Has anyone ever made a “Reporter” style repaint of an analog M?

[Fresno]

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My personal Reporter kit:

Q2 Reporter

M10-P Reporter / Summicron M 50mm F/2 Safari Edition

Summicron M 28mm ASPH F/2 Safari Edition

Summicron M 90mm F2 f/2 ASPH Safari Edition

Binoculars Noctivid 8x42 

Leica Case (1980s)

[Fresno]

On 8/1/2022 at 11:12 AM, Fresno said:

CORRECTION:

My personal Reporter kit:

Q2 Reporter

M10-P Reporter / Summicron M 50mm F/2 Safari Edition

Summicron M 28mm ASPH F/2 Safari Edition

Summicron M 90mm F2 f/2 ASPH Safari Edition

Binoculars Noctivid 8x42 

Leica Case (1980s)

 

[JMF]

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

 

The nearest I got to a reporter M :

An Olive M3 top cover fitted on a 1966 M3 with some black chrome parts from a black paint converted M-A and other sources .

The second photo shows 2 1966 M3 cameras   with original M3 no serial top covers.

Cheers

JM

 

 

Edited August 11, 2022 by JMF

[Sunyforreal]

22 hours ago, JMF said:

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

 

The nearest I got to a reporter M :

An Olive M3 top cover fitted on a 1966 M3 with some black chrome parts from a black paint converted M-A and other sources .

The second photo shows 2 1966 M3 cameras   with original M3 no serial top covers.

Cheers

JM

 

 

Oh man that’s the stuff. Beautiful cameras. I’m unfamiliar, what’s the story on the no serial M3 top plates?

[JMF]

43 minutes ago, Sunyforreal said:

Oh man that’s the stuff. Beautiful cameras. I’m unfamiliar, what’s the story on the no serial M3 top plates?

Thanks, I found the no serial top plates on internet / auctions etc, no idea about their history ! 
 

[JamieDumont]

Last year I bought my first Leica...an M2. I was on the hunt for a good condition one because the M2 seemed the right balance of features (that I appreciated) and budget. This one came up for sale at Leica Store Manchester with some "goodies" courtesy of Cameraworks. I'm unsure what you'd call the finish (it's too bronze/green to be called olive), but to my eyes it's similar to the Reporter editions.

 

[Sunyforreal]

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11 hours ago, JamieDumont said:

Last year I bought my first Leica...an M2. I was on the hunt for a good condition one because the M2 seemed the right balance of features (that I appreciated) and budget. This one came up for sale at Leica Store Manchester with some "goodies" courtesy of Cameraworks. I'm unsure what you'd call the finish (it's too bronze/green to be called olive), but to my eyes it's similar to the Reporter editions.

 

Kind of a mashup between the reporter and safari designs. I like it. The finish looks fantastic

[Guest]

With all the repainting of Leicas, in addition to the M2, M3 and M4, I even saw a green IIIg, I ask the experts gathered here:
How long do these subsequent coats of paint last?

[Anbaric]

8 hours ago, mnutzer said:

With all the repainting of Leicas, in addition to the M2, M3 and M4, I even saw a green IIIg, I ask the experts gathered here:
How long do these subsequent coats of paint last?

Depends on the finish. Something like the baked-on stove enamel that CRR used to use, or the Cerakote that Camerakote uses and is one of the options from Camerworks-UK, ought to be very hard-wearing. Conventional paint, significantly less so (which might be what some people want, so they can see the brassing). Even Leica's factory paint doesn't seem that tough - e.g., most black M240s I see at dealers, which are 10 years old at most, have visible brassing. The M10-R Black Paint blurb suggests the glossy finish on that variant is designed to brass sooner rather than later.

Some discussion at Cameraworks about the options and their durability:

https://www.cameraworks-uk.com/re-paint-process

Edited August 13, 2022 by Anbaric

[JamieDumont]

19 hours ago, Sunyforreal said:

Kind of a mashup between the reporter and safari designs. I like it. The finish looks fantastic

I'll grab some better photos of it soon. I keep meaning to set up a pseudo product shoot with it and haven't yet!

10 hours ago, Anbaric said:

Depends on the finish. Something like the baked-on stove enamel that CRR used to use, or the Cerakote that Camerakote uses and is one of the options from Camerworks-UK, ought to be very hard-wearing. Conventional paint, significantly less so (which might be what some people want, so they can see the brassing). Even Leica's factory paint doesn't seem that tough - e.g., most black M240s I see at dealers, which are 10 years old at most, have visible brassing. The M10-R Black Paint blurb suggests the glossy finish on that variant is designed to brass sooner rather than later.

Some discussion at Cameraworks about the options and their durability:

https://www.cameraworks-uk.com/re-paint-process

Mine (above) was refinished at Cameraworks UK but the invoice from the previous owner makes no mention of what the finish was. It seems quite thin, certainly thinner than I'd expect a paint to be, so it may be something like Cerakote (which I know from fancy barbells). That said, I have managed to brass it quite heavily with what I felt was moderate use over 18 months, so seems unlikely.