Re: [Leica] My New (old) M3 and some problems

["Christopher Williams" <LeicaChris@worldnet.att.net>]

John,

Welcome to the M3 user world. No batteries, no motor, no meter. One of the
best(can I say the best?) cameras ever made. Of course, seeing that this
camera is 40+ years old, a good cleaning is needed now and then.

The rangefinder can be resilvered(not cheap) if it is on the dim side. At
worse, the rangefinder would need to be replaced. I would recommend Focal
Point in Colorado for rangefinder and cleaning work.
http://www.focalpointlens.com/fp_intro.html

The M3 will not focus as close as the M2, M4, M5 or M6. Lenses will focus
closer, but you cannot see it through the viewfinder.

I find the M3 has a tighter fit when mounting lenses than the M6.
Some may like, some may not.

Chris Williams
New Orleans

- ----- Original Message -----
From: "John Um" Subject: [Leica] My New (old) M3 and some problems


> Hello everyone,
>
> this is a first non-reply post for me thereby removing me from the mass of
> lug lurkers.  i met many of you during the annual lug meeting at the ICP
and
> it was a pleasure putting faces to many different names.
>
> here is my question.  i just picked up a "user" m3 from someone over the
> internet because i've always wanted a classic m to shoot with.  i was
> previously informed that the camera was not pretty to look at, which is
fine
> since i fancy myself a shooter, not a collector.  perhaps i'm too poor to
be
> a collector 8?)  anyway, there are 3 issues i find with my m3:
>
> first:  there are some large scratches/scrapes that run along the mirror
> inside the viewfinder.  they can be seen from both the eyepiece and the
> outer viewfinder.  the viewfinder seems slightly dimmer than my m6ttl .85
> finder.  is this what they call slivering(or silvering) of the mirror?  is
> this a serious problem?
>
> second:  my m lenses (recent 50 and 35 summicrons) will not focus closer
> than 2.5 feet.  any closer than 2.5 feet and the lens will still turn and
> focus another 1/2" closer, with the viewfinder remaining on the same focus
> distance.  is that normal for m3's?  my m6 will focus all the way down.
>
> third:  there is a decent amount of resistance putting on/taking off
lenses;
>   more so than my m6.
>
> i hope i'm not being paranoid, but i wasn't informed of these issues and i
> wanted to get a second opinion before i went back to the seller.
>
> thanx!
>
> -john


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