My Leica M3 (!)

Canon A570IS

With the assistance of a very kind benefactor who wishes to remain anonymous, I now have my first Leica. It's a 1959 vintage M3 in excellent condition with a 1959 vintage 50mm f2.8 Elmar. The Elmar is collapsible, which makes the entire kit more compact for carrying. I've always been intrigued by the idea of owning and using a Leica that is as old as I am, and this one is around the right age. This one is most definitely a keeper, forever.

There is lots of information on the Web about the Leica M Series, so I won't bore you with all the details here. The M3 was the first of the M series and a real icon in the 35mm camera world.

The last time I had an opportunity to experience a M Series camera was when I borrowed Martin's M2 w/35mm Summicron many years ago. At that time, I was seriously considering buying one, but in the end, I decided that I could not justify the expense. So I ended up buying and using a number of different rangefinder cameras, many of which I still have today. [Correction, I had an opportunity to handle a couple of M's over the last year or two, including shooting a few frames on Ted's M4 while we were on an outing. Even after those pleasant experiences, I STILL couldn't justify buying into the Leica system because of the cost, and probably my own stubbornness.]

I'm thankful that the previous owner of this M3 took care of it well. It only has a few nicks and scratches here and there, but otherwise is in fine shape. I found a chrome Leitz UV filter for the lens, and I put a Domke "Gripper" strap on it. After handling and dry firing my M3 for a bit, I find that even for a 50 year old camera, it feels extremely well built. This is one solid and substantial hunk of metal! All the knobs, levers, and mechanical bits seem to be engineered, made, and fitted with incredible precision and smoothness. Any description of a Leica would not be complete without a mention of the quietness of the shutter. The shutter click is an almost imperceptable, short "click" or "snick", and that's in a quiet room. Out and about in the real world, the shutter would certainly be unnoticeable by most people.

I'll be using this camera a lot as soon as the weather clears up around here. The forecast is for more rain for another week. I just got my new order of film in yesterday, so I'm ready. What do you think my first roll through the M3 should be, color (Fuji Superia 400) or B&W (Kodak 400CN) and why?

--Warren