re R3: I very much like my R3 Mot (thank you Philippe, it's been 4 years already and the camera is still going strong!). It certainly feels better made than my R4 mod 2. One nice feature of the R3 is the short shutter lag: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minolta_XE-1 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shutter_lag It feels as responsive as my Leicaflex SL! Some other things I like about my R3 Mot are the smooth film advance lever, good mirror dampening system and - very subjective - the sound of the shutter and the winder is much nicer compared to the R4 shutter and its dedicated MD. Regards, Miha