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M10-P: why not in black paint?


jmr237

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I figured the original M10 didn't have a black paint option as they wanted to keep it on reserve as differentiating factor for the inevitable M10-P. Hence I was surprised that today's release didn't include a black paint option.

 

I wonder where black paint for an M10 will show up: only via a la carte? a special edition? on the Monochrom(!)? an M-D version?

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The black M9 and M240 were both already black paint as standard so the black paint of the respective 'P' models wasn't a distinguishing feature. However, the M8.2, which was the 'P' model of it's day, did have black paint as something to distinguish it from the M8. I get the impression that Leica have settled on black chrome now as the more considered choice rather than as the ugly step sibling of black paint. Leica will have taken on board how well received the Monochrom, M-A and M10 were and likely decided not to meddle with a winning formula.

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When I part exchanged my black paint MP240 for a Monochrom  the dealer marked my camera down due to the 'excessive wear' as the body was showing the brass around the edges as they do, I had not taken a huge amount of photos but the camera had accompanied me everywhere. I am glad that Leica are using black chrome but even that wears after a bit of use and my Monochrom too is looking well used but I have learnt my lesson and will keep the camera for a very long time.

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I'm not sure what the big fuss is about black paint vs chrome. One of my cameras is a black chrome M4-P with a million miles on it. It is robust, and still looks great. The "brassing" of black paint Leicas will also probably lower your re-sale value (see Rupert's post above). It is interesting to see the old brassed black Leicas of great photographers like David Douglas Duncan, Paul Fusco, Robert Frank, HCB. Unless one is collecting Leica M cameras, my advice is to go out and shoot, and not to worry about brassing, or electronic levels etc. Thanks

Edited by skanga
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I figured the original M10 didn't have a black paint option as they wanted to keep it on reserve as differentiating factor for the inevitable M10-P. Hence I was surprised that today's release didn't include a black paint option.

 

I wonder where black paint for an M10 will show up: only via a la carte? a special edition? on the Monochrom(!)? an M-D version?

 

Leica is just plain lazy and cheap to not have a black enamel body.

Black enamel has a deep luster that black chrome cannot have.

Why a high-end maker resorts to utility tool aesthetics is unfathomable.

Edited by pico
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Not offering black paint is a miscue IMHO - but that miscue is dwarfed by what they chose to do to the top plate ("Leica Camera Wetzlar Germany.") 

 

Balls!!  Why in forty hells could they not just let the beautiful Leica cursive script grace the top plate in solitude??  For the love of scheiße, we all know it's a Leica Camera and it was made in Wetzlar, Germany!  

 

If there were any doubt, we could look approximately two centimeters  to the south, where "Made in Germany" is inscribed on the camera back; perhaps Leica thought we would never think to look back there. 

 

The engraving decisions on the M10-P must have been outsourced to the DDRD - the Deutchland Department of Redundancy Department.  :rolleyes:

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Guest tofu_man

Nor do I. I had an M9-P. The black paint feels clammy to the touch in the heat of the tropics; much prefer the black chrome of my M6 and M10.

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me too.….give me black chrome any day when it's hot.

 

The paint chips on my M9s just looked tatty while the silvering on my MM1 is ageing gracefully.

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My bet is on a LHSA Black Paint M10-P.

 

Bill Rosauer :

 

"2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the LHSA, and to commemorate this milestone, a new LHSA Special Edition model has been created. I have been working with Stefan Daniel and the team at Leica Camera AG for almost two years on this project. Originally, a Special Edition set consisting of a camera and lens was envisioned, but the introduction of the new Leica M10 last January changed that plan. Hopefully we will have something in the way of a Special Edition camera next year. We decided to continue on with the lens part of the project, and here is the result of the latest collaboration of the LHSA and Leica."

 

https://lhsa.org/2018/02/lhsa-special-editions/#myaccount

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Not offering black paint is a miscue IMHO - but that miscue is dwarfed by what they chose to do to the top plate ("Leica Camera Wetzlar Germany.") 

 

Balls!!  Why in forty hells could they not just let the beautiful Leica cursive script grace the top plate in solitude??  For the love of scheiße, we all know it's a Leica Camera and it was made in Wetzlar, Germany!  

 

 

It was the classical engraving of the M3, M4 etc.

 

I am very ;) pleased they did it like that.

 

I never liked the Leica only in script on the top plate.

 

To each is own...

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The "brassing" of black paint Leicas will also probably lower your re-sale value (see Rupert's post above).

 

See 'Lenny Kravitz Leica M' https://en.web.leica-camera.com/Company/Press-Centre/Press-Releases/2015/Press-Release-Special-limited-edition-LEICA-M-P-%E2%80%98CORRESPONDENT%E2%80%99-SET-CREATED-BY-LENNY-KRAVITZ-FOR-KRAVITZ-DESIGN

 

This sold for MORE than a new (unblemished) equivalent M!

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I am very happy with my Leica M10 silver chrome. For a chrome camera no need to show brassing. But if I want to go for a Black Leica M I would like to have a black paint model. I will consider upgrading to M10-P if Leica provides black paint option. Seems like I can save some money this time. But I am wondering why Leica made this decision?

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It was the classical engraving of the M3, M4 etc.

 

I am very ;) pleased they did it like that.

 

I never liked the Leica only in script on the top plate.

 

To each is own...

 

It's a shame that the ala carte program was scuttled.  When we are spending M kind of money on our cameras, it would be nice to have the option to spend a little more and have bespoke engraving, paint and/or outer skin...

Edited by Herr Barnack
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It's a shame that the ala carte program was scuttled.  When we are spending M kind of money on our cameras, it would be nice to have the option to spend a little more and have bespoke engraving, paint and/or outer skin...

Was it?

 

http://us.leica-camera.com/Photography/Leica-M/Leica-M-a-la-carte

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But I am wondering why Leica made this decision?

 

I would assume it is because as the older Leica users die off the long held nostalgia for brassing diminishes.

 

There aren't many consumer products where obvious wear is held in esteem, or where the wear is shown as a badge of valour in the field of photography. I would venture to guess that youngsters just don't 'get it'. And for those who can't remember, when Leica reintroduced black paint with the film MP there were far more baffled photographers across the board than the tiny few Leica users defending the black paint. And anyway, with Leica bringing out ultra expensive 'special edition' cameras with a worn finish such as the 'Lenny', it kind of devalues this enterprise if the ordinary grunts can get to do a DIY job.

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