Is it true, still? M3 the greatest?

Bessas? No, thanks! The M3 is the greatest gadget of all time:

Easy loading and accurate meter... :D

You can easily load into an M3 all your photographic hopes, and they accurately meter the quality of your desires... :p

Cheers,

Juan
 
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brachal said:
The sailor picture was taken almost 10 years before the M3 was invented, but I agree with your point.
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Oops. You are right. Somehow when I think of Eisie, I see him in my mind's eye holding an M3. I suppose it is the photo of him holding an M3 while photographing Jackie and Caroline Kennedy. It's on page 92 of his book, "Eisenstaedt on Eisenstaedt." Maybe he took the shot in Times Square with a IIIc? He doesn't say in the book, but there is a strip of contact prints that appear to be 35mm.
 
Juan Valdenebro said:
Bessas? No, thanks! The M3 is the greatest gadget of all time:

Easy loading and accurate meter... :D

You can easily load into an M3 all your photographic hopes, and they accurately meter the quality of your desires... :p

Cheers,

Juan
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I was a semi serious post Juan.

Cosina are now the only company in the world manufacturing new film bodies and they need to be supported if they are to continue to do so. (Leica don't count sorry because they've sold out to digital)

With film sales (and options) still on the decline it has has to affect Cosina's sales of these bodies surely. How low would they have to go before Kobyashi San starts thinking seriously about a digital body to support his vast M mount lens range and maybe giving the film bodies a miss.

The digital fans will be all over this idea like a cheap suit no doubt ... but not me sorry!

:p
 
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Keith said:
I was a semi serious post Juan.

Cosina are now the only company in the world manufacturing new film bodies and they need to be supported if they are to continue to do so. (Leica don't count sorry because they've sold out to digital)

With film sales (and options) still on the decline it has has to affect Cosina's sales of these bodies surely. How low would they have to go before Kobyashi San starts thinking seriously about a digital body to support his vast M mount lens range and maybe giving the film bodies a miss.

The digital fans will be all over this idea like a cheap suit no doubt ... but not me sorry!

:p
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This and your previous post are seriously serious and really realistic to me... :D No kidding!

There's just a brand component in considering an M3 the best gadget of all times... If it HAD to be related to photography, sales of SLRs that allowed to see through the lens in an era, and then literally millions of digital compacts have fully proven they've been the preferred gadgets by our world... Now the digital imaging gadgets are even inside millions of cell phones, and everyone carries a camera, and it's not a Leica made six decades ago: it was a good rangefinder camera, yes, but in a world level it's for few people.

Cheers,

Juan
 
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I am typing this with an extremely serious tone in my voice.

M3, the best Viewfinder/Rangefinder mechanism ever made for 35mm cameras.

And on a lighter note, the coolest gadget.
 
Brian Sweeney said:
I am typing this with an extremely serious tone in my voice.

M3, the best Viewfinder/Rangefinder mechanism ever made for 35mm cameras.

And on a lighter note, the coolest gadget.
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So you've never looked through the viewfinder of a ZI then? :D
 
Juan Valdenebro said:
Bessas? No, thanks! The M3 is the greatest gadget of all time:

Easy loading and accurate meter... :D

You can easily load into an M3 all your photographic hopes, and they accurately meter the quality of your desires... :p

Cheers,

Juan
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Love my M3 but if I was stranded on an island with an R3M I would be very happy except there would be no soup.
 
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Bessa line of complementary M cameras might be THE rangefinder gadget of our time... But then again, for photographers, and not in a more complete level... I think more than once I've read the best gadget of all time is the WC. I find it useful... :)

Cheers,

Juan
 
Roger Hicks said:
Dear Keith,

...or tried to use the ZI meter on a sunny day...

Cheers,

R.
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I realise the meter readout is a pain in the proverbial in the sun Roger but I was refering mainly to the pure optical quality of the Ikon's finder ... not it's poorly assigned electronic gadgetry! :D
 
I think the M3 was the greatest, until the M2 came along. The M3 was a huge leap forward from the screwmount cameras and their clones, but the M2's 35mm framelines are a must, especially for reportage work.

The M4 really solidified the design of the M body. The changes are subtle, but the fast loading 'tulip' of the M4 was a big improvement for day to day shooting. Also the RF unit was glued with UV cured cement, instead of Canadian balsam, which is a lot stronger and doesn't yellow with age.

The refinements of the M4 became the blueprint for all subsequent M bodies.

So, I would have to say it's the M4 or if you need a meter the MP3.

The MP3 has framelines that indicate coverage at 1 meter, instead of .7 meter like all M bodies from the M6 forward. The 1 meter framelines frame noticeably more accurate at normal shooting distances (1 - 15 meters), than those indicating .7 (70cm).
 
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Keith said:
I realise the meter readout is a pain in the proverbial in the sun Roger but I was refering mainly to the pure optical quality of the Ikon's finder ... not it's poorly assigned electronic gadgetry! :D
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Is the meter as difficult to see as the M3?
 
Sparrow said:
Is the meter as difficult to see as the M3?
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About the same! :D

Of course when your in full sun and can't see the meter why the hell would you need one anyway ... hasn't Roger heard of 'sunny sixteen?' :angel:
 
Keith said:
We love our M's and we're very passionate about what we feel is better.

To me a happy M3 owner is someone who doesn't own an M2! :angel:

:D
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Keith, this is so very true!
I do not own an M3 (yet), as I try, to resist the different loading and lack of internal meter.

I try, to convince myself, that the M6 classic, I use is so much more practical and how could a camera be even more smooth, than this M6?

The only thing, that always nags on me is the supposedly worlds better finder … darn, there it is again … starting M3 fever.
 
Project complete ...

Project complete ...

Nothing beats the M3 for my purposes:

1181335216_mHunK-L.jpg


Then again, you won't find a similar M3 on ebay ....

Roland.
 
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