p.2 #1 · Uh Oh I bought a film Leica by accident...
Since the shutter speed dial is close to the accessory shoe, it can keep many of the shoe mounted meters from seating properly or the spinning dial will smack into them. They’re great little cameras, have fun with it.
Mar 11, 2026 at 10:46 AM
AmbientMike Offline • • • • • • [X]
p.2 #2 · Uh Oh I bought a film Leica by accident...
1bwana1 wrote:
I have some questions for all you film gurus out there.
I am considering the exposure controls on the Leica III. Since this camera doesn't have a light meter, it seems to me that this control doesn't actually do anything to control exposure. Since I will start by using the "sunny 16" method to calculate exposure I can just use the reciprocal of the film's ASA number to set shutter speed and follow the rule to set aperture. What the ASA dial says actually doesn't matter.
Is that correct?
How many of you rely on Sunny 16 and how many of you use a accessory shoe mounted meter. Why do you prefer your method?
Since obviously there is no IBIS in film cameras, when it comes to camera shake induced blur what digital megapixel count is film most closely like?
Similar question regarding diffraction. High megapixel count digital camers show the effects of diffraction more. How does film act in this regard? Can I shoot at f/16 without image quality suffering from diffraction?
Not sure what you mean by exposure controls , you have 2 dials to set ss. One for the fast ss, one for slow. I used to carry a razor blade in my camera bag to cut film, I suppose you could put a small pair of scissors or pocket knife in your bag, or just cut it using regular scissors at home if that's your only film canera you're taking.
I found i needed 1/250 on 135mm hektor (average lens, good not great) probably use more 1/60 at 50mm on static subjects. My 35 Summaron seemed excellent many may have been "repaired" though
I'd really recommend the Leica Collectors Guide by Dennis Laney, to figure out the different lenses etc. 1st edition used to be reasonably priced, 2nd not so much IIRC. Besides, Interesting book also has serial # list to get an idea on year of manufacture
p.2 #3 · Uh Oh I bought a film Leica by accident...
Desmolicious wrote:
And the best way to estimate exposure is to walk around w your digital camera/light meter/light meter app with it set up with fixed iso of the film you will use and just estimate the exposure of scenes around you. Then compare to your app and - I am not kidding - within 30 minutes you will no longer need the light meter.
The only time it gets tricky for me is in the evening, but performing the same exercise will help there too.
1000% this.
When I was getting started with meterless, I'd do that even when I didn't have a camera. I'd just make an exposure call with tricky light and check against a phone app. I still do this occasionally, just to make sure I'm not getting lazy. It is shocking how quickly you'll be able to get off the ground.
p.2 #5 · Uh Oh I bought a film Leica by accident...
Try out some 100 speed film to start. It would have been considered a "medium" speed when the camera being made. Shoot with "sunny f11" - film craves light so don't be afraid of giving it an extra stop.
A 100 speed film will give you nice fine grain, so you can see what the lens is giving you.
Have fun - these are fiddly cameras at the beginning. Once you have some experience, you'll discover just how well designed they are. It's an excellent and very compact full frame camera!
p.2 #7 · Uh Oh I bought a film Leica by accident...
Lucky you. I decided that since I am on this forum often, I will make myself familiar with Leicas, so I can speak about their cameras from a position of knowledge. I started with a IIIf from eBay and it stopped working after one roll. And UPS lost that roll when I sent it for development! I got an expensive paper weight and useless mystery experience since I will never know results. I decided to skip film for now (and I have some experience with m cameras anyway) and got q3...
p.2 #8 · Uh Oh I bought a film Leica by accident...
So I discovered that there is a film sop development lab just a block from my house. The older Italian man who owns it is very knowledgeable about the Leica III. He is a Leica fan. He gave it a good inspection and test and beleives everything is working properly. Wants to buy it if I decide not to keep it.
He set me up with a roll of 36 (says actually 38) shot Ilford ASA 400. Showed me how to trim and load.
I went out and shot 13 frames before it started to rain. Hope to finish the test roll by the weekend and then have it developed and scanned. For sure at least one bad shot because I forgot to take the lens cap off. I am sure I am not the first to do this. After I advanced the film I realizes I probably could have just shot that same frame again as no light reached the film.
I am looking forward to my first film image. Stay tunned.
p.2 #9 · Uh Oh I bought a film Leica by accident...
You found a good teacher. Knowing how to trim the leader and load the camera properly are key to avoiding problems like holes in the shutter curtain or pieces of film getting stuck. You've been at this long enough to have an eye for exposure. Negative film is pretty forgiving, just remember you can't just crank up the ISO when the light dims.
p.2 #10 · Uh Oh I bought a film Leica by accident...
My condolences on going down the Leica film rabbit hole. May you enjoy spending lots of money on film, cameras and lenses. Because you will.
Mar 11, 2026 at 02:58 PM
AmbientMike Offline • • • • • • [X]
p.2 #11 · Uh Oh I bought a film Leica by accident...
