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Leica M3

The Leica M3 was the first of the M-series of Leica cameras that was introduced in 1954. It has since become a legendary camera among a wide variety of photographers, notably the many members of the Magnum Photo agency. It is a camera noted for its incredibly high level of design and craftsmanship and for the superb quality of its lenses. Leica rangefinders are fast and simple cameras to use, making them the prime choice for street and editorial photographers for decades. The M in the M3 stands for "Messsucher" or "measuring finder" referring to the M3's innovation of having a combined viewfinder and rangefinder in the same window. Additionally, the M3 has built-in frame lines for three lenses: the 50mm, 90mm and 135mm. Leica made 35mm lenses with special attachments to correct the M3's viewfinder as well, giving the M3 user an easy range from 35-135mm. While any other M-mount lens can be used with the M3, an auxiliary viewfinder will be required for framing. The M3 is purely mechanical with no batteries whatsoever. Of course, this also means no meter.

Leica M3 cameras can be found in a couple of different versions. Early M3 cameras were double stroke - the film advance lever requires two strokes to advance every frame, while later M3 cameras adopted a single stroke film advance. Also, later M3 cameras have frame preview levers, although this change happened at a different time than the switch from double to single stroke film advance.

Altogether, the elegance, reliability and understated beauty of this camera puts it solidly in the running for "the best camera ever".

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Leica M3 - Variations - Glass vs Metal Pressure Plate

The first Leica M3 cameras to leave Leica's Wetzlar factory in 1954 were fitted with ground glass pressure plates. Sometimes also referred to as "ceramic" plates, these glass plates were chosen for their excellent optical flatness and good wear characteristics. However, Leica's engineers discovered that the glass plates could build up an electrostatic charge under certain conditions that would discharge onto the film, ruining an image. In 1957, Leica switched to steel pressure plates (M3 serial #854000-) that would be used in all subsequent Leica M cameras.

How can you tell if your M3 has a glass pressure plate? Even to a keen eye the difference is minute, but there are a few telltale signs. Glass M3 plates have a small "frame" that surrounds the plate that can brass slightly with age. Glass plates also have a very smooth surface that has no distinct pattern or grain. Metal M3 pressure plates are a single piece with no outer frame, and have a visible lateral grain (thin line-like marks) that run in the direction of the film transport.

If you've got an M3 with a glass pressure plate, don't sweat it -- static discharge issues only come up in extreme conditions like shooting in sub-zero weather. Glass plate M3s are a testament to the amazing lengths Leica engineers went to in order to create the finest photographic instrument the world had seen.

Leica M3 - Variations - Frameline Preview Lever

Leica M3 cameras built after January 1955 (serial 785801-) are equipped with a frameline preview lever underneath the viewfinder. Pressing the lever to the side displays framelines for focal lengths other than the lens mounted: with a 50mm lens attached, pressing the lever to one side shows the 90mm framelines, with 135mm visible in the other direction. Later Leica M cameras adopted this useful feature into finders with 28mm and 35mm framelines.

Leica M3 - Variations - Shutter Speed Dial

Early Leica M3 cameras built before 1957 (serial numbers through 854,000) were fitted with shiny chrome shutter speed dials that read in the old "Scientific" shutter speed sequence: B, 1, 2, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000. Cameras with serial numbers 854,001- replaced this with a satin-finish shutter speed dial that matches the rest of the camera body and reads in the now-standard "Geometric" sequence: B, 1, 2, 4, 8, 15, 30, 60, 125, 250, 500, 1000. Satin shutter dials also feature a red "flash bolt" detent indicating the max flash sync at 1/50th. Both chrome and satin shutter dials can be set to intermediate speeds between the detents to achieve non-standard speeds, meaning that 1/60th is possible, if slightly cumbersome, on an older chrome-dialed camera. A final consideration is that later Leicameters such as the MR-4 will not couple properly to the earlier "Scientific" dials.

Leica M3 - Variations - Strap Lugs

Does your Leica have Buddha Ears?

