Leica M 11 Glossy black paint.

[Leicoholic]

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Hi,

 

I am new to Leica M system. Proud owner of a newly acquired M 11 P Silver .

Latest news is that Leica has just released M 11 with glossy black paint. Just out of curiosity, I want to know if this is the first type to be released.

Have there been any models that had Glossy black paint in the past. I was told that it is the Patina people are looking for after certain amount of usage of the gadget.

Have a great weekend

[T I N O]

Hi @Leicoholic,

there's two threads already on the topic of the glossy M11 it seems, you can find the "official" one here 👍

Yes, there have been quite a few glossy black paint variants of Leica M cameras in the past, if you like check out the thread discussing these here.

It gets a bit confusing, as (up until now) those were called "Black Paint" (or just "BP") variants, as opposed to the standard "black chrome".
Now (starting with the M11) Leica decided, for whatever reason, to sell the black chrome version as "black paint" - and the actual black paint (as in: black lacquer) is now marketed as "glossy black paint".
Hope this helps.

Have a great weekend!

[Loop Skywalker]

vor 22 Minuten schrieb T I N O:

It gets a bit confusing, as (up until now) those were called "Black Paint" (or just "BP") variants, as opposed to the standard "black chrome".
Now (starting with the M11) Leica decided, for whatever reason, to sell the black chrome version as "black paint" - and the actual black paint (as in: black lacquer) is now marketed as "glossy black paint".

That's probably because the (regular) M11 is already called black paint! It's not black chrome anymore, it's a matte black paint. To avoid confusion they're now using the term glossy. Leica does not produce black chrome cameras anymore.

[Leicoholic]

Thank you gentlemen. Much appreciated for the information.

[Anthony MD]

On 11/23/2024 at 5:40 AM, Leicoholic said:

Hi,

 

I am new to Leica M system. Proud owner of a newly acquired M 11 P Silver .

Latest news is that Leica has just released M 11 with glossy black paint. Just out of curiosity, I want to know if this is the first type to be released.

Have there been any models that had Glossy black paint in the past. I was told that it is the Patina people are looking for after certain amount of usage of the gadget.

Have a great weekend

Yes, the MD 262…!

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

[jakontil]

4 hours ago, Anthony MD said:

Yes, the MD 262…!

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!

Beautiful, BP always have its own charm..

is that a hair or a hairline scratch below the power switch? Oh my eyes

[Anthony MD]

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32 minutes ago, jakontil said:

Beautiful, BP always have its own charm..

is that a hair or a hairline scratch below the power switch? Oh my eyes

Your eyes did indeed detect a hair that I was unaware of while photographing the camera…!

Edited December 13, 2024 by Anthony MD

[Anthony MD]

4 hours ago, Anthony MD said:

Your eyes did indeed detect a hair that I was unaware of while photographing the camera…!

The camera is supposedly more optically revealing than the eye anyway…!

[Anthony MD]

On 11/23/2024 at 5:40 AM, Leicoholic said:

Hi,

 

I am new to Leica M system. Proud owner of a newly acquired M 11 P Silver .

Latest news is that Leica has just released M 11 with glossy black paint. Just out of curiosity, I want to know if this is the first type to be released.

Have there been any models that had Glossy black paint in the past. I was told that it is the Patina people are looking for after certain amount of usage of the gadget.

Have a great weekend

I just realized the MD 262 has the  glossing black paint…!

Edited December 13, 2024 by Anthony MD

[JimmyCheng]

Here are my own observations from the bp bodies I own.

The M9, md262 or m-240 black paint are a more matte finish than Leica's current glossy black paint you see on M-P film camera, M10r bp edition and now M11 bp edition. I personally like the older black paint better since they are less prone to hairline swirls and not as glossy. The new glossy black paint is like your glossy black panel on cars these days, they are beautiful when brand new, but got really ugly after showing scratching marks (and it is really easy to get those). But with brass/black paint, you eventually wear them down to see brassing/patina. So it's a beautiful -> ugly -> beautiful again transition for the new glossy paint. 

On a side note, the new black paint on brass M6 reissue has its own black paint, which I found really interesting. It's matte like m10 black chrome, but it brasses quite easily (one trip and I can already see two spots shining gold). It does not suffer from hairline marks like the glossy black paint, and is even more matte than the md262/m240 or m9 gen of black paint. 

Am I talking to much here about paint jobs?

[username]

56 minutes ago, JimmyCheng said:

Am I talking to much here about paint jobs?

No, please keep going! But some comparison pictures of the various BP cameras you mention next to each other would be super cool! 🙂

[jakontil]

5 hours ago, JimmyCheng said:

Here are my own observations from the bp bodies I own.

