timothyo Posted September 28, 2024 Share #1 Posted September 28, 2024 Advertisement (gone after registration) I have had my M4-p for about a week now and have put a few rolls though it... Overall I like a camera quite a bit - its pretty much what I was expecting - a smooth mechanical experience with zero bells and whistles, and the aura of dependability and reliabilty. I have only had it for a week, so obviously this is a 'feeling' rather than fact 😁 I have forced myself to embrace the 'sunny 16' rule, and it is pretty liberating - I do have one of those KEK meters as well but only have used to to occationally check if my metering by eye is up to snuff. Other observations: - I was rather surprised by the size of the camera - in person it feels rather compact, not something I was expecting. If anything it might be too small for my hands, because my pinky kind of rubs on the base plate. I ended up putting a black rapid wrist strap on the bottom (which prevents the base plate from getting lost as well) and that seemed to provide a little more support, because I was able to grip it a bit lower. - I am reasonably well versed in rangefinder focusing, but I did find a couple of situations where focusing was extremely annoying - anything with very busy details like folage or leaves made focusing a very frustrating experience. - I have to say that I did start to finally come to terms with shooting with framelines - in the past I felt pretty disconnected, but for certain types of shots I can see the appeal to shooting that way. Overall its a nice little camera - not going to sell my Olympus, Pentax or Nikon SLR's, but I can see myself having some fun photo walks with it... Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted September 28, 2024 Posted September 28, 2024 Hi timothyo, Take a look here Leica M4-p initial thoughts.... I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
martin Posted September 28, 2024 Share #2 Posted September 28, 2024 You will have a lot of fun with this mechanical camera, it does what you need for handmade images it forces you to understand film more and more I also got mine some days ago and I'm excited to mount a lens and load a roll of film Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom R Posted September 28, 2024 Share #3 Posted September 28, 2024 I have a pair of M4-P’s that I’ve used pretty consistently for the last 25 years (or so). I originally used M2 and M3 bodies, but for I wanted more options for speedlights and an in-camera finder for 28mm. As a matter of durability and dependability, I think that the M4-P is excellent. I have put many rolls of film through both of these cameras and have had them CLA’d twice in the last twenty years—mostly because of the (sub)tropical heat and humidity. Of these two bodies only one, I’ve been told by the technician, was particularly “dirty” when serviced. The other body needed to have a new small curtain and a master roller replaced. Recently, I purchased a relatively “clean” M4, with the idea that the older M4-P might need to be retired and I rarely external lighting or 28mm lenses. As a matter of personal preference, I prefer the M4, but at the end of the day it’s pretty hard (impossible?) to tell the difference between the negatives produced by either of these. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hansvons Posted September 29, 2024 Share #4 Posted September 29, 2024 On 9/28/2024 at 8:17 AM, timothyo said: Overall its a nice little camera - not going to sell my Olympus, Pentax or Nikon SLR's, but I can see myself having some fun photo walks with it... It will grow on you. My M4P made my R6 and R4 obsolete and made me purchase an M6. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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