Flavors of chrome used in Leica cameras

[VanDooglz]

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I have always preferred 100% black cameras, be it paint or chrome, so I have no personal experience owning a chrome camera and figured I'd ask here.

Last weekend I visited a large-ish used camera store, where I had the chance to hold and play with several M Leicas of various vintage. One thing I noticed is that older bodies like M3 or M2 feature a very different looking chrome top plate than modern chrome Ms. They shine more and even "sparkle" a little under certain light. Meanwhile, the newer chromed cameras look more matte and "smoother", frankly they look like silver-painted plastic similar to interior parts in some cheap cars.

I don't remember anyone discussing this difference here. People had debates on black chrome vs black paint, meanwhile the two different types of chrome haven't been discussed (or maybe I missed that). 

What is this difference? Is it ageing or a different type of chrome plating process?

Edited January 17, 2024 by VanDooglz

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[105012]

Well spotted @VanDooglz. The chrome plating process has evolved over the years, in the early times I believe there where as many as 21 steps, involving layering, dipping and polishing, to produce the wonderful lustre that you have noticed on earlier models.

In fact, there is a quite noticeable difference between early and late M3's, even though both are very attractive to the eye and do not look "silver-painted plastic", as you said. You can see this in a Christmas picture I shared earlier on the forum:

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[TomB_tx]

Stricter environmental and workplace safety laws have pretty much eliminated traditional chrome plating methods, as the chemicals were nasty. So don't blame Leica for the changes. I'm just happy I could still get a silver chrome M10 when I bought it.

[nf3996]

Some of the earliest chrome thread-mount Leicas were of an ever shinier chrome, often referrred to as 'bright chrome'.

Alan

[adan]

21 hours ago, VanDooglz said:

What is this difference? Is it ageing or a different type of chrome plating process?

Definitely a different process - which was more-or-less industry-wide for a while.

My silver Canon FX (bought NOS in 1970, thus not significantly "aged" at the time), had that same sparkly texture, as did my silver Nikon Fs a couple of years later. And Nikon SP and Canon P rangefinders; and Pentaxes; and Topcons, and so on). Probably something to do with how the plated-out molecules crystalized on the surface when applied.

Canon FX - compare "bright-chromed" shutter button and pop-up rewind crank handle to the overall camera treatment:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Canon_FX.jpg

Sometimes the sparkles even have a occasional color component - microscopic flashes of pink or green, etc. Probably an interference effect, like the reflected "colors" of lens coatings.

The occasional silver M-cameras of the 1980s (M4-2, M4-P, M6) already had a smoother-chromed paintlike surface, so that dates about the time the process changed, at least for Leica. Although as far as I know, the matte-black chrome (introduced ~1970 (late M4s, M5), using pre-treated chrome) was also always finer-grained.

I kinda miss the microtextured chrome - it screamed "metal camera!"

But as my smooth-silver M10 acquires grainy patches of grunge and grime and fingerprints, it is starting to look less "painted" also. 😀

Edited January 18, 2024 by adan

[Jeff S]

Some older discussions of various finishes (and underlying materials)…

 

 

 

Jeff

Edited January 18, 2024 by Jeff S