M4-2 Made in Canada

[Iconic35mmuser]

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Looking for any insight re above camera. I have located one in excellent shape but, know nothing about this particular model. Does the fact that it's "made in Canada" differentiate it in any way? I'm going to assume it is as reliable as any of the other M film cameras. I would be very interested to learn the good, bad & the ugly re this model so, if you have this camera or, can lend any insight, I would appreciate it. I am still looking to score my first Leis M film camera. Looking at an MP however, the M4-2 is half the price and in excellent shape. Thanks, Nick

[a.noctilux]

only 7 pages to read in this link

 

...

a bit of Wiki ...

different engravings

 

Edited June 29, 2022 by a.noctilux

[Fotoklaus]

As good as any other M. If i close my eyes i cannot tell any difference to my M6. Same construction but no lightmeter. Same gears, same shutter, and so on. They are around since 1977 and have proven their reliability.

Let's call it an M-A with a better rewind knob 🙂

If you have the opportunity to get one in good shape, take it!

Edited June 29, 2022 by Fotoklaus

[Iconic35mmuser]

1 hour ago, Fotoklaus said:

As good as any other M. If i close my eyes i cannot tell any difference to my M6. Same construction but no lightmeter. Same gears, same shutter, and so on. They are around since 1977 and have proven their reliability.

Let's call it an M-A with a better rewind knob 🙂

If you have the opportunity to get one in good shape, take it!

Thank You! Fotoklaus, very helpful.

[Iconic35mmuser]

2 hours ago, a.noctilux said:

only 7 pages to read in this link

 

...

a bit of Wiki ...

different engravings

 

Thanks for forwarding the link, anoctilux, its exactlty what I hoping for!

[Guest]

Loving my M4-P. Built like a tank and reasonably cheap. I’ve no problem not having a built in light meter as I have a Voigtlander VC Meter II, plus a recently found Sekonic L-308 lightmeter I forgot about.

it’s built as good if not better than my M10-R, does what it needs to do and it’s 30+ years old. What’s not to like?

[Huss]

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The M4-2 vf is prone to haze - mine did - but a tech can easily clean this.  The rf patch may be prone to flaring depending on when it was made - like all M6s!

A very solid camera, love mine.  If you can find one with the red Leica circle on the body like the M4-P - those are very rare!

Interestingly, in the M4-2 owner's manual Leica illustrates it with a red dot M4-2, but then says that this is a prototype and production models will not have it!

Edited June 30, 2022 by Huss

[250swb]

On 6/29/2022 at 7:44 PM, Iconic35mmuser said:

Does the fact that it's "made in Canada" differentiate it in any way?

It could mean the workers weren't full of bratwurst after lunch, on the other hand they may have been full of doughnuts, take your pick. 

[Huss]

1 hour ago, 250swb said:

It could mean the workers weren't full of bratwurst after lunch, on the other hand they may have been full of doughnuts, take your pick. 

brats and donuts sounds pretty good!

[edstock]

Brats steamed in sauerkraut with hot mustard!

[Pyrogallol]

On 6/30/2022 at 9:52 PM, 250swb said:

It could mean the workers weren't full of bratwurst after lunch, on the other hand they may have been full of doughnuts, take your pick. 

I remember having bratwurst from the bratwurst stall on Giessen railway station while on a holiday at the Leica School in 

Wetzlar in the 1970’s.

[adan]

M4-2 differences (compared with earlier Leica Ms)

- self-timer deleted
- hot shoe for flash added
- steel gears in place of brass in the film/shutter-wind clockwork, to accommodate the stresses of an accessory electric motor advance (Winder M4-2).
- simplified, stamped "engraving" on the top.
- "rationalized" parts manufacture and assembly to avoid the expense of the fiddly "fit and adjust" method of assembly used previously in Germany (M3 through M5).
- "Any color you want, so long as it's black chrome" - except for a few special editions.

At the time it came out, the M4-2 was considered a bit less smooth and silky in operation, and déclassé compared the previous Wetzlar Ms. And there were a few lemons as production experience ramped up in Canada. But the cameras that followed it (M4-P, M6) retained most of the same changes, and unless one has "princess and the pea syndrome," the M4-2 is a well-made, nice-handling camera.

Ernst Leitz Canada (ELCAN)

The Canadian facility was simply another Leitz-owned and operated factory, created in 1952 as a "Cold-War back-up plan" in case Warsaw Pact tanks invaded through the Fulda Gap in the mountains east of Frankfurt and Wetzlar. It was mostly staffed by ex-pat Germans (Leitz even provided them and their families with English lessons). It produced mostly lenses and military-contract gear. And a handful of all the various Leica M bodies thoughout its life (just to keep in practice). But created and produced almost all of the M4-2/M4-P cameras, after Leitz Wetzlar almost killed the rangefinder system in 1976 as being obsolete in a world of SLRs. The M4-2 "saved" the M system.

Once glasnost and perestroika in the USSR appeared to reduce the threat of an Eastern Bloc invasion in the mid-1980s, Leitz felt safe closing down its operations in Canada, and selling off the ELCAN facility to US defence contractors (Hughes Aerospace, and now Raytheon), which continue to produce military optics there.

https://www.raytheonintelligenceandspace.com/what-we-do/elcan