbers on the camera were black. This version also had different shutter speeds than later ones. In 1952 came the “Red Dial” version, with red numbers on the synchronization dial. Finally, in 1954 came the addition of the self timer on the “Red Dial” version.
The IIIF really showcased all of the advancements Barnack had been implementing over those decades. One example is the film indicator integrated into the film advance knob. The red dial version has two windows on the rewind knob. One shows the ASA and one that shows the Weston, and when you lift and turn the knob to the left, it changes it from black to red. This is to remember whether you have loaded color film or black and white.
The Specs
The rangefinder has a 1.5x magnification which is really high when compared to the M system cameras. The highest being .91x with the M3. On the top left there is the rewind knob and around that is a lever that helps you to dial in focusing the rangefinder for eyesight.
The “f” in IIIF stands for flash because this variation of the Leica III is capable of automatic synchronization at any speed up to 1/1000th with bulbs and has a flash sync speed of 1/50th of a second for electronic flash. With the previous models it was only 1/30th. The synchronizer dial is underneath the shutter dial and needs to be set for whatever bulb you’re using. This was all very new technology for its time until the M3 came out a few years later.
As with all tensioned shutters, you want to make sure to only change the shutter speed clockwise after cocking the shutter, or you risk hurting that tension. Leave the shutter uncocked when not in use. To use a cable release for the shutter you’ll need a nipple adapter like what is used with a Nikon F.
Shutter speeds are 1 second up to 1/1000th with Timed and Bulb. The slow speed dial is on the front of the camera, just below the shutter speed dial. When using faster speeds keep the slower dial set on 25. For slow speeds, set the fast dial to 25 and then use the slow dial.
The lens mount is the Leica Screw Mount or Leica Thread Mount which uses a wide array of lenses including Canon LTM and some soviet era lenses.
Leica Lenses and Accessories
There is great selection of Leica screw mount lenses out there. This includes the more affordable Canon thread mount ones that I use. These lenses can also be used on the later M bodies using a simple adaptor, which I use myself. Today, they can be hard to find without scratches on the glass, but that won’t mess with your pics. However, I would advise you to stay away from the ones with fungus and haze.
External viewfinders can be purchased. The LEICA VIOOH Imarect finder is highly recommended because it can be universally used for all the lenses. When using larger lenses, like the Canon 50mm it can block some of the viewfinder, making an external viewfinder necessary if it bothers you.
You can also purchase the ABLON or other film leader cutting masks to help you to cut the leader down for loading your film.
I will talk more about what I use in the next section.
My Experience with the Leica IIIF
The body is solid but lightweight and compact making it easy to carry in a bag or wear around your neck. That is a huge plus for me. It’s so small that it is a pleasure to carry with me and keep in any bag. However, the issue with loading the film was keeping me from ever wanting to pick up this camera and use it!
Enter the German company called Ausgeknipst. They reached out to me last year and sent me some accessories they 3D print and sell on their eBay store. They asked if I could try them out and give some honest feedback.
I saw that their extensive catalog included a quick loading tool for the IIIF as well as some other accessories for cameras I own, so I was glad to oblige. Their quick loading tool is a great concept that is supposed to help you to load your film quickly the you would with a Leica M6. Photographers like Johnny Martyr and Mike Eckman have detailed reviews using it and found it very helpful. Unfortunately for me, I just couldn’t get the hang of it. At least not in a way that made it more beneficial or any different from the factory spool that came with my camera.
However, I have really enjoyed the grip they sent me for the IIIF as well as a couple accessories for my Canon 7. I would highly recommend you take a look at their catalog because they make parts that you may not ever thought you’d be able to find replacements for on a wide array of cameras. While they are just 3D printed and not the best for aesthetics, some of Ausgeknipst products get the job done.
What’s Going to Slow You Down?
The Leica IIIF is not great for fast photography. I did take it with me in the car a few times to do some of my Riding in Cars with Film work. It was great to set the lens to infinity, set my shutter and aperture, and just take pictures quickly. The part that slowed me down was the rewind knob. Having to turn it several times before being able to cock the shutter and take another photo quickly was not possible. This made me miss many shots. I would imagine if you are shooting street photography, the same issue would probably slow you down.
Also, Switching between the two viewfinders will slow you down.They are very small, making it very difficult for someone like me who has glasses, to be able to fully see the full composition. However, this can partly be resolved by attaching external viewfinders for the lens you’re using. Since the cameras viewfinder is only set for a 50mm you will need them anyway.
