Not good

[Matlock]

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1 hour ago, John Ricard said:

It would take less time to pull the plastic off than it would to write a 2 sentences about "having better things to do than bother about such trivia".  And personally, I'm glad when I DON'T have better things to do than enjoy myself writing on a forum.  It means my affairs are in order and I have the luxury of free time that I can spend in any way I desire.

And....you're admitting that you have never even thought about it before.  Why not take a moment NOW and ask yourself, "Does this plastic strip belong on the bottom of my camera?"  I'm sure you would conclude, as I have, that it doesn't.  Of course, you may have "better things to do than bother about such trivia," but I'm proud to say that I have time in my life for just this sort of thing.

My M7 was used when I bought it so I had never bothered with it. I have taken the film off other Leicas that I own. Thankfully having been a photographer since around 1953/4 I have taken quite a few pictures and have never found that the presence or absence of plastic film has made the slightest difference to the results. As I said in my second post:   "As I said on my post, the film is still on my 2001 M7 and is not cloudy or puffy and I had not even noticed it was there until this thread started. I am sure that it wasn't intended to stay on but life is too short to get excited by such trivia. Far better to pick up the camera and go out to take some pictures".

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[Viv]

You would think that, being Leica, the protective bottom cover would not be made of plastic, but of the rare metal Unobtainium.

[John Ricard]

37 minutes ago, designdog said:

In any event, the camera lives inside a leather half case, as does my M9

Don't get me started on the leather case

[mujk]

Seems like my baseplates get worn (or show "brassing") on the edges rather than on the flat part that is or was covered by the plastic, in the same way as other painted edges of the camera get worn. A place for Leica to do some product development? 😃

Edited September 27, 2019 by mujk

[ChicagoMatthew]

4 hours ago, John Ricard said:

1) It's very easy to see the plastic when it is still on the baseplate.  It is very noticeable and gets cloudy and puffy after a year or so.

2) Not true.  If I gave you two M bodies, one with the plastic and one without, are you saying you wouldn't be able to tell which one is which if your eyes were closed? I assure you it would be easy.

3) I wasn't in the room when the M bodies were designed, but I believe the designers thought of every single aspect of the design.  Every corner, every texture, every surface.  That is why they have made black painted cameras as well as black chrome bodies.  Little things like that make a big difference to Leica buyers.  Remember when they changed the leather on the M9 body?  Again, it was a minor thing if you look at it one way, but in another way it was a major thing because Leica knows their buyers pay attention to things like that.  As M body is not designed merely as a functional tool.  It is designed as a work of art.  How the camera looks and feels is a part of the design.  If you want to leave the plastic on the bottom of your camera, feel free to do so.  Just understand that that is not the way the camera was intended to look, nor feel.

1) I'd like to see some pics of cloudy, puffy plastic on an M baseplate... OPEN CALL FOR PICS. (Only if taken with another M and a 50APO, otherwise the quality won't be enough to see the puffiness). 

1.2) I will say, I put a half case on my M240 the day I got it... so perhaps that prevented mine from getting all puffy and gross. Also, I switched out my M10 baseplate for the M grip, and it already had the plastic off of it. I did however leave the screen protector plastic on the M10, still going, no puffiness. 🤞

2) If you gave me two M bodies I'd be out the door with them before you could say "Messerschmitt"... I might leave the one without the plastic though... gross.

3) You weren't in the room, as you say... so who can know.... I think it's unlikely that it was even considered... I would assume they thought people would remove it, TBH. But I honestly don't think it matters... IN FACT, I think the plastic on the back screen helps keep my hand from sticking to it, because it's not as smooth. But that could be just in my head.

[John Ricard]

3 hours ago, ChicagoMatthew said:

1) I'd like to see some pics of cloudy, puffy plastic on an M baseplate... OPEN CALL FOR PICS. (Only if taken with another M and a 50APO, otherwise the quality won't be enough to see the puffiness)

A few samples from a quick search.  While none of these is exactly, “cloudy and puffy” as I stated, you have to admit all of these baseplate have noticeable plastic that is ugly.

 

https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1613884/#14983895

https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1613321/#14979830

https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1611733/#14966892

 

 

 

[pico]

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The plastic bottom cover is largely intended to display manufacture's compliance. If Leica wanted they could probably have a huge mark-up, clear replacement accessory; that they do not points to one of their virtues.

[John Ricard]

1 hour ago, pico said:

The plastic bottom cover is largely intended to display manufacture's compliance. If Leica wanted they could probably have a huge mark-up, clear replacement accessory; that they do not points to one of their virtues.

