Leica M3 (Double Stroke) close focus problem?

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kiemchacsu

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Hi all,

I have recently purchased a 1957 M3 DS (s/n 900,xxx). Everything is fine except I just discovered that it has problem of close focusing with my 50/2 tabbed version.

The patch works fine from infinity to about 0.8m, then after that it will not move any more when I adjust focus from 0.8m to 0.7m (minimum focus of the 50/2). Hence I couldnt have precise focus from 0.7-0.8m. I tried the 50/2 on my Leica M6 and it doesnt have any problem.

The question is: Does my M3 has focusing problem or it's just common that it cant focus closer than 0.8m? Another issue it's not smooth when attaching the 50/2 to M3, I've read somewhere that's because of the quality control of early M3s, dont know if this affects to the mentioned problem?

Thanks for reading the message.
/Trung
 
The close focus on M3s seem to vary a little (I assume by age or what work has been done on them). Although the standard is apparently 1m, they seem to be calibrated to about 0.8 or 0.9. What you are describing is totally normal. The RF will only couple from around about 0.8.

A lot of people (myself included) have had their M3 calibrated to 0.7. It's an easy 'fix' and involves a little bit of DIY with needle nose pliers. You can google something like 'M3 close focus adjustment' or get a tech to do it.

Not sure about your lens attachment issue but the focus is normal.
 
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