What to do with Early M-3?

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I own an early M3 DS, #7044xx, in good condition (bright marks, couple minor dings and vulcanite replaced on rear door). I use it regularly, but have been told I should put on the shelf because it is a first year model. I am not into collecting cameras. Does anyone have any thoughts whether I should sell and buy another user? I only ask because I have had it serviced twice (last time by Golden Touch) to repair shutter advance problem. It does not advance properly towards the end of a 36-frame roll (frames overlap). If it occurs again I will probably try to have converted to single-stroke.

-- Ralph Rognstad Jr. (oakhill00@earthlink.net), February 24, 2002

Answers

Ralph: I own a pair of older M3's. I had both converted to single's and they work great. I had my older 3's converted, instead of looking for another user, as I already had them, I am not into collecting, and I knew their history. Leica NJ did the work on both of them about 2 years ago for $550 each. This included converting to single, cleaning the rangefinder, converting to standard PC and CLA. The cameras are a dream to use again. IMHO selling and buying another one is not a good proposition as you do not know the track record of the "upgraded" one. I usually lose on this type of deal.

Good luck.

-- Mark A. Johnson (logical1@catholic.org), February 24, 2002.


Ralph. Your M3 7044xx is indeed a very early model, but probably not early enough for a significant collector premium. Cameras within the first few hundred (say 700000-700600) that have significantly different contours (bumps) as well as all other early features are of most interest to collectors, and may be worth many thousands of dollars. In addition, really nice cameras within the first 1500 or so (say up to 701500) may also be worth a premium, especially if they have all original features and are in nice condition.

I suspect by the time you get in the thousands (yours is 44xx out), the premium would be relatively small and would mostly be of interest if the camera were near mint. I don't think you would be able to get much more than a later M3 camera in similar condition. The best thing if you want to keep the camera and use it is probably to have it CLAd by Leica and converted from DS to SS. I think there is a problem with lack of parts to repair a DS shutter advance problem.

-- Eliot (erosen@lij.edu), February 24, 2002.


Another vote for keep it and use it. It's not early enough or mint enough to be of interest to collectors.

-- Mike Dixon (mike@mikedixonphotography.com), February 24, 2002.

Ralph: Not clear from your post if the problem has resurfaced since Sherry Krauter serviced the camera. If not, and given the quality of her work, it may be a long, long time before you have to do the conversion. Keep it and use it, by all means..........

-- david kelly (dmkedit@aol.com), February 25, 2002.

Thanks for everyone's input. I have run several rolls of film through it since Sherry worked on it, but when I shot the last roll there was a slight drag to the advance which I recognized before. I'll find out this weekend. If so it will be back to Sherry for an SS conversion.

-- Ralph Rognstad Jr. (oakhill00@earthlink.net), February 27, 2002.


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