Who loves their Reject Leica

I know this is about a back door and not really about the ugly ducklings of the M line... But...

I think my M4-P is absolutely brilliant, better than my M6 and on par with my M7. My M3 always flared more for some reason and my M7 hasn't got to the flare free upgrade so suffers more than the M4P also.

Each to their own, but I can't stand the M5 either...
 
Ugly what? I love my M4P!
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The early M4-P are brass top unlike the later ones made in zinc, those are the black chrome that cannot brass. The original M4-P has nickel under the black coat so it wears shiny. This brass top I bought it as a raw brass top plate, painted black and glued new set of windows and voilà!
 
I just bought a beautiful M4-P in excellent condition for $900 and Cameraquest's VC-ll meter. I have a 50mm 'cron to go with it and can't wait to see the pictures it will take.
 
I bought my M4-2 in 1983 brand new. By then the M4-P was out, but I figured on only the 35-50-90mm lenses, so saved $100 difference in price. For those who ever had any drealings with them, I bought the stuff at the old Frank's Highland Park Camera in north L.A. Unfortunately, they are no longer in business, but I no longer live in the LA area.

It wasn't until much later that I started reading that the 4-2 and 4-P were "lesser lights" that supposedly were less well-built. And that came from Steve Gandy's website. But with only moderate use, mine and the three lenses still look pretty close to new.

I might add that, when I look at today's prices for Leicas, I feel fortunate. According to my records, the sum total for the camera and three lenses was about $2,200. Yes, a bunch at the time, but I gradually used income tax refunds to do it. Today, that total would buy about one-third of a new M-8, which I don't need anyway.

As for the M-2, I don't think it was regarded as a downgrade at the time. If memory serves, I think it was Alfred Eisenstadt's preference over the M-3 when he worked for the old LIFE magazine.
 
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What's so bad about the film reminder on the back door of the M4-P? Just carry a grease pencil stub and draw an arrow to the speed of film you're using; how hard is that? We're using Leica Ms after all. If we wanted convenience, we'd all be shooting digi.
 
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Okay! So I came up with a solution I love (for anyone actually following the purpose of this thread). I just cut a strip of white paper then folded it in two. One side is blank, another says 400, another 800 and the last says 1600. Then I covered it in clear tape and voilà! it fits snuggly into my hotshoe (that I use for nothing) and I can pull it out quickly and flip it as necessary, should my conditions change! A visual aid is key visiondr, after all, phtography is is all vision.
 
I also used the hot shoe of my M4-P as "film memory holder" and sticked a small folded piece of the film card box into it. That's one big advantage of the Hexar RF, a window in the back-door ... 🙂
 
Touché.

I don't know where I saw it, but just today I saw a Hexar RF body going for about the same I paid for my M4-P ($600-something). Someone will be lucky to have it.
 
OK, i know it's not a rangefinder, but it is a reject leica, i purchased a R4 several years back and compared it to my FM2 nikon i used for a decade and a half. i didn't like the feel, or the slap of the mirror, and the pictures didn't wow me with their sharpness. But, because it was by far the cheapest leica on the market i could find, i bought it. i sold it a few months later. needless to say i didn't love my reject leica.
 
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