Today is a rather sad day. I decided to part with my Leica R4 (trusty although I prefer the R8 which I will get next year) and Summicron 50mm in favor of a nice M3 DS model.

It's hard saying goodbye to a camera you value for the pictures it took. Especially when you start to think about cameras as friends, sort of sentimental to be honest.

The pluses of the M3 DS is that it is a nice user's camera in addition to the M7 I plan to get. I would love to get complementary long focal length lenses such as 200mm to 400mm for a R8 which I prove to be much more fitting to my hands than the not so well designed R4 (taken from Minolta which wasn't all that pleasant to begin with). :)

I'm happy to become a better M user. Please welcome me to the M club finally :D

-- Alfie Wang (leica_phile@hotmail.com), March 11, 2002

Answers

Okay, Alfie, welcome to the M club! What lens(es) are you planning to use with your M3? Has it had a recent CLA or are you planning to have that done? If not, I hope you've at least checked that the film advance works well. I understand that the DS mechanism is a bit fragile and can't be repaired if it breaks: your repair specialist would have to replace it with an SS mechanism. How about posting a picture of your M3?

-- Ray Moth (ray_moth@yahoo.com), March 12, 2002.

I promise to post pictures of my M3 as I get the chance. I am hopeful that my new friend will be pleasing to the eye :)

-- Alfie Wang (leica_phile@hotmail.com), March 12, 2002.

Welcome to the addiction Alfie.

You'll never go back; the M's are such a pleasure to use!

My secret to equipment at reasonable prices: But kits on ebay. They're usually sold by people who've inherited them, etc. You need to study the history of Leica and these fori to "know" the most desirable, better performing vintage lenses and accessories. I got my two Wetzler 35 'crons that way, essentially free after "disposing" of the unwanted/duplicate items. It also let me try diff. generations of the lenses, and I usually keep the older chrome ones. Leica stuff is HARD to sell; only regret was the 50 'lux; great "Leica-look" with this one.

-- chris chen (chrischen@msn.com), March 12, 2002.