Leica M3D Auction

By Chuck Hajdu
One of my heroes as a photographer was David Douglas Duncan. I have many of his books in my collection and his photographic eye will always be admired by many, especially by me.

His equipment of choice was always Leica cameras, the same equipment that most great photographers used 50 years ago. Most of the photographers I admired most were Leica users and I followed their example when I could afford it. My world famous brother, the author David Hajdu, still uses an old M-3 to this day.

Recently one of DDD’s cameras was sold at auction for a mere USD 2.66 million. There were only four M3Ds ever built for him and the one that was sold was used for some of his most famous work.

It is my honest belief that I love the look and feel of Olympus PEN cameras so much because they remind me of the feel of a Leica. My PEN cameras feel like old time Leica rangefinder cameras and they are my current favorites. I’d like to think that DDD and Andre Kertesz would join me as PEN users if we went out for a shoot together today.