early M3 frameline lever

[geos]

I'm looking at getting an M3 or M2. I see on early M3s the frameline selector lever is missing. How do you select the framelines?

[jlw]

Change the lens!

This was a sneaky Leica ploy to get people to buy all three M3 focal lengths, just so they'd be able to see all three finder frames.

[Brian Sweeney]

The frameline selector switch is used for preview only. After you let go, the framelines for the lens that is mounted come back.

I always thought the frameline selector was the sneaky ploy for getting people to buy lenses. OOOhhh look at those framelines! I need a 9cm and 13.5cm lens! Without the pre-view, you would not have known what you are missing.

[Doug]

I think it should be possible to latch the frameline preview lever into any of the three positions. Would make it unnecessary, for instance, to file the mount of 40mm lens to bring up the 35mm frames... Did Leica miss a bet? And Zeiss too?

[Brian Sweeney]

I bet you could put a Ball Bearing in the Vulcanite under the lever to hold it in place. I am not going to try though. Would help with the 40mm lens.