Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/02/18

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Subject: [Leica] Re: Camera for travel. M3 or IIIG?
From: lrzeitlin at optonline.net (Lawrence Zeitlin)
Date: Wed Feb 18 08:32:08 2009
References: <200902181533.n1IFXSuS005961@server1.waverley.reid.org>

Trade both the M3 and the IIIG and get a CL with a 2 lens kit. Use  
the extra money to upgrade your travel to first class. I know the CL  
don't get much respect on the LUG but I have used the CL as my travel  
camera since its purchase in 1973 and it has never let me down. The  
40 mm Summicron is one of Leica's best small lenses. When I bought  
the camera, I couldn't afford the 90 mm lens so I substituted a f3.5  
100 mm Canon with a LTM to M adapter. A wise choice since it is  
regarded as one of the sharpest short telephotos ever made. Besides  
the field of view exactly matches the 90 mm frame line in the finder.  
True to the camera's contemporary advertizing, the two lens kit  
covers 90% of all travel shooting situations.

Don't get me wrong. I love the IIIc and IIIf cameras and I own two  
M3s. They have the sensuous feel of fine machines and will probably  
survive the next meteor impact. But the CL is a better and more  
convenient camera for travel. The back comes off so film loading is a  
snap. The camera has a built in spot exposure meter. The viewfinder  
is crystal clear. The camera and both lenses weigh less than an M3.  
The CL has accompanied me to India, Wales, Alaska, the Canadian  
Rockies, the Virgin Islands and the untamed wilds of New York City.  
It has never missed an exposure.

For information on the CL see this Cameraquest article:

http://www.cameraquest.com/leicacl.htm

Larry Z


> On Tue, 17 Feb 2009 Nathan Wajsman <photo@frozenlight.eu>wrote:
>> (to G Medina)
>> Without question the M3, painted or not. No matter how smooth etc.  
>> the
>> IIIg is, any M body is much more functional than any SM body.
>
>> I do suspect that you will miss something wider than a 50mm, though.
> ===========================================================
> Maybe he's like me. A 50 is generally my wide lens.  On my return  
> from my first
> trip to Britain, I tallied my lens usage, and it was the 50mm for  
> over 60% of
> my pictures; next came the 100mm, then the 300, with a 21mm least  
> utilized.
>
> You're right about the M3 over the IIIg, but I still can't help  
> lusting for one (a IIIg)
>  - the finder is set up for my two favorite focal lengths, 50 and  
> 90, and it's smaller
> than an M.
>
> Alan Magayne-Roshak, Senior Photographer


Replies: Reply from photo at frozenlight.eu (Nathan Wajsman) ([Leica] Re: Camera for travel. M3 or IIIG?)