Accelerated brassing

[bencoyote]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

 

The more I think about this topic....the only way to "brass" your camera is by using it .....like milage 

 

It also makes  me chuckle

Lots of years ago, we used our cameras hard,with less thought. They were sturdy tools to be used and not babied.  A beat up kit  was a badge of courage.

 

I think as our cameras became little computers we treat them differently. Bump a camera today and you have a big repair. They get the same amount of use but I treat them with more care.

 

So today I don't want my cameras to look used. I'm far more concerned with bumps, dirt ,sand etc.I dont miss shots I'm just more thoughtful with my cameras

 

Just a thought from then and now.

Yours are welcome

 

Some of us still do use our cameras like that. ;-) In less than a year, I've taken my M backpacking twice, on a gentle river canoe trip, to burning man (without a case)...More adventures await this year.

 

Honestly, I'm relying on Leica's build quality and ability to repair their devices. To me that is part of what I feel like I've bought into with this brand much more so than luxury. For me it has always been hard to reconcile the deep fundamentalist minimalism with luxury.

 

Around 11,500 shots later, it has a dent in the top plate, a couple of nicks and the paint is already starting come off this thing. I just expect it to last for years and years but I've sort of promised myself that I won't buy another camera (except for a special purpose camera like the X-U) until I've mastered this one and its capability is a limitation to the kind of photography that I want to take. I'm certainly not there yet.

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[ECohen]

Some of us still do use our cameras like that. ;-) In less than a year, I've taken my M backpacking twice, on a gentle river canoe trip, to burning man (without a case)...More adventures await this year.

 

Honestly, I'm relying on Leica's build quality and ability to repair their devices. To me that is part of what I feel like I've bought into with this brand much more so than luxury. For me it has always been hard to reconcile the deep fundamentalist minimalism with luxury.

 

Around 11,500 shots later, it has a dent in the top plate, a couple of nicks and the paint is already starting come off this thing. I just expect it to last for years and years but I've sort of promised myself that I won't buy another camera (except for a special purpose camera like the X-U) until I've mastered this one and its capability is a limitation to the kind of photography that I want to take. I'm certainly not there yet.

 

 

Good to know ......... I don't think of my camera as a piece of jewelry at all ....... I don't really care about dings and dents .

It would piss me off to break the LCD screen or bump it and have something electronic break...I'm sure Leica will back me up ....i just don't want the bill

 

I do think the older Nikons and Hasselblads of the 1980 and early 90's could take more abuse.

But thats how I view computers and these days  cameras are more like computers. 

 

i do appreciate your comments and I'm sure they will change my views and how I currently use my cameras....Thank You!

 

 

As for mastering the camera.......in my opinion the M is so user friendly by mastering the M you will master photography....and if you live right, that will take a lifetime of learning and pleasure.

The M is such a joy to use .

[Rus]

I wonder if anyone else also prefers the way the M8 "ages" over that of the M9.

 

To me the M8's top and bottom plates don't "chip" or "brass" like those on the M9. The coating on the M8's plates, with use, fades into a mildly shiny tinge of grey, which reminds me a lot of the fading gun blue used on the steel slide and frame of old 1911 pistols (or indeed other firearm parts of blued steel). 

 

Anyone sharing this same preference? 

 

That said, my M9 shows bits of brassing here and there on the top plate, but still quite negligible, i.e. after 80,000+ clicks now. The bottom plate is a different story tho...

[ECohen]

Not to be ignorant of this subject .....I never thought about this till this thread.

I have a silver MP I currently use it in a 1/2 case but I don't like the bulk so I'm about to abandon it...the case not the camera

 

How will my silver  MP "age" is it painted like the black over brass?

I dont really care but now I curious?

[menos I M6]

Not to be ignorant of this subject .....I never thought about this till this thread.

I have a silver MP I currently use it in a 1/2 case but I don't like the bulk so I'm about to abandon it...the case not the camera

 

How will my silver  MP "age" is it painted like the black over brass?