I took the compliance sticker off my M10.

 

[pico]

3 minutes ago, John Ricard said:

I took the compliance sticker off my M10.

As always I did the same and also discarded the box, cute little baggies and all paper work. Would it be interesting if Leica shipped new cameras in a plain brown wrapper?

Edited September 27, 2019 by pico

[lykaman]

Just now, pico said:

As always I did the same and also discarded the box, cute little baggies and all paper work.

Why?

[pico]

2 minutes ago, lykaman said:

Why?

To simplify. I was purchasing a camera, not packaging,

Edited September 27, 2019 by pico

[egrossman]

11 minutes ago, pico said:

As always I did the same and also discarded the box, cute little baggies and all paper work. Would it be interesting if Leica shipped new cameras in a plain brown wrapper?

I use the cute little baggies to store lenses in my closet. I certainly have enough of them after all of the cameras I’ve purchased over the years.

[pico]

3 minutes ago, egrossman said:

I use the cute little baggies to store lenses in my closet. I certainly have enough of them after all of the cameras I’ve purchased over the years.

I appreciate that. I have a lot of military-like sling bags which I use categorize gear into ready-to-go applications. 

[ChicagoMatthew]

3 hours ago, John Ricard said:

A few samples from a quick search.  While none of these is exactly, “cloudy and puffy” as I stated, you have to admit all of these baseplate have noticeable plastic that is ugly.

 

https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1613884/#14983895

https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1613321/#14979830

https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1611733/#14966892

 

 

 

What! The M9 is 10 years old and it looks FINE! That's a pretty good example of why leaving the plastic on has no downside. All of these M9 baseplates are in perfect condition, the plastic looks fine and when using the camera you'd never know the difference. I don't see any reason to take it off... ZERO PUFF, ZERO CLOUD.

[ChicagoMatthew]

50 minutes ago, pico said:

To simplify. I was purchasing a camera, not packaging,

 

53 minutes ago, pico said:

As always I did the same and also discarded the box, cute little baggies and all paper work. Would it be interesting if Leica shipped new cameras in a plain brown wrapper?

Fair, but resale value of your Leica goes down if you don't have the box and papers, right?

[jaapv]

So don't sell it...

[pico]

1 hour ago, ChicagoMatthew said:

Fair, but resale value of your Leica goes down if you don't have the box and papers, right?

Probably, but it is from habit. I never considered future-value of packaging. I'm sure my attitude is from my generation and class. As a kid we shopped as much from barrels of goods as from packages. Strange, no?

[John Ricard]

10 hours ago, ChicagoMatthew said:

What! The M9 is 10 years old and it looks FINE! That's a pretty good example of why leaving the plastic on has no downside. All of these M9 baseplates are in perfect condition, the plastic looks fine and when using the camera you'd never know the difference. I don't see any reason to take it off... ZERO PUFF, ZERO CLOUD.

Because the camera is made out of metal and leather.  Not plastic.  

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[farnz]

8 hours ago, John Ricard said:

Because the camera is made out of metal and leather.  Not plastic.  

Nope, no leather on the M9.  The covering is Leatherette, which is cloth fibres covered in ... plastic.  The early M9's were covered in Vulcanite, which is a rubber compound, but became unavailable.

Pete.

[John Ricard]

41 minutes ago, farnz said:

Nope, no leather on the M9.  The covering is Leatherette, which is cloth fibres covered in ... plastic.  The early M9's were covered in Vulcanite, which is a rubber compound, but became unavailable.

Pete.

I had an early M9 and it had a rather slippery, shiny (almost) covering.  Then I sent it in for service and it was replaced with a much nicer looking and much better gripping surface.  I loved the second covering.  It felt much better in my hands. And whether it was plastic or not, it didn't FEEL like plastic.  And it sure as hell didn't feel like that cheap shit plastic that comes on the bottom of the M9 baseplate. So you can play word games if you like and prove me wrong when I say the M cameras aren't made of plastic, but you're totally missing the point when you do that. The point is, an M camera is designed with attention to detail in a way that other cameras just aren't.  And that attention extends to the way the camera looks and feels.  And, for the 100th time in this thread, that attention to detail does not include the strip of plastic on the baseplate any more than it includes the orange cardboard sign that covers the body cap when you first buy the camera.  Maybe you guys should leave that on as well...

Edited September 28, 2019 by John Ricard