Leica M3

A funny thing happened while I was waiting for my new M3 to ship from Japan. A nice user sample with a recent CLA showed up on the local Craigslist. No harm taking a look, right? I couldn’t resist, and bought it at a fair price.

My fear with the M3 was that the viewfinder’s frame lines would be difficult to see while wearing glasses. Lots of people claim to have trouble with the .91 magnification of the M3’s viewfinder and 50mm frame lines. I’m happy to report that I can see them just fine. I do have to sort of press the camera into my face a bit, but it works. 

The viewfinder is as amazing as they say. Bright, clear, wonderful focus patch. It’s perfect for 50mm lenses, which I use 90% of the time. The film advance is like butter and the shutter makes a fantastic, very quiet, “snick” sound. 

I’ll have to get used to loading it. Getting film onto a separate take-up spool and lowering the whole assembly into the bottom of the camera is a little tricky. And it takes forever to rewind the film after exposing the roll. I’m usually not in a hurry, so this doesn’t bother me.

Just LOOK at it! I’ve never seen a better looking camera. It’s a work of art. I hope so, because I’m about to have 2 of them. This is a dangerous hobby.