I dont really care but now I curious?

 

Don't worry - with reasonable use and normal handling it will probably look as new in the next 50 years to come.

The silver chrome plating of Leica M cameras always has been a very, very slow wearing surface finish.

 

It will develop some bright marks from areas of regular contact with skin, your forehead, strap lugs, thats it.

If you want to preserve a pristine look, the best you can actually do is getting yourself a clear bottom plate sticker, as that bottom plate traditionally takes the biggest wear.

 

Just look at silver chrome Leica M3 and M2 on eBay and you get the idea.

 

Now if you would have bought yourself a black paint MP, you could just sit back, relax and don't mind the wear as it just adds to the beauty of such camera ;-)

[elgenper]

Don't worry - with reasonable use and normal handling it will probably look as new in the next 50 years to come.

The silver chrome plating of Leica M cameras always has been a very, very slow wearing surface finish.

 

It will develop some bright marks from areas of regular contact with skin, your forehead, strap lugs, thats it.

If you want to preserve a pristine look, the best you can actually do is getting yourself a clear bottom plate sticker, as that bottom plate traditionally takes the biggest wear.

 

Just look at silver chrome Leica M3 and M2 on eBay and you get the idea.

 

Now if you would have bought yourself a black paint MP, you could just sit back, relax and don't mind the wear as it just adds to the beauty of such camera ;-)

 

Well... after 15000 rolls, even a chrome Leica may show some slight wear....

 

http://leicaphilia.com/garry-winogrands-m4/

 

[ECohen]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Any thoughts on removing the label on the base plate....yea or neh ?

 

I ask only because this is a great forum of "over thinkers"  a trait I appreciate

 

If I get a lot of yea's How would I do that? 

[Exodies]

Simply pick at it with a finger nail. I removed mine. Nothing got any better.

[pico]

Any thoughts on removing the label on the base plate....yea or neh ?

 

Do not remove it! It only leads to greater wrongs such as removing mattress tags!

 

 

Then next you might be reluctant to destroy cigarette tax stamps! 

Next, throwing away recyclable bottles with deposits.

And it goes on and on!

 

[jdlaing]

"Except by the consumer"

[pico]

"Except by the consumer"

 

Yeah, I know but I think we should tighten up the law - bring in the feds, BUST the perps who remove the tags. Yeah, that's the ticket. The same with removing the Euro labels. Free the world from the tyranny of .... of ... WTF was I talking about?

[ECohen]

I've always been a bit of a rebel

[jdlaing]

Yeah, I know but I think we should tighten up the law - bring in the feds, BUST the perps who remove the tags. Yeah, that's the ticket. The same with removing the Euro labels. Free the world from the tyranny of .... of ... WTF was I talking about?

 

We have police for everything now. Why not mattress police too?

[menos I M6]

Do not remove it! It only leads to greater wrongs such as removing mattress tags!

 

 

Then next you might be reluctant to destroy cigarette tax stamps! 

Next, throwing away recyclable bottles with deposits.

And it goes on and on!

 

 

Wouldn't it be great if each digital Leica M would come with a 5x5 cm large textile tag sewn right under the right hand strap lug along the body?

Over time it's fibers would fray, giving away a truly Kravitz'ed appearance, providing hour long conversation material during camera club meet-ups and on online forums.

 

Leica could - for a handful of collectors - even issue a genuine silk tag special edition or Lenny could work on a "distressed rag tag edition", delivered in a roughed up potato sack, going along with white silk gloves and grease smeared special edition E40x0.35 filter thread 50mm Summilux ASPH to ensure the exclusivity of possible filters to be obtained down the road, securing an acceptable ROI for professional collectors who will bent over backwards in preserving the potato sack and special edition external smeared grease viscosity of the lens by means of a climate chamber.