Oldwino wrote:
Try out some 100 speed film to start. It would have been considered a "medium" speed when the camera being made. Shoot with "sunny f11" - film craves light so don't be afraid of giving it an extra stop.
A 100 speed film will give you nice fine grain, so you can see what the lens is giving you.
Have fun - these are fiddly cameras at the beginning. Once you have some experience, you'll discover just how well designed they are. It's an excellent and very compact full frame camera!
I always overexposed print film, b&w or color. Probably a stop or 2, too much i suppose but it is such death if you underexpose since i dont see how you'd get the maximum black of the paper, printed in a darkroom. Not sure if scanning has changed that, or not, overexposure seems to give nice rich looking negatives
p.2 #12 · Uh Oh I bought a film Leica by accident...
1bwana1 wrote:
So I discovered that there is a film sop development lab just a block from my house. The older Italian man who owns it is very knowledgeable about the Leica III. He is a Leica fan. He gave it a good inspection and test and beleives everything is working properly. Wants to buy it if I decide not to keep it.
He set me up with a roll of 36 (says actually 38) shot Ilford ASA 400. Showed me how to trim and load.
I went out and shot 13 frames before it started to rain. Hope to finish the test roll by the weekend and then have it developed and scanned. For sure at least one bad shot because I forgot to take the lens cap off. I am sure I am not the first to do this. After I advanced the film I realizes I probably could have just shot that same frame again as no light reached the film.
I am looking forward to my first film image. Stay tunned....Show more →
I have picked neighbourhoods to live in based on their proximity to a film lab. Not kidding.
p.2 #13 · Uh Oh I bought a film Leica by accident...
Desmolicious wrote:
Everyone will say the camera needs a CLA. But exercise it first to see - run through all the shutter speeds several times and give it the ‘it sounds about right’ test. If it hangs or is all over the place then it needs service.
If it passes the ear test, then run a test roll of film through it to verify, this will also check the focus.
This is good advice. Given what your local film lab fellow thinks, you’ll hopefully be fine, so this is probably unnecessary, but I’ll mention what I experienced with an M3 that I bought about a year ago, on the off chance it might be useful.
This M3, which appears to have come from the collection of an old photojournalist, was in surprisingly good condition. My suspicion is that it had not been used for many years, and clearly hadn’t ever been used much. The shutter sounded and seemed fine. However, the 1/500 and 1/1000s were nowhere near accurate — that was immediately apparent when I had the first roll developed.
So if a few of your first shots look odd, particularly if it’s only ones shot using a small subset of the shutter speeds, this is a possibility that is worth bearing in mind (although whether such a problem, that can affect M3s, could also affect your camera, I’ve no idea). Fingers crossed that this is not relevant, anyway. In any event, it’s a great buy!
p.2 #18 · Uh Oh I bought a film Leica by accident...
That looks like a nice IIIf red dial. The ‘red dial’ refers to the red letters around the shutter dial that are used to set the flash syncing delay for different types of flash bulbs (not needed now).
It is worth reading up on this camera before diving in as there are a few quirks. For example you can only set the shutter speed after winding on the shutter. Not only is the shutter speed indication incorrect before winding, but I think you can also damage the shutter if changing it before winding on.
The screw mount Leica’s are referred to as the ‘Barnack’ Leicas as they are closely related to Barnack’s original Leica design. Because they have a separate rangefinder with higher magnification than the later M cameras, the rangefinders have a high effective base-length and are therefore more accurate than the M cameras. There is a separate focussing mechanism just for the rangefinder (small lever under the rewind knob). The downside is that both rangefinder and viewfinder have a small squinty eyepiece. The main viewfinder is small and dim.
Although I don’t put a lot of films through mine, I never bothered with a film trimming template. I just cut the extra length of film leader by eye with a pair of scissors. You just need the film leader to be half width for the full film gate since there is no fold-down plate like the later M models. Loading is a slow and somewhat fiddly process. Take your time.
Nice series of articles on the Barnack Leica’s here (scroll down): https://cameraquest.com/classics.htm
This will help you understand exactly which model you have.
p.2 #20 · Uh Oh I bought a film Leica by accident...
1bwana1 wrote:
So I discovered that there is a film sop development lab just a block from my house. The older Italian man who owns it is very knowledgeable about the Leica III. He is a Leica fan. He gave it a good inspection and test and beleives everything is working properly. Wants to buy it if I decide not to keep it.
He set me up with a roll of 36 (says actually 38) shot Ilford ASA 400. Showed me how to trim and load.
I went out and shot 13 frames before it started to rain. Hope to finish the test roll by the weekend and then have it developed and scanned. For sure at least one bad shot because I forgot to take the lens cap off. I am sure I am not the first to do this. After I advanced the film I realizes I probably could have just shot that same frame again as no light reached the film.
I am looking forward to my first film image. Stay tunned....Show more →
That's a super looking camera/lens, and what an amazing deal - look forward to seeing your work! You are SO fortunate to have someone close by to develop your film.
