In your bag No: 1611 – Adam Singer

Adam likes to carry LTM royalty in what has to be one of the sweetest camera suitcases on planet Earth.

It was a 70s Haliburton case, sitting in a sales tent of junk at an old car event. A tatty dirty canvass interior, but the outside polished for maximum ‘you know you want me’, I went ‘oooh its shiny, it’s so shiny”, and could hear it whispering, “hey big boy I could be the camera case of your dreams”. Purchase made; took it to local upholsters who said ‘you must be kidding any idea how long that would take?” My daughter said she would do it, and many hours later we have the LTM heaven case, with its new sumptuous all leather interior.

Containing a 1956 Canon VT, being Canon’s shocked ‘OMG’ response to the Leica M3. The VT is not as cool as a Leica M3, but it’s easier to load and cheaper than a M2/3 and you won’t miss a shot because you have a VT in your hand instead of a Leica M2. That’s if you can cope with the base plate winder. A 1955 Canon lVSB2 which in terms of quality seems the equal of the Leica lllg and, Peter Dechert in his book on Canon Rangefinders describes the lVSB2 as ‘surely the finest bottom-loading rangefinder any one has ever built”: I wouldn’t disagree.

The lVSB2 and the VT let you ‘enhance’ the rangefinder, a bit like a mechanical version of focus enhance on a modern mirrorless camera, this makes for easy focus, but their viewfinders are not the treat that is a 1959 lllg. The lllg is Leica’s farewell to the screw thread lens mount (LTM) and these three cameras mark the end of an era starting in 1930 with the Leica lllC. Backing them up, with an LTM to bayonet adapter is a M9 Leica Monochrom, it likes flirting with the Canon lens especially in low light. We have 4 flavours of 50mm, the 1.8, and 1.4 which can hold their head up with 50s Leica glass, and the 50mm Summicron. The 50mm Canon 1.2 on the Monochrom at 1.2 has a wondrous silky softy look. Then there is an 85, a 135, a poor man’s Zeiss Biogon in the guise of a Russian 35mm, and a Canon 28mm. The film cameras are fuelled with Fujichrome, Ilford Pan F, and Kodak Gold for that happy holiday look.

Why you ask? Well these cameras engage, they grab you and it’s like the difference between driving a modern car and 1950s Porsche 356, where you always get out after a blast though the lanes smiling.

Thanks for sharing with us  your “bag” shot Adam. Would love to some images from all that sweet glass!

Keep them coming folks, we need more submissions, so get your bag on Japancamerahunter.com

Send me a high resolution image of the bag. Optimum size is 1500px across. Please ensure there is a bag in the shot, unless you don’t use one. The more you can write about yourself the better, make it appealing and tell us a story. Snapshots of your gear with a camera phone and no words will not be featured.
Oh and don’t forget your contact details (twitter, flickr, tumbler et al). Send the bag shots here. Please understand that there is a long wait now as there is a backlog of submissions. Not all make the cut, so make sure yours is funny/interesting/quirky. And please make sure the shot is of good quality, as the ones that are not do not go up.

Cheers
Japancamerahunter