Chinese Leica M3

[chioubaccalovin]

I saw one of these things in a camera collectors shop in Beijing a few years back. It's appears to be a copy of an M3.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/iannorris/leica_copies/leica_copies_s/shanghairedflag.htm

The story behind this thing was kind of interesting. Chaiman Mao's wife was a photography enthusiast. She ordered Seagull factory in China to produce copies of a Leica M3. A Hassy 500c was also copied and produced under the name of Eastern Wind "Dong Feng". The pearl river 7 was a copy of a Rolleiflex 2.8F!

These weren't exact copies as they improved on the features of the originals. the lenses on the Eastern Wind had leaf shutters with speeds up to 1/1000sec

pretty interesting. these things are very very rare.

 

[chioubaccalovin]

pic

pic

here's a picture of the red flag 20 + 90mm lens and finder

 

[mkyy]

how much did they sell it for?

 

[einolu]

Im guessing these cost more than actual M3 now. Cool find!

 

[chioubaccalovin]

it wasn't for sale. apparently it is illegal for these cameras to be sold as the government does not want the few that are still surving to leave the country.

I'm sure you could make the guy an offer he couldn't refuse and smuggle it out of the country.

 

[Fedzilla_Bob]

With only 200 cameras made I can imagine that this would be a collectors dream. I wish we could see more of that camera. especially the shutter and the lenses.

Would the dealer allow you to take more images?

 

[chioubaccalovin]

i got that picture off of a japanese website. I'm sure the store owner in beijing would let you take pictures. he looked bored being there until I asked him about the red flag and the dongfeng cameras.

you can find shanghai 58s in china for $60-$100. They are leica III copies and were mass produced.

 

[Traut]

Its like finding a camera from a parallell universe.

 

[doubs43]

The corners remind me of the early Canon RF's. It's a neat-looking camera and appears to be of rather good quality.

Perhaps it's good that the Chinese don't realize the potential market for a high-quality copy of a Leica M at a low price. It would likely be the final nail in leica's coffin.

Walker

 

[chioubaccalovin]

the production costs for the camera were $6000 in 1970, thats about $30,000 in todays dollars. the reason for such high costs are undoubtedly the low production volumes.

Seagull still exists, but they mainly manufacture affordable TLRs and minolta mount SLRs these days. maybe they still have some of dies they used for this camera.