I'd never heard of the Leidolf Lordomat until I saw the one shown here at an online auction site. But because it looked interesting, I shelled out a few dollars and waited for the camera to arrive in the mail. When it did, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was in mint condition. The rangefinder was accurate; the shutter operated at all speeds from B-1/300; the 2.8/50 Leidolf Wetzlar Lordon lens (protected by a Walz #106 filter) was immaculate; and the diaphragm operated smoothly. What more could you ask for?Interestingly, unlike most other cameras that have leaf type shutters, the Lordomat features interchangeable lenses. In addition to the 50mm lens depicted in the photos, Leidolf manufactured 35mm, 90mm, and 135mm lenses for this camera. The lens mount, however, is unique and will accept only Leidolf lenses, which are hard to find.
The protuberance above the lens (photo, right) houses the rangefinder adjustment. Red marks the Walz filter. Blue shows the click-stopped iris adjustment ring. Light blue denotes the focus adjusting ring. Yellow indicates the yellow depth of field scale. Purple marks the ring you turn to remove/replace the lens/shutter assembly. Green shows the shutter speed adjustment dial.
The film counter is located next to the film advance lever. Note that it doesn't reset itself. The rewind knob at the left incorporates a film reminder dial. The knob itself lifts up for ease of use.
One of the outstanding features of the Lordomat is that it has an unusually long 65mm base. This makes more accurate readings possible. But because the Lordomat features an old style synch post, using its flash capability (M/X) night be a problem. Notice, however, that it does have strap lugs. And that certainly is a plus.
P.S. Because Leidolf used to manufacture lenses for Leitz, the Lordon lenses must be pretty good.
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