Nicca 5-L

Nicca 5-L

The Nicca 5-L is one of the rarest and most confusing Japanese Leica screw-mount rangefinder cameras. It belongs to the late Nicca family and is closely related to the Tower 45 / Tower 46 cameras sold in the United States through Sears Roebuck.

The camera uses the Leica Thread Mount, also known as LTM, M39 or Leica screw mount. It accepts Nicca screw-mount lenses, Nikkor LTM lenses, Canon LTM lenses, Leica screw-mount lenses and other compatible 39mm rangefinder lenses.

The Nicca 5-L is best understood as a late, highly developed Nicca screw-mount body with several major usability upgrades. These include a film advance lever, hinged back-door loading, larger rewind knob, push-button rewind and automatic flash synchronization.

The shutter is a cloth focal-plane shutter with speeds up to 1/1000 second. This separates the 5-L-feature bodies from the ordinary Nicca 3-F and 3-F lever-wind cameras, which normally have a 1/500-second top speed.

The camera keeps the classic separate viewfinder and coupled rangefinder layout rather than using a combined viewfinder/rangefinder. This makes it closer in viewing style to earlier Barnack-type cameras, even though its loading and film advance are more modern.

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History

Development and Position

The Nicca 5-L sits at the very end of Nicca’s independent rangefinder development. By the late 1950s, Nicca had refined the Leica screw-mount concept with features inspired by later Leica handling, including lever wind and easier film loading.

CameraQuest describes the 5-L / Tower family as a very advanced Leica Thread Mount camera, with lever advance, M3-style back-door loading, automatic flash synchronization, larger rewind controls and a large film reminder on the back door.

Rarity and Production Confusion

The Nicca 5-L must be catalogued carefully because the true Nicca-branded 5-L appears to be extremely rare. Japanese Leica Copies records only one camera marked Nicca 5L, around serial 16204x.

The same source notes several nearby cameras with essentially the same 5-L feature set but engraved as Nicca 3-F, plus one example with a metallic 5L label placed over the engraved model name. This suggests that the 5-L identity overlaps with late 3-F lever-wind production.

For database purposes, the safest serial wording is approximately 16180x to 16208x for 5-L-feature bodies, with only one confirmed Nicca 5L-marked example around 16204x.

Relationship to Tower 45 and Tower 46

The Nicca 5-L is closely related to the Sears Tower 45 and Tower 46 cameras. CameraQuest notes that the Tower versions were often described as the Sears-sold version of the same basic camera family, while later research has made the relationship more cautious.

Mike Eckman explains that the Tower 45 and 46 were not consistently marked with those model names on the cameras themselves and that the difference between Tower 45 and Tower 46 was primarily the lens kit sold by Sears rather than a major body distinction.

The Tower 45 / 46 relationship should therefore be stored as alias or related-model information, not as proof that every Tower 45 or 46 is literally a Nicca 5-L.

Relationship to Nicca 3-F

The Nicca 5-L should be kept separate from the ordinary Nicca 3-F, but the boundary is complicated. Japanese Leica Copies records several 5-L-feature bodies that are engraved 3-F. Mike Eckman describes late 3-F variants with lever wind and, in the final version, features essentially matching the Tower 45 / 46 and mythical 5-L specification.

A practical matching rule is: ordinary Nicca 3-F equals 1/500s top speed. 5-L-feature late bodies equal lever wind, hinged back and 1/1000s top speed.

However, a body engraved 3-F should not automatically be renamed 5-L unless the database intentionally groups late 5-L-feature bodies together for search and ad matching.

Relationship to Nicca Type-5

The Nicca 5-L should not be confused with the Nicca Type-5. The Type-5 was introduced earlier and already had the hinged back-door loading system, but it did not have the same late 5-L lever-wind and 1/1000-second identity.

The Type-5 is a separate model and should remain separate if included in the database.

Identification

The Nicca 5-L is identified by its LTM screw mount, late Nicca body, lever film advance, hinged back-door loading, push-button rewind, large film reminder, separate viewfinder and rangefinder windows, and shutter-speed dial reaching 1/1000 second.

Common listing names include Nicca 5-L, Nicca 5L, Nicca Model 5-L, Tower 5-L, Tower 45, Tower 46, Tower 35 Model 5-L and Nicca 3-F 5L feature body.

Because many related cameras are not actually marked 5-L, model matching should use body features, serial number, shutter-speed dial and engraving together.

Collector Notes

The Nicca 5-L is a collector-grade camera because of its rarity, late Nicca history and difficult relationship with Tower 45 / 46 bodies. It represents one of the final attempts to modernize the Leica screw-mount concept before Yashica acquired Nicca.

Collectors should check the model engraving, serial number, top shutter speed, lever advance, hinged back, rewind controls, flash sync system, shutter curtains, rangefinder alignment, viewfinder clarity and whether the camera is a true Nicca-marked 5-L or a Tower / 3-F related version.

The Nicca 5-L should be treated as a separate LTM film camera because its late feature set, 1/1000-second shutter, lever wind, hinged back and rare 5-L identity distinguish it from the ordinary Nicca 3-F, Nicca Type-5 and Yashica-Nicca bodies.

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Sources

• [1] CameraQuest. Nicca 5L. https://cameraquest.com/nicca.htm
• [2] Japanese Leica Copies. Nicca Rangefinder Cameras. https://leica-copies-japan.com/Nicca.html
• [3] Mike Eckman. Tower 45 (1957). https://mikeeckman.com/2020/08/tower-45-1957/
• [4] Camera Legend. Monday Mystery Camera, The Nicca 5L aka Tower 46. https://cameralegend.com/2017/01/30/monday-mystery-camera-the-nicca-5l-aka-nicca-type-5-tower-46/
• [5] CollectiBlend. Nicca Co, Nicca 5L. https://collectiblend.com/Cameras/Nicca-Co/Nicca-5L.html