Leica produced over 220,000 copies of the M3 between 1954 and 1966, a 12-year lifespan unfathomable by today's disposable standards. More successful than any Leica M to follow it, the M3 was built with a number of minor variations during that time. One of these is the style of strap lugs -- early cameras built through 1959 have "Buddha Ear" lugs that feature a tapering support and rivet beneath them, whereas models after 1959 (serial #963001-) have the familiar circular lugs seen on all later Leica M models. In practice, the different styles have no impact on the camera's performance, but do determine which cases fit properly on the camera body.

Leica M3 - Presence

The Leica M3 has a towering presence in the world of 35mm photography. Since its introduction in 1954, no other camera has captured the imagination of professional and amateur photographers like the M3. The same qualities that made the M3 the first choice for 1950s press photographers and war correspondents -- small size and light weight, ergonomic handling, the large and bright viewfinder, excellent build quality and reliability -- make it a great film camera to shoot with today. A Leica M3 is an heirloom, an investment in a lifetime of photography.

Leica M3 Dual Stroke - Toughness

Leicas are known as high-end precision instruments -- they are also durable, hard-wearing cameras fit for decades of rough use. We are often surprised how accurately unserviced Leica M cameras test when they come into our shop, but all of the Leicas you see on our shelves have been fully serviced to ensure they are ready for whatever adventures you throw at them.

Leica M3 featuring the Thambar 9cm f2.2 Soft Focus Lens

While most Leitz optics are prized for their sharpness, the 1935 Leica 9cm f2.2 Thambar makes deliberate use of optical aberrations to produce a pronounced "glow." Shot wide open, the Thambar creates an almost otherworldly setting for portraiture, as seen in this portrait of staff member Gabriel.

Leica M3 with 50mm f2 Summicron v5

The fifth generation of Leica's 50mm f2 Summicron-M is one of our favorites. The Summicron v5 has outstanding sharpness right from f2, a very smooth focus pull, and a built-in lens hood. A perfect fit with the M3's 50mm-optimized 0.91x viewfinder magnification. Also - use a filter to protect your nice optics from pesky raindrops.

Leica M3 Shutter Sound

In hindsight, we should have recorded both the sound of the Leica M3 shutter combined with that of the film advance. Those two sounds really belong together. The shutter on its own, however, is still a vocalization worth appreciating and enjoying. Leicas are much ballyhooed, and for many reasons. The whisper-click of the cloth shutter is a big part of that acclaim. On a busy street, many a Leica shutter has gone unnoticed as it captures life, fractions of a second at a time. The precision of its function is perfectly reflected in this seemingly simple noise. Just think about how many famous photographs began with this whispered exclamation.⁠

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Leica M3

Maybe you have seen the t-shirts with the proud slogan, "Body By Pizza." We think there should be a line of t-shirts declaring "Body By Leica." Few cameras out there have as distinct a body design, across as many cameras, as Leica. Whatever you think about lens quality, camera prices, or pedigree, it is easy to get caught up in the elegant curves of a Leica body. While the M cameras - such as this M3 here - seem to get most of the attention, this statement of appreciation is true of the earlier M39 bodies as well. ⁠

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Leica M3 with a Zunow 5cm f/1.1

Zunow lenses may be some of the rarest lenses you can find in the M39 Leica threadmount. ⁠

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The Zunow series of lenses were produced by Teikoku Kōgaku, a small Japanese company founded in the 1930s. The company specialized in fast optics, initially creating lenses for military use during WWII. Toward the end of the war, their factory was destroyed in a bombing. The company rebuilt and resurfaced in the postwar period of the 1950s, making lenses in the Nikon, Contax, and M39 rangefinder lens mounts. The company's main focus was manufacturing optics for cine cameras, something that would eventually lead to their bankruptcy, when the majority of their cine customers went out of business in the early 1960s.⁠

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Before that happened, Teikoku Kōgaku enjoyed a period of innovative lens design, where they produced such lenses as this 5cm f/1.1, a 35mm f/1.5, a 35mm f/1.7, a 58mm f/1.1, a 100mm f/2, and, the mythical, a 75mm f/1. They also produced other, more standard, lenses and even a couple of cameras.⁠