The M9, md262 or m-240 black paint are a more matte finish than Leica's current glossy black paint you see on M-P film camera, M10r bp edition and now M11 bp edition. I personally like the older black paint better since they are less prone to hairline swirls and not as glossy. The new glossy black paint is like your glossy black panel on cars these days, they are beautiful when brand new, but got really ugly after showing scratching marks (and it is really easy to get those). But with brass/black paint, you eventually wear them down to see brassing/patina. So it's a beautiful -> ugly -> beautiful again transition for the new glossy paint. 

On a side note, the new black paint on brass M6 reissue has its own black paint, which I found really interesting. It's matte like m10 black chrome, but it brasses quite easily (one trip and I can already see two spots shining gold). It does not suffer from hairline marks like the glossy black paint, and is even more matte than the md262/m240 or m9 gen of black paint. 

Am I talking to much here about paint jobs?

Exactly how i felt bout everything… spot on.. please make YT video mate

[aficionados]

4 hours ago, username said:

No, please keep going! But some comparison pictures of the various BP cameras you mention next to each other would be super cool! 🙂

I only have 3 BP now. See the picture below. From top down, a brand new M6 re-issue, a M10-R BP and the brand new M11 Glossy Black.

The picture was taken indoor with a crappy iphone, so the white balance is a bit off. The M6 in the picture look a little bit more green-ish tone. But I can tell you they are all completely black, no difference in this regard. It reflects less light and turns to be a bit green because it's less glossy.

But M6 re-issue is not a real glossy/piano feeling black paint to my standard. It's more matte than the other two. As Jimmy said it's more like M11 regular black chrome feeling but less coarse than M11 maybe because it's painted on brass instead of aluminum?

M10-R and M11 have almost identical glossy paint and feeling. At least I can't tell or feel any significant difference. They are both glossy. M10-R in the picture may look a bit more glossy maybe because of it was touched by me for too long so it absorbed some greasy stuff? You can also see a little bit brassing on the top plate close thumb rest.

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

Edited December 19, 2024 by aficionados

[hdmesa]

With regard to the matte black only:

The 2022 M6 reissue uses the regular M11 matte black paint. On the black M11 made of aluminum, the matte black paint adheres very strongly. The same paint on the brass 2022 M6 does not adhere as well and will show brassing over time. Paint adheres better to aluminum than to brass. This matte black paint on the M11 and M6 2022 reissue has nothing to do with the matte black on the M10 series, which is a black chrome process. Black chrome will not wear to show brass even on a brass camera because there's a silver zinc coating between the black chrome and the brass of the camera. Black chrome cameras will only ever wear to show silver, and they would have to be deeply scratched to show brass.

Edited December 19, 2024 by hdmesa

[JimmyCheng]

44 minutes ago, hdmesa said:

With regard to the matte black only:

The 2022 M6 reissue uses the regular M11 matte black paint. On the black M11 made of aluminum, the matte black paint adheres very strongly. The same paint on the brass 2022 M6 does not adhere as well and will show brassing over time. Paint adheres better to aluminum than to brass. This matte black paint on the M11 and M6 2022 reissue has nothing to do with the matte black on the M10 series, which is a black chrome process. Black chrome will not wear to show brass even on a brass camera because there's a silver zinc coating between the black chrome and the brass of the camera. Black chrome cameras will only ever wear to show silver, and they would have to be deeply scratched to show brass.

I don't think the reissue m6 uses the same paint as on m11. Not only is the paint much less adhesive, but also quite a bit smoother than the very "rough" matte black paint aluminum m11. If you get a chance to feel the two side by side, you can immediately tell the difference in smoothness. Unless the metal underneath is affecting that as well, but I doubt it.

[JimmyCheng]

3 hours ago, jakontil said:

Exactly how i felt bout everything… spot on.. please make YT video mate

I will, once I get my bp m2/3 back from Kanto.

[JimmyCheng]

7 hours ago, username said:

No, please keep going! But some comparison pictures of the various BP cameras you mention next to each other would be super cool! 🙂

here you go, I can only fit in these, have a few more but they pretty much cover all the different kinds of BP 

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

[jakontil]

18 minutes ago, JimmyCheng said:

I will, once I get my bp m2/3 back from Kanto.

Omg.. hope you asked for the glossy one,… kanto make one of the best black paint glossy 

[setuporg]

Let's just all agree that the name glossy black paint is rather idiotic.  It used to be just BP, or black paint, that was always glossy.  The matte non-silver version was simply black.  Straightforward usage of "BP" is yet another unfortunate loss inflicted by the M11. 

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Hallo,

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[JimmyCheng]

47 minutes ago, jakontil said:

Omg.. hope you asked for the glossy one,… kanto make one of the best black paint glossy 

Oh those were original Leica BP, just send them for CLA, but still takes about 4 months