[Leica] My First M3!

[Doug Cooper <visigoth@echonyc.com>]

Well, I traded some equipment for an M3 today.  Very exciting:  I've
wanted one my whole life.  And I like this camera a lot.  I'd say
it's Ex/Ex+ -- finder is crystal clear; curtain is pristine; shutter
speeds seem dead on.

I have some questions about my latest foundling, however.  It's a pretty
early example:  SN 748xxx.  It has what looks to me like the glass
pressure plate (although it's hard to tell; certainly it's held in place
the way the glass one was).  But it has certain mods:  it's been converted
to single stroke, and has a frame preview lever.

My questions:  

a) Do these modifications affect the resale value?  (I'm happy with them
- -- they're useful! -- and it's clearly a user's camera; not for a
collector.  But knowin' me, I'll trade or sell it some day.)

b) Were these mods probably done by Leica itself?  (The preview lever
looks pretty authentic.  The film advance lever has an uncoated brass
assembly -- like a washer -- between it and the body.  Is this a pretty
standard conversion to single stroke?  There is a black wax plug over the 
screw in the mount, but it doesn't have an "L" embossed, so I'm wondering 
if someone else made these changes.)

c) I've heard about conversions to M4 flash sync; what would such a mod
look like?  And what would it do?  (Dunno if I have it.)

d) What's this thing worth?



Dumb questions, all.  Truth is, I just really like this camera body, and
am waiting for the opportunity to shoot with it.  As all my current
rangefinder lenses are LTM, I'm going to have to buy adapters before I can
take it out for a test drive.  (Think I'm going to hunt down an old DR
Summicron, sans eyes<tm Shakespeare>, as per Mike Johnston's suggestion
long ago.  This will be my cheap and wonderful introduction to Leitz
glass.)

My next gig takes me to Kyoto, where discretion is crucial.  I suspect
I'll be shooting mostly with this and the Canon LTM.


cheers all,

Douglas Cooper