Loading the Film
This step is the number one thing that is going to slow you down, especially in the beginning. You will want to cut the bottom sprocket holes off of the first 4 inches of your film leader and leave 2 sprocket holes poking out of the canister. This is because if the film doesn’t slide down past the shutter fully flush, it can snag and the sprockets will not catch on to advance your film. This can lead you to believe you’ve loaded your film only to find out later you were never advancing a frame the whole time. When you cut the film there cannot be any jagged edges that can snag and break off inside the camera. These can get caught in the shutter and risk breaking holes into the curtain. In my experience this is even more prevalent with color film.
There are many film cutting masks out there you can buy. I have a couple myself, but that just means I have to carry an extra kit with me or cut film in advance. I’ve had many nightmares trying to load film into this camera and have lost more frames of expensive film than I care to remember. However, once you get the hang of it, it becomes easier to do.
A video demonstrating how to load a Leica IIIF
A Few Notes From My Experience
Shutter speeds are not the usual 1/30th and1/60th. Instead you have 1/25th and 1/50th, which can be a downside for some. For example, I shoot mostly in my home so I always need 1/60th with the lens wide open or 1/30th in other rooms. So in these situations I would be slightly over-exposing most of the time. It’s been noticeable with black and white film, but not a huge issue.
If you buy the Leica IIIF, it absolutely needs a CLA! In my experience, the IIIF has to be CLA’d or you will very likely run into issues. Just this one thing can save you from a lot of future headaches and eliminate a lot of the cons I’ve mentioned.
Lenses I Use
The famous photo called The Kiss, taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt, after the end of WWII was taken with a Leica IIIa and a Leitz Summitar 5cm f2. That is the first and only lens I purchased specifically for this camera. I wrote an article on my experience with this lens if you want to know more. A couple of things I will note here is that it is a collapsible lens. That makes it a great companion to an already lightweight and compact camera. It also can be tac sharp while at the same time, when wide open, can be very easy to miss focus. See photos below.
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I also use the two amazing lenses I already owned for my Canon 7. The 35mm f2.8 is great because of how small it is and comes with an equally small external viewfinder. The 50mm f1.8 however is a bigger and blocks a little bit of your viewfinder.
Final Thoughts on the Leica IIIF
While I have definitely had a rocky relationship with this camera, and admittedly have been pretty hard on it, I still highly recommend it. As the saying goes, we often are the hardest on those closest to us, and this camera is very special to me now that I have put so much work into getting to know it.
Often the most frustrating cameras I have reviewed, such as the Exakta V1000 and Nikon S2, have been the most memorable ones I have ever used.
Besides its frustrations, it really is a very useful tool. I have found that once you get the hang of loading the film, everything else is honestly not a big deal. For me, the size and weight outweighs it all. No other camera I own combines the ability to change out compact and quality lenses with an amazingly built compact body.
So is it worth the frustration? That will be for you to decide now that you know all that I could tell you. For me, the answer is yes, if you take the time to truly get the hang of its quirks. Let me know in the comments if you have a Leica IIIF or will be getting one. Thanks for sticking with me this far!
Until next time, stay motivated and keep shooting.
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I wonder – is it true that you cannot change the shutter speed setting before winding the camera? I recall this to be true of the Russian copies (e.g. FED) but seem to recall it to be specific to those cameras.
It is definitely true that you shouldn’t change it until you wind the shutter because it can ruin the tensioning.
A Leica IIIf with the collapsible Elmar lens fell into my lap a couple of years ago. Before I continue, note that I’m a 70-year-old lifelong user of manual cameras – my parents were professionals, I grew up working with them dailly in the 60s/70s. My favorite cameras to this day are completely manual, typically even without match-needle meters. Nikon F, Olympus Pen F and Pen S, Minox IIIs, etc. I’m definitely old school: I’ve never owned an autofocus camera, nor a decent digital camera.
But while it’s amazing bit of tech, I found the Leica was just TOO manual for me. My current cataract-addled vision made the tiny viewfinder and rangefinder close to useless. The loading method is way too hard. Knobs instead of levers and cranks… Two speed dials? So many bizarre limitations (e.g., when you can change the speed dials) to this camera. I never got the hang of shooting it.
And when I developed my test film, it turned out that this Leica had multiple problems: the shutter misfired half the time, the frame counter was wildly off… And I’m not spending hundreds of dollars to repair a camera I didn’t enjoy using. So it’s now one of the jewels of my camera collection display.
I know that this is heresy to the Leica Faithful, who unending praise Leicas as the be-all and end-all. But sorry, while I was knocked out by its amazing engineering and historical importance, I just couldn’t get comfortable with this camera. I’m sticking with my faves.
