TECH TITANS LEICA

There's a lot of Leicas to like... so let's rank the company's very best

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Despite its name, the M3 was actually the first M-series model from Leica (then still going by the snappy name Ernst Leitz GmbH). It became a hugely influential 35mm rangefinder model and cemented the company's premium name.

The M3 had all the trappings of a top-class professional camera: robust construction, compact dimensions and luscious image quality. It's remarkable how familiar its design will feel to photographers using 'retro-inspired' mirrorless cameras, over 70 years after its release.

The revolutionary M3 was the first Leica camera to include a rangefinder and viewfinder in the same window. This was super-bright, and its 0.91x magnification made it easier to get perfect manual focus.

Leica refined the M3's design throughout its production, with many tweaks to enhance its functionality and performance: 1955 models shipped with a lever for selecting different frame lines and corresponding focal lengths, the light meter would also be improved, and the maximum shutter speed was doubled to 1/2000sec.