Not good

[lioness731]

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On 5/21/2018 at 3:46 PM, John Ricard said:

Not only did I take the plastic off the baseplate, but I also removed the sticker with all the letters and symbols from the bottom as well.

Yes, I received my M10 yesterday and I looked at the bottom and there was the ugly sticker and film coating on the baseplate. Some elbow grease, WD 40 and rubbing alcohol removed the sticker and the yucky adhesive. It's beautiful now.   

[indergaard]

9 hours ago, lioness731 said:

Yes, I received my M10 yesterday and I looked at the bottom and there was the ugly sticker and film coating on the baseplate. Some elbow grease, WD 40 and rubbing alcohol removed the sticker and the yucky adhesive. It's beautiful now.   

You must store your camera upside down a lot?

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[earleygallery]

You must never remove the plastic from the base plate! It includes important information about which recycling bin you must drop the camera in once you've finished with it. 

[Chaemono]

vor 10 Stunden schrieb lioness731:

Yes, I received my M10 yesterday and I looked at the bottom and there was the ugly sticker and film coating on the baseplate. Some elbow grease, WD 40 and rubbing alcohol removed the sticker and the yucky adhesive. It's beautiful now.   

Rubbing the bottom plate with a cheap, disposable latex or nitrile glove that can be obtained in any drugstore for three seconds and the adhesive is gone. Of course, one has to buy a whole  pack of these gloves, but they can be used in the kitchen or for garden work.

[lioness731]

13 hours ago, indergaard said:

You must store your camera upside down a lot?

LOL. No but I don't want plastic and stickers on my camera.

[fotografr]

On 5/17/2018 at 8:41 AM, designdog said:

The plastic is coming off, just like the plastic cover on the screen. It is placed there for protection in packing and shipping. Nothing more. Personally, I think it a bit frumpish to walk around with a camera, any camera, with the shipping materials still attached. But that is my  opinion.

 

I guess I'm frumpish, whatever that is. I've been shooting M  cameras for 40 years and have never removed the plastic from the base plate. I've owned around 20 M cameras, all but two purchased new. First off, it protects the base from scratches, which helps the resale value. Second, nobody over three feet tall ever sees it--and even if they did, so what? Unless someone is closely examining the camera, the plastic is invisible.

It seems unlikely to me that the plastic is put there only to protect the M10 "in packing and shipping," as you state. The way the camera comes packaged in a sealed plastic bag, then in a hard, form fitted case with a velvety lining, there's absolutely no way the base plate could get scratched in transit. Otherwise, the entire camera would need to be covered with a "peel off cover," not just the base plate. To the best of my knowledge, Leica have never offered a suggestion one way or the other as to whether to remove the base plastic.

 

Edited June 14, 2019 by fotografr

[Peter Kilmister]

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While the plastic is on the camera it doesn't end up in rubbish and get chucked in the seas to kill whales, turtles, dolphins, etc. 

Sometimes it's best to leave well alone.

[B50]

Protective cover !!! Thought that was obvious..

[egrossman]

I always remove the plastic cover to the base plate and the sticker underneath. WhenI sold my M10 to fund the M10D, there was no negative impact on resale value vs similar cameras with the sticker on. Ripped the plastic off the baseplate of my Black Paint MP too.

Erik

Edited September 23, 2019 by egrossman

[nicci78]

Of course rip it off ! Do you keep your screen factory protective cover too ? 🤔

I always hate the black sticker with useless information. 🤨

You are buying a brass made camera. Not a plastic one 😉

[John Ricard]

On 5/16/2018 at 9:10 PM, TomB_tx said:

I've always left that plastic on my Digital Leicas to protect the base plate finish. Hasn't worn or caused a problem.

So I’m assuming right now the bottom of your Leica has an ugly, cloudy bubbly cheap plastic, but if you were to remove that plastic then we would see a beautiful, black, metal baseplate.  How does that make sense to you?

No disrespect intended but whenever someone leaves the plastic on the baseplate, it says to me that they don’t understand the intent of the design of the camera.  With a Leica M, every detail has been carefully thought out. The color, the materials, the construction, the look and feel and all  given more thought and purpose on a Leica M than on any other camera body.  The way the camera FEELS is a part of the design.  The plastic baseplate is NOT a part of the design.  It’s just something put there to ensure the camera looks perfect when someone actually buys it.   To leave it on implies that you think it is a PART of the design.  As if someone wanted the bottom to look that way (cloudy plastic) and to FEEL like cheap plastic.  Mind you, the scratches that you might get from removing that plastic are actually part of the design as Leica has offered options as to whether the camera shows silver or gold as it brasses.  They’ve even made cameras that come with scratches already in the body.  So to avoid scratches also implies, to me at least, that you don’t understand the thought that went into the design of the camera.

