R3

• Production era - 1976-1979
• Code numbers - 10031-chrom, 10032-black, 10033-mot, 10034-safari, 10050-gold, 11876-safari
• Manufacture - Developed with Minolta, R3's were made at Leica's Portugal Plant (LP) except for the ELW batches noted below.
• Variants - Black, chrome, olive (Safari), gold (100 year Oskar Barnack), Electronic MOT and Wetzlar ELW versions
• Description - "The Leica R3 introduced in 1976, represented a completely new generation of Leitz cameras. Full use of the latest advance in micro eletronics had been incorporated .

The electronic shutter is infinitely variable between 4 sec and 1/1000 sec. A mechanical speed of 1/90 is usable in the case of a battery failure.

The viewfinder is equipped with a full display and focusing can be achieved using split image rangefinder, centre spot microprism or ground glass surround.

Other features include a rapid load system, delayed action and a depth of field preview button. the metering system is extremely accurate and incorporates integrated and spot methods, the spots area being represented by the microprism area. A memory lock is incorporated and the metering selection is controlled by a switch incorporated in the speed selector dial." -jcb

• Accessories - DB 2
• Manuals & brochures
  • R3 Manual courtesy of Mike Butkus

Comment

• Reviews
  • Wikipedia Leica R3
• Forum discussion
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  • [8] [9]
  • Fontenelle archive
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R3 Serial Numbers

^ Camera 1469693 is MD-2
^^ Camera 1468063 is Olive R3

SN Start	SN End	Product	Year	Batch
1446001	1446100	Leica R3 Hell ELW	18 Nov 1976*	100
1446101	1447100	Leica R3 Hell LP	1976	1000
1447101	1449000	Leica R3 Schwz (LP)	1976*	1900
1449001	1450500	Leica R3 Schwz ELW (+Hell)	1976	1500
1450501	1450900	Leica R3 Hell ELW	1977	400
1450901	1468000	Leica R3 Schwz (LP+MOT)	1977-78	17100
1468001	^^1468100	Leica M4-2^^ LP	1977	[100]
1468101	^1470000	Leica R3 Olive LP (10 034-ELW)	1977-78	2000
1470001	1479000	Leica R3 Schwz (10 032-ELW+LP)	1977*	10000
1479001	1480000	Leica R3 Hell LP	1978	1000
1482001	1485000	Leica R3 Olive LP	1978	3000
1485001	1491000	Leica R3 Schwz LP	1978	6000
1491001	1492250	Leica R3 Hell LP	1978	1250
1492251	1502000	Leica R3 MOT LP (Schwz)	1978	9750
1508001	1523750	Leica R3 MOT LP	1979	15750
1523751	1523850	Leica R3 Schwz LP	1979	100
1523851	1524850	Leica R3 Gold LP	1979	1000
1524851	1525350	Leica R3 Hell LP	1979	500
Total	assigned	serial numbers	1976-1979	71,350**

. * Serial numbers and batch total from Gandy's List
** Serial numbers from Serial Numbers Leica Cameras with computed batch total.
Unmarked SN's match between both lists and Gandy's batch total was used without recalculation.
Schwz - Black anodized aluminum / Hell - Clear anodized aluminum
LP - Leica Portugal

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  • Made-in-Portugal article