[Leica] Help Needed for Leica IIIf purchase!!!

["ioannis mylonakos" <i_mylonakos@hotmail.com>]

Dear friends hi,

I have recently joined the LUG as the result of my search on the net for 
information about the Leica IIIf, a camera which I intend to buy in the near 
future.

I am an amateur photographer myself and my main photographic interests are 
in B&W photography. My photographic experience involves mainly SLR cameras 
and at the moment I own a MINOLTA T-101 (inherited by my father) and a NIKON 
F-70 (N-70 in the US) which I bought some years ago. I have a quite good 
knowledge of the SLR cameras and accessories' market since I have been a lot 
of times around looking for new or used pieces of equipment for myself or 
friends. However, I never had the opportunity, nor the money, to consider 
buying or even looking to buy a Leica camera, up to now. The increased cost 
of a Leica SLR along with the cost of a decent range of 2-3 lenses that 
would be required to complete my photographic needs did not allow me to 
"taste" a Leica before.

About one and a half week ago I visited the local Autorised Leica dealer as 
part of my montly visit to the various second hand photographic dealerships 
in the city where I leave. There I saw and I fall in love almost 
immediatelly with a second hand Leica IIIf. Not knowing too much about the 
camera itself I stayed at the window staring at it trying to figure out its 
condition and its technical characteristics from what was written on the 
body and the lens. The camera looked realy clean and after a word I had with 
the dealer has been on the self directly from its original owner. The dealer 
showed me also the original receipt of purchase which dated back in 1950s, 
somewhere in Germany. I checked the camera and the condition of it seems 
really good. It is a Black Dial Model and comes along with a Summitar 50mm, 
f2 (I hope to describe it correctly)lense, which is in the same condition 
with the camera. The price the dealer asks for the set (body and lense)is 
795 British Pounds ($1,150).

After my first encounter with the camera, I tried to find information about 
it on the internet and have managed to read some things about it on several 
sites. However, I have not the experience to understand whether the amount 
of money the dealer is asking for this camera is within a reasonable range. 
On the same window (of the shop) there were displayed two more IIIf's, one 
with Red Dial and Timer mechanism and the same exact Summitar lense, whose 
body and lense were showing evidencce of extensive use, priced at 450 
British Pounds ($650) ; and another one almost brand new, with a Summicron 
lense 50mm, f2 (hope to display this info right too!!).The price for the 
latter was 1,000 British Pounds ($1,440). Searching through the internet in 
sites like eBay, Jessops and other on-line shops I found the same camera at 
prices around 300-450 British Pounds ($430-650), some of which showed 
evidences of bad use, but some of them were pretty ok.

I am really keen on buying the camera I found, even if this means that I 
have to live in a tighter budget for the rest 3-4 months. I just wanted to 
know from anyone that has bought such a camera in the past or is aware of 
the market (US or UK preferably) for these, whether the price of 795 British 
Pounds (about $1,150) is reasonable or not for the body/lense set of the 
Leica IIIf described above. I would also appreciate any comments on what to 
take into consideration before the purchase, or any information about the 
technical cahracteristics of the camera ( or even relevant internet sites).

I am sorry if I have been too long.

Regargs,

Yannis.
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