Recently I sold a few Leica items on
eBay. One of the buyers struck my
interest with his eBay screen name of Schmirgelpapier. Taking a closer look revealed that it was Don
Goldberg of DAG Camera Repair, one of the best Leica repair technicians in the
country. I hadn't talked to Don for a
while and it was nice to catch up.
Needless to say, we also talked about the LEICA Barnack Berek Blog. I asked him if he would be willing to
contribute some of his wisdom to the blog, only to be totally surprised by his
answer.
One of the items he was interested to
talk about was a Leica M2-250, an off the shelf camera that his father Norman
Goldberg had converted in the 1960s to accept film for 250 exposures. I had never heard of this camera and I was
eager to learn more about it.
Norman Goldberg was born in Chicago in
1931 and, after serving a five-year apprenticeship in camera repair and
attending the Illinois Institute of Technology, he moved to Wisconsin in 1951.
There he established Camcraft, an independent workshop which specialized in
repairs and custom modifications to professional photographic equipment. In
1966 he became a technical consultant to Popular Photography, devising a lens
testing program for them and creating their testing laboratory, and in 1972 he
joined the staff of the magazine. He retired in 1987 after working for Popular
Photography for 22 years.
While running Camcraft, he became the
first Leica authorized service facility for Leica cameras in the US. He also published a book about camera
technology in 1992, titled “The Dark Side of the Lens.
Goldberg is perhaps best known as the
creator of the Camcraft N-5 electric motor drive for the Leica M2 and MP.
However, he has also several other inventions for Leicas and other cameras to
his credit. For instance, the clip he
designed to permit wearing an M Leica on the belt was widely used, and he also
offered modifications of the Visoflex, utilizing either a prism or a pellicle
mirror. He also designed and built a
considerable amount of testing equipment to test cameras and lenses, including
the equipment used at Popular Photography, and he held numerous patents.
Camcraft N-5 motor with power supply
Camcraft N-5 motor attached to Leica M2
The first camcraft N-5 motor was
introduced in 1961. After several
modifications to the original design, the final version was made by TPI
(Technical Photomation Instruments) of Los Angeles. Eventually Leitz bought the patents and the
rights to the motor. Over the years they
made over a thousand units of what was often called the NY Motor. It was sold for the M2-M and later for the
M4-M.
With the motor in place, 36 exposures
could go very fast, and the need to change to a new roll of film was ever
present. This lead to thoughts of a
larger capacity of film and Goldberg began to design a 250 exposure conversion
of a Leica M2 which incorporated the successful N-5 motor. The modifications are based on a standard
Leicavit rapid advance. They included
larger film compartments at both the supply and take up side of the camera
which were attached to the camera and the Leicavit. The manual film advance of the Leicavit was
replaced by the N-5 motor. Power was
supplied via a cord, connected to a separate power supply which contained the
batteries. Only one of the M2-250 cameras
is in existence, making it also one of the rarest Leicas.
M2-250 original design sketch by Norman
Goldberg
Far from walking in the shadow of his
father, Don Goldberg is very accomplished in the Leica community himself. In 1970 he worked at Leitz Wetzlar for two
years. There he received the skills of a
Feinmechaniker (Precision Mechanic) a prerequisite for Leica technicians. With the town of Giessen close by, he also
decided to learn about Minox cameras at the Minox plant there. He worked for Minox for three months and then
took a position at the Leica Service department in New Jersey. In 1980 Don established his own camera
service business, DAG which he still runs today.
Don is interested in determining what
the M2-250 might be worth and he might consider selling it. Anyone interested can contact Don directly
at:
DAG Camera Service
2128 Vintage Drive
Oregon WI 53575 USA
608-835-3342
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