Sept 1956 Pop Photo ad
ad for the Leica M3
Toronto. In 1954, Leitz finally began selling the famous M3 camera. The design was radically different than the screw mount cameras, adding many features that other makers had adopted. The Bayonet Mount still exists today (over 60 years later) in the Leica’s digital cameras. Rudimentary design began during WW2 as Leitz realized the screw-mount era was fast ending and a much newer and improved design was needed.
My thanks to member George Dunbar who sourced this beautiful Leitz NY ad for the M3. It appeared in the September 1956 issue of Popular Photography to explain the new M3 and why it was uniquely a Leica through and through.
The camera caught on and became the choice of professionals and advanced amateurs world-wide long after the SLR design took over the 35mm film camera.
