Time to Dust Off The Old Leica M3:

As I said in my 50 Summicron review, I got to playing with my Leica M3, and really started to miss shooting with it.  The Leica M3 is the ultimate Leica.  It was built to last, and my double stroke beauty has gone through three generations in my family so far.  It was stored in my great uncle’s (the original owner) basement for decades, and when my dad found it, he sent it back to Leica NJ to see what they could do with it.  Leica ended up doing a great job restoring the camera, and since then, it has never failed.

Getting Back to The Basics With The Leica M3:

It’s funny because it’s been about a year since I decided not to pursue my pharmacy career, and go into whatever photography has in store for me.  If you don’t know my story, feel free to go to my “About Me” page on my blog.  I have so many cool ideas that I want to try, so many things that i want to pursue in photography, and so many plans to take pictures but I can’t seem to get what I quite want right now.  This blog is doing good, and btw, thanks to those who visit here, and to those who have supported this blog by purchasing items from my affiliates, such as, Amazon and Adorama.  But as of now, I’m in a bit of a funk…digital boredom maybe?  So I think I’m going to change it up by going back to film.

↑ Loading film in the Leica M3 is slightly different than loading it into an M6.  You have to take a spool out, and attach the leader of film to it.

I haven’t shot film since I bought my Leica M9 but I really want to go back to it.  I want to go back to the basics for a bit.  I will still post from my M9…in fact, I am planning on taking some cityscape photos maybe Tuesday in the hopes of using some for stock.  Plus I will definitely post some stuff from the Fuji X-Pro1 when I get it.  For those who don’t know, I pre-ordered the Fuji X-Pro1 and all three lenses so stay tuned for that. But as of now, I definitely want to shoot with my M3.  I honestly miss its simplicity.  I love my M3 because it literally has NO electronics.  It’s completely mechanical, no batteries, no nothing, and it’s only purpose is to take pictures.  No photoshop, no display read out in the viewfinder…heck no other lens but a 50mm.  Remember, it only has three framelines (50, 90, and a 135), and well…I only have a 50mm :).  Oh, and guess what?  The Leica M3 has a 0.91x magnification viewfinder, and it is awesome!  I really miss that.

To me, the Leica M3 is like a Porsche 911 because both are designed to give its user pure joy for their intended purposes.  The 911 is a pure driver’s car.  It’s all about feeling the road, and the passion for driving.  Even Porsche’s top of the line car, the GT2, only comes with a manual gear box even though they could’ve increased acceleration times if they put one of those paddle shifters in.  The Leica M9 is the closest thing that you’ll get to that feeling in digital, and that’s why I love it so much.  But I want something even more basic…more raw.  Back in the day, the Leica M3 helped me fall in love with photography, and I think I kind of need that right now to get me back on track.  No photoshop, no 300 photos in my memory card, no nothing…just the joy of capturing images :).  It should be interesting experience especially since I’m limiting myself to Kodak Ektar, and one lens.  Plus, I haven’t shot film in a very long time.  Hopefully, I still remember how to shoot film :).