mafoofan Posted March 3, 2012 Share #1 Â Posted March 3, 2012 Advertisement (gone after registration) As some of you may know, I recently received a special order MP from Solms. It is exactly as I wanted, except they could not find a suitable black hot shoe. Â So, I pose this question to the forum: how many of you would seriously consider purchasing a black hot shoe for their MP (or other M)? Perhaps if enough are interested, we can get Leica to make a batch. Â The hot shoe would be black chrome, not black paint, as the finish of the latter would not stand up well to real use. Also, the current black paint M9-P utilizes a black chrome hot shoe and it looks great. Â Just an idea at this point, but it would help if I could gauge interest. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted March 3, 2012 Posted March 3, 2012 Hi mafoofan, Take a look here Black Leica Hot Shoe for MP: Group Buy?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
CalArts 99 Posted March 3, 2012 Share #2 Â Posted March 3, 2012 Wouldn't the costs and logistics of having to stamp/engrave all new matching serials numbers be an issue? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mafoofan Posted March 3, 2012 Author Share #3 Â Posted March 3, 2012 Wouldn't the costs and logistics of having to stamp/engrave all new matching serials numbers be an issue? Â I don't know. Obviously, the quantity would make a huge difference. That's why I'm trying to gauge interest. Making just one would be prohibitively expensive; but 20 or 30 might be a different matter. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted March 4, 2012 Share #4 Â Posted March 4, 2012 No interest. The color of the hotshoe appears to me to be one of the great irrelevancies of life... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mafoofan Posted March 4, 2012 Author Share #5 Â Posted March 4, 2012 No interest. The color of the hotshoe appears to me to be one of the great irrelevancies of life... Â More irrelevant than a personal engraving? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted March 4, 2012 Share #6 Â Posted March 4, 2012 Yes Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted March 4, 2012 Share #7 Â Posted March 4, 2012 Advertisement (gone after registration) Unless you all share the same serial number, how on earth can you have a 'group buy' ? Â If the colour of the hot shoe is that important perhaps you need a new camera? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mafoofan Posted March 4, 2012 Author Share #8  Posted March 4, 2012 Unless you all share the same serial number, how on earth can you have a 'group buy' ? If the colour of the hot shoe is that important perhaps you need a new camera?  The MP hot shoe is not engraved with a serial number. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted March 4, 2012 Share #9 Â Posted March 4, 2012 The MP hot shoe is not engraved with a serial number. Â Regardless, every MP would have to go back to Solms, I don't see any 'economy of scale'. Â Have you bothered to ask Leica about this yet? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mafoofan Posted March 4, 2012 Author Share #10 Â Posted March 4, 2012 Regardless, every MP would have to go back to Solms, I don't see any 'economy of scale'. Â Have you bothered to ask Leica about this yet? Â As I said, I just wanted to gauge interest before going to my contact there. It will be more persuasive if I can give them an idea of how big the demand is (or isn't). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalArts 99 Posted March 4, 2012 Share #11  Posted March 4, 2012 Mafoofan, here's a video on how to remove the top plate of the M6. At about 3 minutes into the video they demonstrate removing the hot shoe. It's very simple. Why not try to get a replacement hot shoe blank and just do the swap yourself. The M6, M7, MP all appear to have the exact same shoe (and so does the M9 and M9P.) I'm guessing hot shoe replacements could be available from camera repair shops or from Solms. I would think people have needed replacements in the past. Looks like a very easy thing to modify once you get the spare hot shoe. Since your MP has the serial number on the body, you'd have no issue with it not being on the shoe itself.  