al_gillespie

<p>I recently purchased an M-3 with the 2.8 Elmarit-M 21mm Leica 60mm filter version lens and hood 12537 mounted. The lens is serial number 29941nn, making it slightly earlier than the 2995000 approx. production start cited by Mr. Pruitt from Mr. Sartorius above for the 49mm version, though this is certainly 60mm. The hood is the 'two stud' version as seen in the Schouten images, cited above by Mr. Hooper. A difference in my hood from the Schouten images is the upper corners of the hood, on the horizontal axis, are cut out, allowing less blocking of view and range finder image. The lower corners on the same axis are not cut out. The image #6 shows the mount indicator dot on the hood adjacent to the horizontal axis marking 'Leitz / Canada' while mine is on the opposite side, marked '12537 / M2.8/21', necessary for proper location of the cutouts when mounted. The lens was purchased originally from a US Leica dealer in March, 1984, though a Danish site, copyrighted by <a href="http://www.forloren.dk/personal/myself/on_myself.htm">Niels H. S. Nielsen</a> shows an 1979 manufacture date. And, yes, one of the two stud lock springs is broken. To say the least, I have found this lens quite difficult to document and with much conflicting informaton as have all of us. </p>