Again, no offense is intended to you personally.

[CSG123]

There are people who leave the plastic sticker on the back of Rolex watches.  It becomes rather disgusting rather quickly.  Never understood that sort of mindset.

[ChicagoMatthew]

4 hours ago, John Ricard said:

So I’m assuming right now the bottom of your Leica has an ugly, cloudy bubbly cheap plastic, but if you were to remove that plastic then we would see a beautiful, black, metal baseplate.  How does that make sense to you?

No disrespect intended but whenever someone leaves the plastic on the baseplate, it says to me that they don’t understand the intent of the design of the camera.  With a Leica M, every detail has been carefully thought out. The color, the materials, the construction, the look and feel and all  given more thought and purpose on a Leica M than on any other camera body.  The way the camera FEELS is a part of the design.  The plastic baseplate is NOT a part of the design.  It’s just something put there to ensure the camera looks perfect when someone actually buys it.   To leave it on implies that you think it is a PART of the design.  As if someone wanted the bottom to look that way (cloudy plastic) and to FEEL like cheap plastic.  Mind you, the scratches that you might get from removing that plastic are actually part of the design as Leica has offered options as to whether the camera shows silver or gold as it brasses.  They’ve even made cameras that come with scratches already in the body.  So to avoid scratches also implies, to me at least, that you don’t understand the thought that went into the design of the camera.

Again, no offense is intended to you personally.

I don't know about this... first off, anyone that leaves the plastic cover on their base knows that it does not bubble or look cheap... one hardly knows it's there, and you certainly can't feel it, as you say. Also, I HIGHLY doubt the designers at Leica sat around a table and thought about how ugly tripod scratches on the baseplate would be a design perk. Also, the "camera with scratches already on the body" was a tremendous joke... and probably came with the plastic on the base plate, to protect those lovely scratches.

No offense, but leaving the plastic on the baseplate makes practical sense and objectively it has ZERO downsides. I am not sure why anyone would remove it. 

[jaapv]

You can remove that black rubbery stuff from the rest of the body as well...

[farnz]

5 hours ago, CSGreene said:

There are people who leave the plastic sticker on the back of Rolex watches.  It becomes rather disgusting rather quickly.  Never understood that sort of mindset.

I am one of those people but for a purely practical reason: without the clear, plastic film on the back the watch sticks uncomfortably to my wrist in warm weather and the film prevents this from happening.  The film wears out from time to time and I replace it but it has never become disgusting.  Perhaps others' become disgusting as a result of the climate they live in and the chemicals in their sweat.

Pete.

[Matlock]

I have an M7 from 2001, I have never taken the plastic off as I have better things to do than bother about such trivia. It is still pristine and I have never even thought about it before so had to go and take a look to ascertain it's condition.

[John Ricard]

4 hours ago, ChicagoMatthew said:

1) one hardly knows it's there, and

2) you certainly can't feel it, as you say. 

3) Also, I HIGHLY doubt the designers at Leica sat around a table and thought about how ugly tripod scratches on the baseplate would be a design perk.

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.

[Matlock]

16 minutes 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.

 

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.

[John Ricard]

2 hours ago, Matlock said:

I have an M7 from 2001, I have never taken the plastic off as I have better things to do than bother about such trivia. It is still pristine and I have never even thought about it before so had to go and take a look to ascertain it's condition.

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.

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[designdog]

Well hello! I am the Original Poster here. My intent was to comment on the glue residue left on the baseplate after removing the plastic -  not a philosophical debate on the merits, or faults, in doing so. Fortunately I was able to clean off said residue and have had a happy time with my M10 ever since.

There is a conundrum, however. For me, I would never dream of not removing the plastic - the same as I remove manufacturer's tags etc, from all of my items. In any event, the camera lives inside a leather half case, as does my M9. However, I must admit, when I would purchase a used Leica body having the plastic on the baseplate would be a favorable advantage.

If/when I would sell either of my bodies I plan to include the leather case and the promise that it was on the camera from the beginning...