Totally don’t blame you. My goal was to show that if you do have an interest in it, you can get used to the loading and the quirks if you want to take the time with it. But I totally get your side as well. If you have a fav camera otherwise it may not be worth the frustration at all.
Oh an also, I’ve been getting lots of hate from those Leica faithful JUST for my title of my article! It’s ridiculous.
Hi, Aly. I just got done with yet another episode of User Error Film Loading, when this showed up in my news feed. And, yes, agreed, so worth it!
Oh no! 😆 isn’t it so frustrating and then just so satisfying when you finally get it to load LoL it’s like a toxic relationship
Hi Aly,
I fully support your thoughts about this camera. But I’ll keep mine as its history is documented to be one of many comparable stories of Barnac Leicas on the US market. Mine has been taken along by a jewish family when they emigrated from Germany. Money, valuable jewelry or comparable items were not allowed to be taken out of Nazi Germany. Cameras obviously had not been on the focus of the border police. Accordingly the family kept this camera as financial backup, moved to America and found their way of living without having to sell their safe stock. Later, they agreed to give their Leica away to a lawyer as payment for her services. The lawyer was the mother of the German American, I bought this camera from. So, it has come back to Germany with its story. For me a good reason to keep the camera with its historical value.
I shot a few films with it. Also with its bastard sisters and brothers and their sons and stepsons, namely the Feds, Zorkis, Zeniths (stepsisters from the Zorki family line). And I even became familiar with all their interesting technical details, which I used to repair for a while until my shelf was close to break down. But finally, it is the Canon 7 to be my first choice when it comes to select a M39 / L39 camera for photography. Its viewfinder is absolutely perfect for my eyes and the selectable frames for different lenses solve my problem with the required accessory viewfinder for the Leica. Beyond that, the shutter is made from heat resistant titan. It has the utmost reliable and the quietest shutter of all 35mm focal plane shutter cameras in my possession.
So, from my point of view, possessing a Leica IIIf is just a “nice to have”.
That’s an amazing history behind your Barnack. Thanks for sharing. I absolutely love my canon 7. Its viewfinder is so much better than the Leica iiif. I am by no means saying the Leica is better than any camera. I just enjoy it because of its size. Have a great day!
Aly a few tips, I had an M6 for a time, just couldn’t get rangefinders, but to help, the rewind knob has a few styles, a crank, like M6, the M3 dots, or the plain arrow as in photos here; you WATCH it CLOSELY, if it spins, you are SAFE, the films loaded!, also the III f model has a special workflow, you ONLY get accurate shutter speeds when its COCKED! and for different speeds you get front dial, or top dial, and you must select the other to ‘transfer’ control, to timed speeds or long speeds (1/30th and longer, to B mode) film loading should be simple, a piece of cake, if its a normal 135 cannister, the CATCH is, Leica made its own (has a sleave design, to protect the opening), there where TWO designs, one for M6 modern rangefinders, and an older one, the pins on the sleave are different, you CAN’T mix them up, the felt lip will fit, but NOT be able to close, its taller, than the newer version, so the bottom plate won’t shut, and the washer that operates the pin wont engage correctly, and open the slit, YOUR PROBLEM??, as they are designed for a specific camera type.
the cameras load ‘weird’ to the rest of 135 land, from the bottom, feed the empty spool (like a sewing machine bobbin), then slide both ‘cans’ in at the same time, turn the spool a little until you hear a click {the sprockets engaging the holes}, close up, {your iii f} set wind/rewind lever to WIND, set counter to ZERO, to take up the ‘fogged’ stuff, when at 1 it stops, and shoot.
Thanks for the info. I do know all of these things.
Terrific review, as always! One thing which you briefly touched upon which I wanted to emphasize is the need for a CLA. Certainly this applies to all cameras, but more with cameras like the Leica IIIf, is that the user experience is greatly influenced by how well the camera is working.
If two people who have never used a Leica before were given one to play with, and one of the cameras was recently given a full CLA, and the other hadn’t been serviced in decades, the experience with the person who has the serviced camera will almost certainly be a lot better. Leicas can be very smooth and elegant devices when all the lubricants are working, but can be difficult to use when things are stiff. In addition, film loading is a lot easier when things are working.
Yes exactly! That’s exactly what my experience was. Thanks Mike. Glad you liked it.
You are correct!! I paid a pretty penny for my Leica M3 Cla and same for a vintage pedal Singer sewing machine. They both perform and purr now like kittens ❤️
It’s definitely worth it
I got the price from Ken Rockwells site which is usually a reliable source https://www.kenrockwell.com/leica/screw-mount/iiif.htm
And the film wind knob is what slowed me down so I was sharing my experience. Thanks for reading.