{"id":24397,"date":"2017-10-23T14:55:50","date_gmt":"2017-10-23T18:55:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.keh.com\/?p=24397"},"modified":"2017-10-24T10:57:51","modified_gmt":"2017-10-24T14:57:51","slug":"review-leicam3-fed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.keh.com\/expert-advice\/camera-gear\/product-reviews\/review-leicam3-fed\/","title":{"rendered":"Legend vs. Bootleg: Leica M3 vs. FED 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leica M3 with borrowed Summilux 35mm and the FED 2 with Jupiter 12<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Recently, I had the opportunity to get my mitts on a legend in the form of the Leica M3. I always heard how wonderful Leica\u2019s were and if I did not get one, it’s because I never tried one. Makes sense!<\/p>\n

I did not arrive there directly, however. My entrance to Leica-dom came via a path littered with L39 Leica screw mount Russian knockoffs. Which ones? The thinking was that I would stave off Leica fever by acquiring knockoffs on the cheap that could be like Bic lighter cameras. Zorki 4, FED 5c (in original box), and a FED 2. But it backfired. They performed far better than I expected. I became so smitten with the last acquisition, the FED 2, that I wanted more!<\/p>\n

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The FED 2 feels awesome in hand, especially in the Industar 10 and ever ready case configuration. If I like the FED 2 this much I would absolutely love the Leica M3. That is when a Leica M3 showed up on KEH.com <\/a>at a very appealing price and I went for it!\u00a0 After a bit of research, I picked up a Voigtlander Nokton<\/a>. I know, I know. Not a Leica lens. The word around town was the Nokton was more than passable. I am psychologically and fiscally incapable of spending more than what I spent on my daily driver<\/a> on a lens.<\/p>\n

Then in a bit of serendipity, a friend and talented photographer at Southeastern Camera (Manu Jarvis<\/a>) offered his Summilux 35mm f\/2.0 up for me to borrow. I had no idea how much this lens was worth until I got home and looked it up\u2026 Good gravy! Manu is a kind man.<\/p>\n

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By this point, I also picked up a number of Russian L39 lenses; of those, a favorite was the Jupiter 12 35mm f\/2.8 w\/ viewfinder.<\/p>\n

Now, back to the task at hand. These are two rangefinders,\u00a0 and two 35mm lenses at two wildly different price points. Two 35mm lenses at wildly different price points.<\/p>\n

Here are arbitrary ground rules in an attempt to level the playing field as much as possible:<\/h3>\n