EDIT: your other option would be to take off the hot shoe and have it anodized (any color you want ) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stunsworth Posted March 4, 2012 Share #12 Â Posted March 4, 2012 No interest Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted March 4, 2012 Share #13 Â Posted March 4, 2012 No interest. Â Regards, Â Bill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mafoofan Posted March 4, 2012 Author Share #14  Posted March 4, 2012 Mafoofan, here's a video on how to remove the top plate of the M6. At about 3 minutes into the video they demonstrate removing the hot shoe. It's very simple. Why not try to get a replacement hot shoe blank and just do the swap yourself. The M6, M7, MP all appear to have the exact same shoe (and so does the M9 and M9P.) I'm guessing hot shoe replacements could be available from camera repair shops or from Solms. I would think people have needed replacements in the past. Looks like a very easy thing to modify once you get the spare hot shoe. Since your MP has the serial number on the body, you'd have no issue with it not being on the shoe itself.  EDIT: your other option would be to take off the hot shoe and have it anodized.  Thanks for the pointer. I realize swapping the part is a simple procedure--it's getting a black one that is the trouble. Silver-colored hot shoes are chrome-plated brass, just as the body of chrome Ms. To turn it black, you'd have to strip off the chrome and nickel, then use a chemical to blacken the brass. You could use paint, but even then you'd still have to strip down to the brass. Frankly, this is all a bit more involved than I'd personally like!  Also, the M7 hot shoe is different from the MP hot shoe. The former does not have the notch to indicate shutter speed (on M7s, the corresponding notch is engraved on the top plate itself).  Anyway, I only posed the original query because I seem to recall quite a few people lamenting that there is no black hot shoe available on the MP. If we pool our interest, we might be able to get a bonafide Leica replacement part in black chrome. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalArts 99 Posted March 4, 2012 Share #15  Posted March 4, 2012 Thanks for the pointer. I realize swapping the part is a simple procedure--it's getting a black one that is the trouble. Silver-colored hot shoes are chrome-plated brass, just as the body of chrome Ms. To turn it black, you'd have to strip off the chrome and nickel, then use a chemical to blacken the brass. You could use paint, but even then you'd still have to strip down to the brass. Frankly, this is all a bit more involved than I'd personally like! Also, the M7 hot shoe is different from the MP hot shoe. The former does not have the notch to indicate shutter speed (on M7s, the corresponding notch is engraved on the top plate itself).  Anyway, I only posed the original query because I seem to recall quite a few people lamenting that there is no black hot shoe available on the MP. If we pool our interest, we might be able to get a bonafide Leica replacement part in black chrome.  Then just notch the hot shoe yourself. If I wanted to do this, I would try to do the modification myself personally instead of going through Solms and a group buy effort, etc.. It seems like there's definitely a way to do it (the M6 hot shoe is black, etc..) Anyway, good luck! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Messsucherkamera Posted March 4, 2012 Share #16 Â Posted March 4, 2012 Why not remove your hot shoe and send it off to one of the companies that repaint/refinish M cameras? If they can repaint a whole camera, painting a hotshoe should be a cakewalk, I would think. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pico Posted March 4, 2012 Share #17 Â Posted March 4, 2012 A top-coat of Testor's pen paint a day will make everything okay. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kokoshawnuff Posted March 4, 2012 Share #18 Â Posted March 4, 2012 Strange solms couldn't provide one on your alc MP, because they were able to on the alc M7 I ordered late December. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephenPatterson Posted March 4, 2012 Share #19 Â Posted March 4, 2012 Thanks for the pointer. I realize swapping the part is a simple procedure--it's getting a black one that is the trouble. Silver-colored hot shoes are chrome-plated brass, just as the body of chrome Ms. To turn it black, you'd have to strip off the chrome and nickel, then use a chemical to blacken the brass. You could use paint, but even then you'd still have to strip down to the brass. Frankly, this is all a bit more involved than I'd personally like! Â IMHO your best option is to remove the original, have it chemically stripped, then black anodize. Isnt that the proper finish instead of paint? Perhaps black chrome, but I would think paint would not be optimal. Also powder coat paint would not be good either, as the paint tends to build up in corners and will probably throw off the tolerances of the part. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Geschlecht Posted March 4, 2012 Share #20 Â Posted March 4, 2012 Hello kokoshawnuff, Â Isn't that because the M9 & M7 share the same hotshoe? Â Best Regards, Â Michael Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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