 

"Oh you got some serious brassing on your Leica M11-PS.68EVFtype639.5goldLogoBlackChinaLaquer-MP74-2 there mate!"

 

"Yeah, but it is nothing compared to the beautifully distressed staining you developed on your KravitzRagTagA'la'CarteSandBeltedDiorVuittonHermesLizzardNileCrocodileButtonUpDouchePokemon - tag - sweet staining there indeed!"

 

"Oh yeah, I did that when I was street-shooting some sleeping homeless people on my photo trip to Cuba last summer and dunked it in puke at the hotel bar later."

 

"For real !?"

 

"Yeah for real mate, you should try it … want to lick it?"

[Exodies]

My M typ 240 has found a type of Kravitzing which Lenny never dreamed of

 

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

 

Sorry I can't help you to reproduce it; no idea how it happened.

[Paulus]

Reading this thread I come to realise, that I have no humor about purposely scratching an excellent camera. My cameras hardly have scratches. 200.000 captures over four cameras was not enough to give them scratches. It helps that 2 of them were chrome, M8 and M240. The M9 showed its first scratches after a week. The D3 has scratches, but no brassing, not to speak about the MP. I just doesn't scratch.

 

For me a camera is like a pair of new shoes. I like to wear them until they show wear, but I keep them fit by polishing them regularly. Why should one not be careful with good and expensive gear. To me it's decadent to think about deliberately demolishing equippement.

 

I don't care about the scratches made during the use  cameras. Every scratch is a memory, like every scar on my own body is a story.

 

I think James Nachtwey, in the film " Warphotographer " shows how to take care of once camera. After the day, he takes a cloth an cleans his cameras with attention.

 

IMHO It's logical for a craftsman to cherish its gear as good as possible.

[MarkP]

Reading this thread I come to realise, that I have no humor about purposely scratching an excellent camera. My cameras hardly have scratches. 200.000 captures over four cameras was not enough to give them scratches. It helps that 2 of them were chrome, M8 and M240. The M9 showed its first scratches after a week. The D3 has scratches, but no brassing, not to speak about the MP. I just doesn't scratch.

 

For me a camera is like a pair of new shoes. I like to wear them until they show wear, but I keep them fit by polishing them regularly. Why should one not be careful with good and expensive gear. To me it's decadent to think about deliberately demolishing equippement.

 

I don't care about the scratches made during the use  cameras. Every scratch is a memory, like every scar on my own body is a story.

 

I think James Nachtwey, in the film " Warphotographer " shows how to take care of once camera. After the day, he takes a cloth an cleans his cameras with attention.

 

IMHO It's logical for a craftsman to cherish its gear as good as possible.

 

 

I agree. My equipment is used, but neither pampered or abused - I look after it.  

 

This equipment is expensive and although I don't buy it to sell I never know whether I may want or need to sell something.  

It's value is clearly higher if in good condition with original packaging.

 

I have also always dusted and cleaned my equipment after a day's shooting.

[Paulus]

I agree. My equipment is used, but neither pampered or abused - I look after it.  

 

This equipment is expensive and although I don't buy it to sell I never know whether I may want or need to sell something.  

It's value is clearly higher if in good condition with original packaging.

 

I have also always dusted and cleaned my equipment after a day's shooting.

And I take it out of the bag, to dry it on a shelf, when I have been in moisty surroundings.

[Advertisement]

Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[honcho]

Reading this thread I come to realise, that I have no humor about purposely scratching an excellent camera....

 

Some people who buy Leica cameras aren't photographers, they're trying to buy credibility.  Not all of them scratch their cameras either.

[Paulus]

17 years of use, not a day of abuse.  has seen all parts of the world. From Siberia, Yakutsk, to Tierra del Fuego, Kalimantan, Everglades, in deserts and highlands of Africa to be short: This lens travelled for over a Million kilometers around the world.  Does it show? I don't think so. It doesn't have to IMHO.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Edited February 8, 2016 by Paulus