M4 self-timer and frame-selector lever tips

[M9reno]

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On a black anodised M4 the self-timer and frame-selector levers have inlaid plastic tips that have a white stripe in their center.

What is the material of this stripe?  Is it white plastic inlaid into a black plastic surround?  Or is it a white decal / sticker that is simply stuck on and can be peeled off?  Or something else?

A close-up photo would be much appreciated.  Thanks!

[ktmrider2]

Don't know what the material is but do know that it was missing from my M5.  Sherry recommended I call Leica, NJ, and they sent me the plastic insert for free and it popped into the empty space on the self timer lever and was good as new.  And Leica sent it free.  

As I look at my 50th anniversary M4, it appears to me to be plastic and not a decal or sticker.

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[plaidshirts]

I can confirm that those are plastic inserts.

If Leica NJ doesn’t come through, I’ve bought them from DAG in the past. 

[M9reno]

Thank you. I have bought a pair from DAG. 

[adan]

Here's what I think I know about these levers and their construction.

1) All these levers are interchangeable between M Leica models, so after decades of use, and wear, and breakage (or simply for the aesthetic tastes of the owner), they may have been swapped around. One may see any lever model on any camera type after all these years.

2) The M2 and M3 had solid metal, sculpted "art-deco" levers - usually silver. A large one for the self-timer (if installed), and a smaller one for the framelines (the current MP and M-A also use the retro all-metal style).

3) With the intro of the M4, the levers were revised to reduce machining costs, and present a more modern "industrial" look. Both were the same size so that only one "part" was needed for both levers, and simplified to be a flat metal "frame" with a snap-in plastic insert to provide some grip and leverage.

4) at some point in the M4/M5 era, a longitudinal white line was added to the black plastic insert. This had no particular function (except decorative) on the frameline lever - but on the self-timer lever, it made the position and motion of the lever more obvious from, say, 3 meters away. One could see the black-lever-against-black-vulcanite counting down more easily with the white line acting as a "clock hand." (I do not know from personal knowledge if the white line is separate white plastic, or simply white paint in a depression (like lens engravings - or 6-bit coding).)

  I      — 

The inserts are also physically interchangeable between M4, M5, M4-2/P, M6, M7-era levers.

NB: The Nikon F2 and Canon F-1 black self-timer levers, from the same era (1970±), had similar white lines, for the same reason. One could see what the damn lever was doing while standing in "posing" position several feet/meters away.

5) when the M4-2 came out, as a further-simplfied model with no self-timer, the white line no longer served a function, and was dropped for an even-simpler, cheaper all-black insert. Which remained the standard up through the M7 (the former self-timer space having been used for the battery compartment from the M6 on).

6) The plastic inserts are press-fit, and thus held under compression when snapped into the metal frame. Over time, environmental degradation (primarily UV sunlight action on the plastic) weakens the plastic, and the compression forces will eventually bow and crack the plastic across the center, and one or both halves will fall out of the metal frame.

7) If and when the inserts needed to be replaced, Leica (or other service people) mostly just grabbed two spares out of a box. Thus any particular M4 or M6 or M7 may, at this point, have M5 inserts, or M4-2 inserts, flat, domed, with or without a white line, etc. etc.

Edited February 13, 2021 by adan

[M9reno]

Thank you, Andy.  I ordered two M4 spare plastic inserts from DAG, who said that the white stripe on each (also included) is a “decal.”  Thar was in response to my asking for original parts.  They are in the post.

[M9reno]

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Update:  Malcolm Taylor tells me that there are some cases where the white stripe appears painted, others where white plastic is glued into the recess of the black plastic insert.  We will see what my “decal” examples from DAG look like.

[colint544]

I got a minty black chrome M4 from Red Dot Cameras, back in 2016. Great camera, but within a year of using it, both white inserts had vanished. My experience is that they don't stay on very well.

Not something that can happen with an M2 or M3.