Leica IIIf questions

[PBruceW@aol.com]

I have received the IIIf that I wrote about earlier.  It is quite nifty, but
I think I will have to have it looked at as the shutter seems erratic.  At
most speeds, it seems to fire in a two step process, seeming to hang up
before the second curtain closes.  It only fires reliably in the 75 or 100
setting.  I have exercised it as Marc suggested in a private email, but it is
still stiff.  Fortunately, I got the manual with the camera and that answers
most of my questions about the body except for this one; what is the Red Dial
on a red dial body?

Besides that question, I have several questions about the lens.  First off,
what is the <RD> on a 50mm f3.5 Elmar RD lens?  Mine seems to have mostly
black letters on it.  Secondly, is the serial number the tiny numbers located
on the dark ring immediately around the lens glass?  If so, mine seems to
read 10122XX, and I'm not sure what the XX numbers are, I think they are 65.
 What does this tell me about the lens?  That number seems high compared to
the Elmars listed in Ritz Collectible lists and other places.  Finally, my
lens is the opposite of the one shown in the manual.  By this I mean that
mine has the distance markings on the stationary ring and the depth of field
markings are on the ring that moves when the lens is focused.  The manual
shows an Elmar lens that has the depth of field scale on the stationary part
and the focus distance scale on the moving part.  Different versions of the
Elmar lens?  Incidently, my Elmar does go to f22 and is marked in feet.

Well, I can't wait to try the camera out.  It seems a wonderful piece of
equipment and very solid.  I'm really quite delighted with it.

Thanks for the help,
Paul Webb
Lynchburg, VA, USA