Here is the M3 1/2, an original Double-Stroke which I bought rather inexpensively from Emmanuel Lowi. It's in pretty good shape except for some gentle smashing under the rewind. Most importantly, the viewfinder is very clear and bright. It's wearing a Wasserman crank, and the Konerman Sling. The MR-4 meter on top got flattened like a June Bug during a travel mishap, but Quality Light Metric did a good job of pounding it back nearly into shape and replacing the circuit board. It works very nicely and the shutter coupling is very convenient, especially for someone like me who tends to set the aperture all open and only vary shutter speeds.

Underneath all of this is a beautiful new chrome RapidWinder from Tom Abrahamsson One-Off Industrial Designs http://www.rapidwinder.com/

Huh! You say, you can't do that on an M3! Thanks to the magic of Don A. Goldberg http://www.dagcamera.com , I had it converted to SS, installed the M4-style takeup petal with counter reset and motor-drive coupling. I was left with something between an M3 and an M4: hence the M3 1/2. Why didn't I just get an M4 or M6? Mostly because of the 0.92X finder combined with the classic chrome body, and because the M3 is just a darned cool camera. All of this predated the MP, which kind of captured most of the important features of the M 3 1/2. Leica must have been spying on me.

The M3 1/2, collapsible Summicron and the reversed 12585 hood. The 'cron's focusing tab does not cooperate with hood clearance in reversed mode. I could take it off when not in use, but wouldn't it be nice to be able to reverse it and use the cap that comes with the hood? Rich Pinto happened to have a nice "user" 12585. And more coincidentally, my father-in-law has given me a Dremel for Christmas. And I did take metalworking in Junior High School. Measure once, Dremel a hundred times, until the darned thing fit.

A close-up of my exquisite workmanship, and that hastily brushed-on flat black paint is much more elegant than the anodized finish, don't you think? Shintaro, look out! And the Dremel only slipped about half a dozen times. No, I did not commit any of these abominations while the hood was on the camera.