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The design of this 5cm f/1.1 was initially started in 1943, by an ex-Nippon Kogaku (aka Nikon) engineer by the name of Michisaburo Hamano. Work was finally completed on the lens in 1953. Interestingly enough, when the lens was redesigned in 1955, it was done by another former Nippon Kogaku employee, Kenji Kunimi. A year later in 1956, Nikon released their own 5cm f/1.1 lens but Zunow had still beat them to it by a good three years.⁠

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When the Arco and Neoca companies went out of business in 1960, Teikoku Kōgaku lost its biggest clients and the doors closed on the Zunow factory itself in January of 1961. These days one can still find their lenses, but it is not an easy or cheap quest. Our camera repair technician, Mike, recently acquired this one, adapted for use on this M3. The lens is in pretty rough shape, but he plans on cleaning it up as best he can and exposing some film with it.

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Leica M3

How many of you hate making self portraits? We’re not talking about selfies - those are a different beast - but actual self portraits. Selfies are easy for us to take much less seriously, and therefore, much less critically. Self portraits, one the other hand, tend to make us uncomfortable, they activate a more critical eye. We generally don’t like seeing likenesses of ourselves, kind of like that odd experience of hearing audio recordings of our own voice. But self portraiture is a valuable type of photography for several reasons.

The first is that it is always available to the photographer. Wherever you go, whenever you are, whatever the light - you always have access to yourself as a subject. Get good at photographing yourself and you will never want for subject matter.

Another good reason is that by getting proficient at making our own picture, we get better at making other people’s pictures as well. If you can make yourself comfortable in front of the camera, you’ll be that much better at guiding others in how to relax into a photograph.

And third, to paraphrase Ansel Adams, each picture you make contains you anyway. The photographs we create document our lives, thoughts, and experiences, whether we overtly include ourselves in the frame or not. If on some level, what you are doing with a camera is photographing who you are, then it is a valuable skill indeed to perfect self portraiture.

Along those lines, the book Self Portrait by Lee Friedlander is brilliant. It only covers his early self portraiture, up until he was in his thirties (and his later self portraiture is even more amazing). We heartily recommend Friedlander’s self portraits as an example of how to think about such images differently. His approach to photographing himself is unparalleled and relentlessly unique.

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Peter's Leica M3

A lot of the camera portraits we share publicly are made with digital cameras. We don't typically mind working in this way; it fits with the flow of our day much more conveniently, but that doesn't mean that we don't really enjoy the uncommon occasions when we get to share an actual film portrait of a film camera. Usually this happens when one of our staff is undertaking the image-making for their own creative pursuits. This picture of a Leica M3 is one of those occasions. This camera belongs to our main darkroom tech Peter Carlson, who is a super productive and prolific photographer in his own right, whenever he is not in the safe confines of our darkroom. Peter has a number of cameras, and his family of equipment is constantly changing. He recently added an M3 to that collection and made this nice portrait of it with his Hasselblad and an extension tube.⁣⠀ ⁣⠀

He shared this image with us so that we could share it with all of you, because there is nothing like a fine film image of a fine film camera.⁣⠀ ⁣⠀

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Peter's Leica M3 and Rolleiflex Automat MX-EVS

One of our main darkroom techs, Peter, made this portrait of his Leica M3 and his Rolleiflex Automat MX-EVS, telling us it reminded him of a joke that started with, "Two Germans walk into a bar...". He didn't have a punchline figured out, so we'll leave that up to you. Portrait made with a Century Studio 8x10⁣, Kodak Commercial Ektar 10" f/6.3⁣ and Ilford HP5⁣.⠀ ⁣⠀

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Leica M3 with the 50mm f/2 DR

The Leica M3 with the 50mm f/2 Dual Range... Uff da.

Leica M3: Small Straight

For a short while we had a small straight of Leicas going with an M3, M4, and M5 all in the building.

Leica M3

Just a little more Leica love for your day.

Leica M3

Leica love.

Leica M3 and some glorious light

All cameras thrive in the light - not exactly photosynthesis, but it really isn't too far off.

Leica M3 - The Mountains are Calling

If the mountains are calling, you better go soon or be prepared for a cold, snowy trip. Then again, if it is going to be a cold, snowy trip having a camera that is up to harsh conditions, like, say a... ummm... Leica M3 is not such a bad idea.

Of course, be sure to keep those fingers warm or loading film is going to be an adventure in and of itself.

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