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Hammertone II


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I was just perusing another thread that included some very nice images of an LHSA Hammertone and I thought what a spectacular M-A that would make. Maybe even affordable. If only someone could post images of one that was actually well-used, just to see how that stuff patinas.

 

s-a

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I would expect it to be more durable than black paint, which is meant to brass easily.  Hammertone is a finish that was developed for scientific instruments back in the 1960s, I recall reading back in 2003 when the hammertone MP was available through Leica dealers.  I should have snagged one back then - but I didn't.  :(

 

Leica does do ala carte orders, though.  I wonder if you could get a bespoke M with the hammertone finish??

Edited by Carlos Danger
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It's a fallacy to think hammertone is tougher, especially they way Leica apply it. It is meant to be applied as a thick finish, which Leica can't do. So the thickness alone cant be employed to prevent scratches. But more importantly hammertone was originally used to hide surface imperfections in machined or fabricated parts, and which therefore didn't need a high level of finish, keeping manufacturing costs down. Instead a Leica hammertone finish costs more than a standard finish.  

 

Steve

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I specified the Hammertone finish for the LHSA Special Edition MP, which was the second one I did after the Black Paint and then later the MP3. The Hammertone was to emulate the highly collectible Hammertone MD camera, which Leica made 10 copies of originally. The Hammertone finish was especially difficult for Leica to do, to get it "right". I have three sample top plates which show the progress with the finish Leica was making. They did finally get it right and I approved a version for production. The finish is quite a bit thicker than the Black Paint finish, which also gave Leica a lot of trouble initially. I still have my prototype Hammertone camera which was used for the publicity photos to promote the sale of the camera. I used mine, and it does show some slight edge brassing. I recently saw a more used example for sale on ebay, and yes the camera does brass. Not as easily as the black paint does, but it does brass with use.

BTW, the later black paint finish on the MP3 and the M9-P is far superior to the original LHSA M6 TTL and Millenium. Thicker, smoother. They finally got that right, too.

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