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Black vs. Silver MP


Grego

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Vulcanite isn't leather, it's a type of rubber!

 

Hahaha, yea. I found a golf ball on the Beale AFB 9 hole course that was stamped "Vulcanized Cover". I used it to get over the yips on a par 3 water trap. Man that ball was awesome, I par'd the hole 3 times with that ball, until I sent it swimming.

 

Vulcanite, just like Naugahyde, so much class.

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The black is sooo beautiful all you'll do is worry about getting it scratched.
What is there to worry about? I use two black paint bodies and not a care in the world. One of them is an MP3 which I suppose is a collector's piece and it's badly scratched on the back. So what, it's a really good camera and works fine. That's what I bought it for!

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What is there to worry about? I use two black paint bodies and not a care in the world. One of them is an MP3 which I suppose is a collector's piece and it's badly scratched on the back. So what, it's a really good camera and works fine. That's what I bought it for!

 

 

When i look down on the dint on top of my MP I think about the walk through the woods and down to the falls in Yellowstone. Cameras are about memories.

Pete

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I have two black paint MPs and a chrome one. The first black one I got about a year or so before the others, and it earned its first proper patina of brassing when I climed Mt. Fuji to photograph the longest eclipse of the 21st century on Kodachrome. The other black one has hardly any brassing at all, and of course the chrome one has none. The black paint MPs are easier to grip; the chrome tends to show fingerprints more.

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....the chrome tends to show fingerprints more.

 

My experience is the opposite. Black paint shows fingerprints more. As far as gripping, I've never noticed one or the other was easier to hold.

 

But the thing to remember is that it's just a tool. Get the one that turns you on at an emotional level, and then go shoot bunches of film.

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Mmmm not sure about dints on an MP yielding fond memories, I prefer slides or negs from the day out.

 

With my car (a silver one, bad colour in England as it matches the sky, concrete, roads and so is almost invisible) I don't have fond memories of dints.

 

Oh that one was when we parked at a supermarket and found that the door was dinted but no other cars around. That other scrape was from ? We don't know it just appeared one day, must have been a 4x4's wing mirror or bull bars as it was reversing? so we don't know.

 

Would being present as others bump and dint my car make them fond memories? No.

 

Would it be better if I was a careless driver , or parker, and bashed the doors on walls and lamp posts and 4x4s? No.

 

That chip was when I opened the door on a windy day and it hit the 4x4's door step, look you can see it went down to the metal taking the lacquer, paint and undercoat straight off, doesn't it look great?

 

Err No !

 

So I don't think I'd be happy when my £2800 camera's paint job started to scratch, peel, or go dull green.

 

£2800 is probably what my dinted 5 year old car is worth now!

 

Leica should make the MP in Black Chrome or Silver Chrome only and leave the BP version for ALC and special editions. That might encourage people like me to buy another as the value would hold when used like the Silver one does.

 

Regards, Lincoln

 

But New Glossy Black Paint ones do look special. But for how long?

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I'd venture to guess that chrome models will retain their value better. Just a guess as the prices on the used market are all about 3 things, condition, condition and condition. Worn paint denotes a camera that was actually used.

 

Just a guess, there are so few MPs on the used market I couldn't say.

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Well, they won't repaint the used parts of your camera, but they WILL sell you a shiny new top cover and base plate, if that is what you want. Same result, and likely cheaper, as a manual repaint of the used parts would not come cheap either.

 

Andy

 

Interesting. However, for the sake of sentimentality and availability, a factory re-paint service would be extremely desirable.

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But that rather defeats the point of buying a BP body in the first place, as pretty much everyone wants them to show brassing/wear. If you don't like that choose black chrome or chrome.

 

Chrome and black chrome cannot be refinished nearly so easily. Regardless of how many people care, a potential advantage of black paint is that it can be re-applied whenever you want your camera's appearance refreshed.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Blithers! The legendary mafoofan (and how would I know that?)!

 

Here in Tokyo, any repainted vintage Leica sells for vastly less than a ratty old brassed and bashed black paint version of the same model with its original finish intact.

 

I have 3 MPs, two black paint and one chrome. While I don't abuse them, I also don't baby them. I may be a gearhead, but I'm a photographer first, and the patina is testimony.

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  • 7 years later...

Silver lenses are slightly harder to find and some are only available in black, if that matters.

Silver also heavier.  Bigger the lens, bigger the difference.  By percent, +50% not uncommon.

 

Aesthetically speaking, mixing black & silver lens/body can be a nifty retro look

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Mark my word, whichever you get you will at some level be regretting down the road that you didn't get the other.

For less money you can get a black and chrome M4-P.  But then you'd just regret not getting the MP.

It's all bullshit.

Just flip a coin and let God tell you which to get.  Can't argue with that as it is your destiny.  

Enjoy shooting whatever you get!

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