M3, I think I get it

[alexnotalex]

I've been obsessing over rangefinder photography since last summer, and am currently shooting with a Canon P and a Bessa R2... enchanted overall, but lightly frustrated with the P's dim viewfinder and the Bessa's uncouth.

Today I went into a the local camera shop to look at a Canon 7 to check out the .8x viewfinder. As luck would have it, there was a M3 next to it. "Can i just have a quick look at the M3"
Hmm. Oh yes. Wind, click. Aaah. OH YES!!!. Smooth, tight, positive, precise, solid, honest, nothing more or less than required.

I get it. I mean, I get what people mean when they go on about it. Now I need to find the cash, then I will get it. M3, you will be mine.

 

[Pirate]

Yep, that's about how it happened to a lot of us ;-)

 

[Darshan]

Honest? 😀

BTW, I fell for a M after I handled it in a local store too. 😛

 

[dave lackey]

Quite the seductress, eh?

Rewards you with the sound of a kiss with each photograph made.🙂

 

[bgb]

I think if I saw a M3 in the local dealers i would be too scared to try it, I keep hearing how nice they are and I doubt I would be able to resist.
The up side of it all is I would need no other camera, just a few extra bits of glass nothing too serious 🙂

 

[FrankS]

I've been obsessing over rangefinder photography since last summer, and am currently shooting with a Canon P and a Bessa R2... enchanted overall, but lightly frustrated with the P's dim viewfinder and the Bessa's uncouth.

Today I went into a the local camera shop to look at a Canon 7 to check out the .8x viewfinder. As luck would have it, there was a M3 next to it. "Can i just have a quick look at the M3"
Hmm. Oh yes. Wind, click. Aaah. OH YES!!!. Smooth, tight, positive, precise, solid, honest, nothing more or less than required.

I get it. I mean, I get what people mean when they go on about it. Now I need to find the cash, then I will get it. M3, you will be mine.

You got it - you felt the difference, right? Apparently some people don't. I'm a believer in multifaceted intelligence. Just like some people have a high kinesthetic intelligence - they are coordinated, natural athletes, and some are not. Some people have high musical intelligence - they have rhythm and others do not. There is also a tactile intelligence - some people know how hard to torque a bolt by feel so as not to snap it and others do not. These people get the Leica by its feel. Others can not, so they attribute the lust for Leica to less noble motivations, like snobbery, desire for man-jewelry, and blind belief of the marketing generated Leica mystique. Glad that you got it.

 

[dave lackey]

Well, said, Frank! Dang, that was almost poetic.🙂

But, I believe it is true as my father was a machinist and I inherited his mechanical side. As a result, appreciation of fine workmanship is part of me.

Except, I must admit to having snapped a few bolts over the years working on car engines, but it was only because of youthful exuberance. 😱

 

[drewbarb]

I think the first time I ever even heard the name Leica was when as a teenager, my photographer father mentioned to me that my great uncle had a Leica M3, and that it was a wonderful camera. The next time we were at his house, I asked him about it and he showed it to me. I had never seen such a lovely, satisfying mechanical device. I was hooked.

Several years later, when I announced I wanted to go into photography professionally, my uncle gave me that M3. That was more than a dozen years ago, and not a week has gone by that I haven't put some film through it. Over the years I have owned and used several other Leica models, but that M3 is the only one I've kept. Well, that and another M3. Leica got it right with that camera.

 

[Pirate]

My M3 is a 1955. I can only imagine the stories it could tell, the places it's been, and the pictures it's created.

 

[flip]

Come for the viewfinder, stay for the focussing accuracy.

 

[kshapero]

And they work a lot better than those 67 VW's I used to work on. A lot better.

 

[rover]

Everybody needs an M3....

That said, any chance your Canon P can be improved? Has it had a recent CLA? Can the RF be made more contrasty and bright?

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I have two CLA'd M3's and two CLA'd Canon P's. The M3 viewfinder is simply better, brighter and better defined RF patch. The Canons are a joy to use, and I use them equally.

 

[bgb]

And they work a lot better than those 67 VW's I used to work on. A lot better.

yeah but '67 wasn't a good year, I had a 1963 1200 and it was great, sad that you don't see many on the roads anymore, all rusted away I guess.

My local repair guy was trained at Leica and his favorite is the M3 and the one he keeps telling me i need to try. Like I need any help with G.A.S 😀

 

[wjlapier]

The M3 was my first M. I know exactly what you felt that day. Everyday when I fondle, er, exercise the shutter, I'm reminded of what a fine camera it is. Unfortunately, mine might finally need a CLA.

 

[ChrisN]

And they work a lot better than those 67 VW's I used to work on. A lot better.

Mine looked like this one (only not so shiny) - the last year of the split windscreen. If only the brakes had worked better, and the engine held together, and the gearbox had stayed in reverse, and ...

 

[Livesteamer]

I got my M3 on a blind date. I was having trouble focusing my Nikon F and I bumped into some money so I ordered an M3 from Don Chatterton in 1990. It's been a wonderful long term love affair and the Nikon F isn't used much anymore. Good Luck. Joe

 

[Pirate]

So.... what ya doing with that Nikon F...??

 

[Chris101]

I've had a bunch of vee-dubs and I gotta tell yall, the '65 was the top of the curve. In '66 they began boring out the cylinders to get larger and larger pistons in there, all without changing the balance of the rest of the engine. As a 1200cc 40 horse, it was perfect. Bigger was more powerful, but not better.

I haven't owned enough Leicas to form an opinion yet as to which are better. I do know my '83 M4P is pretty dang nice!

 

[j_newy]

I think I would be scared to try a M3 in a store:
1) Dropping it and having to pay for it and
2) Falling in love with it and having to pay for it!

hahaha!!!!!

I drool over many pictures of them here and i think if I sold all 30+ of my cameras and a kidney I might come close to a M3....

But on the other note of this thread about VW's. My mother bought a kombi (apparently she just had to have one) and it was pretty rough, when it rained and she drove us to school we considered it luck if the windscreen wipers worked (ironically they didn't like water haha!) made for some very fun trips around town 😀

Also I pray to the gods that one day a M3 (or other Leica i'm not that picky 😛) will fall into my hands...