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I love my M4-P !!


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This M4-P from 1981 with a Super-Angulon from 1972 and the wonderful Zeiss viewfinder.

 

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I did erase all white paint with acetone, i do love it nude like that.

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Philippe, the acetone had no effect on the finish? That's interesting. Or did you do some masking?

 

I had an M4-P briefly a few years ago. I bought it on ebay mainly because it had the Elmarit 28mm lens on it. Got it for $1400, then sold the body to a dealer and kept the lens. It was a very sweet camera, like new condition and ran like a watch. Sold it only to prove to my wife that I could actually part with camera equipment now and then, rather than always being on the buy side. Sigh.

 

Doug

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  • 2 weeks later...

I love mine too. Super smooth camera and great finder. Pictured here with an old Elmarit 28, one of my favourite WA lenses.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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There is a chrome M4-P somewhere in the house - together with flush M6-type windowpanes - but I still don´t know the workflow to put a photo up on this site ...

 

Shame on me.

 

 

Best

 

Try this :)

 

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/customer-forum/2341-posting-multiple-images-threads.html

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  • 7 months later...

Another tribute to the trusted performer from the '80s, which was my introduction to Leica back in 1981 when I scraped together enough cash to secure me an M4-P with Leicameter and the IV version of the Summicron 35. To this day I have regretted that I sold it to get the M6, and then an M6TTL 0.58x. I particularly found myself missing the faster mode of working that the Leicameter allowed.

 

Since most of my shooting these days is digital (alas, no M8), I sold my M6TTL a while back as it was just gathering dust, but I have held on to the lenses.

 

Then, yesterday I bought a near-mint M4-P from a collector, mounted a Summicron 50 and put two rolls of Provia F through it in one afternoon. It just felt so right!! No meter, a barely audible click from the shutter (it sounds even "tighter" that my M6TTL used to be).

 

In short, pure bliss!!

 

Carl E

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Leica has never made a bad M. The only real differences between the M4-2 the M4 was the lack of the self timer, but it gained the ability to use the M4-2 Winder. The M4-P was indeed the first M with 6 Frames and, if memory serves me correctly, the first with a zinc top plate.

 

I used both, and both were reliable, but the M5 is still my personal favorite Film M. For me, everything about it right.

 

I wish that had been my experience with the M4-2. Skerry K did a full overhaul on mine and it still died within 3 months. She told me that the camera was shimmed all over and that some of the parts just didn't fit.

 

The same thing happend to a friend of mine, except he spent a year shipping it back and forth to his repair shop. He finally gave up and sold the camera for parts.

 

The M4-2 is something of a crap shoot. Some examples are totally reliable, while others are junk. There is a reason why Leica only made about 12,000 of these (about 2.5 batches) and then replaced it with the M4-P, which returned the M series to reliability.

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The M4-2 is something of a crap shoot. Some examples are totally reliable, while others are junk. There is a reason why Leica only made about 12,000 of these (about 2.5 batches) and then replaced it with the M4-P, which returned the M series to reliability.

 

So what's the reason why Leica produced the same numbers of M4-Ps as they did M4-2s?

 

By the way, I love my M4P. Love it. It's a Tank! My favorite M, with the best framelines and finder of all the Ms.

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So what's the reason why Leica produced the same numbers of M4-Ps as they did M4-2s?

 

By the way, I love my M4P. Love it. It's a Tank! My favorite M, with the best framelines and finder of all the Ms.

 

Leica made 16,000 M4-2, plus 2 special edition in gold.

M4-P is around 26,200. This includes some hybrid M4-P / M6 bodies.

 

As you probably know Leica shut down M production, after the M5 disaster and being pushed out of the mainstream by the Nikon F etc.

 

Ultimately the decision was made to restart the production of a traditional M body, but to be competitive in the market a change was needed in how the camera was produced. The M4-2 marks a transition in construction method for Leica. All bodies up to and including the M4 / M5 were built on an individual basis. Parts were adjusted and reworked individually for each camera. This is a very elaborate, expensive and time consuming method of building a camera. Starting with the M4-2, Leica adopted modern assembly line methods. The cameras are still built by hand, but if a part doesn't fit perfectly, it is exchanged with another, until a perfect match is achieved. The irony here is that the Germans (along with Ford) were pioneers in developing these production methods, before the war.

 

Leica made a similar transition during the screwmount period. I believe it was when they went to the longer chassis on the IIIc.

 

The M4-P is the result of what Leica learned from building the M4-2 and adopting new production methods.

 

The M6/ M6ttl is basically a M4-P, with an electronic meter. As far as I know the M design didn't get a serious overhaul, until the arrival of the M7 and MP.

 

I like the M4-P and actually have an eye on a example. Most of them still have the pre-M6 size frameline mask, which frames a lot more acurate, than any M6/M6ttl/M7/MP. It also has a motorlug, so you can use a Leicavit or motor. I don't mind the lack of a meter, since I use a handheld Sekonic, even with my M6ttl/M7. It's a really nice camera.

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Interesting comments on the M4-2 reliability/build quality. I bought one new in 1984 and still have (and use) it. The camera has been completely reliable other than needing a simple shutter adjustment in the mid 1990s and had its first ever CLA a few years back. Guess I was one of the lucky ones!

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What you wrote below is extremely comon knowledge, maybe even copied and pasted directly from cameraquest. As a matter of fact, both the M4-P and M4-2 are the lowest production M bodies. Would this mean the M4-P is bad, then?

 

But there's one thing you maybe don't know about the M4-P, the great savior: Every technician that touched the Leica M4-P through its production run had to kiss it on the unique Leitz engraving on the top plate (note it's the only body with the Leitz engraving for a reason!). This superstition wasn't well perceived, though, as the human breath could induce the nasty microbe known as fungus and it could spread in the entire factory. And still today it is secretely believed that it's the secret collective kiss that saved Leica.

This is also how the red dot was created, to give the impression of a kiss, the impression of love.

 

 

Leica made 16,000 M4-2, plus 2 special edition in gold.

M4-P is around 26,200. This includes some hybrid M4-P / M6 bodies.

 

As you probably know Leica shut down M production, after the M5 disaster and being pushed out of the mainstream by the Nikon F etc.

 

Ultimately the decision was made to restart the production of a traditional M body, but to be competitive in the market a change was needed in how the camera was produced. The M4-2 marks a transition in construction method for Leica. All bodies up to and including the M4 / M5 were built on an individual basis. Parts were adjusted and reworked individually for each camera. This is a very elaborate, expensive and time consuming method of building a camera. Starting with the M4-2, Leica adopted modern assembly line methods. The cameras are still built by hand, but if a part doesn't fit perfectly, it is exchanged with another, until a perfect match is achieved. The irony here is that the Germans (along with Ford) were pioneers in developing these production methods, before the war.

 

Leica made a similar transition during the screwmount period. I believe it was when they went to the longer chassis on the IIIc.

 

The M4-P is the result of what Leica learned from building the M4-2 and adopting new production methods.

 

The M6/ M6ttl is basically a M4-P, with an electronic meter. As far as I know the M design didn't get a serious overhaul, until the arrival of the M7 and MP.

 

I like the M4-P and actually have an eye on a example. Most of them still have the pre-M6 size frameline mask, which frames a lot more acurate, than any M6/M6ttl/M7/MP. It also has a motorlug, so you can use a Leicavit or motor. I don't mind the lack of a meter, since I use a handheld Sekonic, even with my M6ttl/M7. It's a really nice camera.

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This superstition wasn't well perceived, though, as the human breath could induce the nasty microbe known as fungus and it could spread in the entire factory. And still today it is secretely believed that it's the secret collective kiss that saved Leica.

This is also how the red dot was created, to give the impression of a kiss, the impression of love.

 

And no doubt fairies and unicorns are real too!

Edited by wattsy
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What you wrote below is extremely comon knowledge, maybe even copied and pasted directly from cameraquest. As a matter of fact, both the M4-P and M4-2 are the lowest production M bodies. Would this mean the M4-P is bad, then?

 

Are you accusing me of plagiarism? Maybe you should read my post, again. Slowly, this time.

 

But there's one thing you maybe don't know about the M4-P, the great savior: Every technician that touched the Leica M4-P through its production run had to kiss it on the unique Leitz engraving on the top plate (note it's the only body with the Leitz engraving for a reason!). This superstition wasn't well perceived, though, as the human breath could induce the nasty microbe known as fungus and it could spread in the entire factory. And still today it is secretely believed that it's the secret collective kiss that saved Leica.

This is also how the red dot was created, to give the impression of a kiss, the impression of love.

 

Nenad, you may think you're terribly witty, but you're not. I'm not sure how old you are, but it is a sign of immaturity to become upset, because you believe that someone is being critical of an inanimate object you own.

Edited by thrid
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