avoid this camera!

emraphoto

emraphoto

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anyone else have an m4-2 from the "avoid these numbers" group of serials? i picked one up that appears to be about as new as one could find (i don't think any film was run through it) and it seems to be performing quite well (souped a couple of rolls).

i bought an early run (apparently they have the old m4 finder) and was curious if anyone else has one of the "black sheep" that has served them well?
 
emraphoto said:
anyone else have an m4-2 from the "avoid these numbers" group of serials? i picked one up that appears to be about as new as one could find (i don't think any film was run through it) and it seems to be performing quite well (souped a couple of rolls).

i bought an early run (apparently they have the old m4 finder) and was curious if anyone else has one of the "black sheep" that has served them well?
Click to expand...

I do, great camera, i still got it, it is my most used M Leica.

Bought it new in 1978 and the only problem it had was shutter curtain bounce straight out of the box when I developed the first roll of film from it.
Leitz Midland took care of it under warranty.

I bought new the later type of M 4-2 in 1980 and it was a bit rough in winding lever use, but Leitz Midland took care of that right away.
These later Types of M 4-2s are annoying as heck with that rangefinder white outs or flare.
I will take the first version M4-2s over the later M4-2s any day.
 
the initial batch had a tendency to develop shutter bounce - usually at 1/125 and 1/250. I had 2-3 of them, 1 did have severe shutter bounce and Midland fixed it. The 2nd one started to do it when we lived in Paris (82/83) and a local technician fixed it. The 3rd one - which was the earliest one never missed a beat.
It is a pretty safe bet today if you buy one of these early one that, if there ever was a problem it is now fixed.
 


This is what the shutter bounce look like. A diagonal "slash" across the image.
 
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The M lens mount and release is better on the first batch of M 4-2s also.

It still was the substantial chromed type that was on the M4 and not that red dot alloy looking stuff on the Later M4-2 and every subsequent M Leica made after, through the present years.
 
If you got the one that was in the classifieds, the fact that Sherry CLA'ed it should settle your mind.
 
no, picked it up locally (canuck).

i am going to work on it so i will send it off after christmas anyhow. not many leica techs where i am heading. the fact that it literally looks like it was never used warrants it i suppose.

thanx for the info Tom. i have been keeping my eyes peeled for the bounce and so far so good.
 
The bounce seems to be a somehow benign issue, but what is this flare thing?
Was the change that introduced th flary patch introduced during M4-2 production?
 
Bought my new in (what?) late 70's. Shutter problems, rough winding, the internals that hold the flash socket broke ( and I rare used flash) other problems I don't recall (and don't want too. Finally got rid of it after the last Leitz repair and went back to an M4 that served me over 30 years with nothing but a CLA.
 
interesting.

I was really ennoyed by the patch on my M6TTL (to the point I sold it).

Given I don't need the new frames, early M4-2's could be a sweet thing to keep in mind.

Any specific Serial number for the change?
 
Bought my new in (what?) late 70's. Shutter problems, rough winding, the internals that hold the flash socket broke ( and I rarely used flash) other problems I don't recall (and don't want to). Finally got rid of it after the last Leitz repair and went back to an M4 that served me over 30 years with nothing but a CLA. There was a reason Leitz stopped production of the M4-2 and came out with the almost identical featured M4-P.
 
sanmich said:
The bounce seems to be a somehow benign issue, but what is this flare thing?
Was the change that introduced th flary patch introduced during M4-2 production?
Click to expand...

Yes it was, I believe a light gathering condenser was removed from the RF path internally to make the RF system simpler and cheaper.
It can cause a whiteout of the RF rectangle when trying to focus through the VF caused mostly while changing angles of light as you move around while in the process of focusing.
This was kept up for all later M Leicas.

I heard that a camera tech can install a condenser on ones that lack it from the factory.
 
sanmich said:
interesting.

I was really ennoyed by the patch on my M6TTL (to the point I sold it).

Given I don't need the new frames, early M4-2's could be a sweet thing to keep in mind.

Any specific Serial number for the change?
Click to expand...

Best is the second batch, Michael. Not only does it flare less, vertical alignment doesn't require a special tool. Or a first batch camera with CLA.

Cheers,

Roland.
 
Get an M2 unless you want a black camera with 28mm framelines. Still made the good old-fashioned way.
 
Tom, thanks to the photograph you posted now I know my M4-2 had that problem before I sent it to Don Goldberg. Since he did a partial CLA, I hope he may have taken care of it.

BTW, mine is part of the "good" batch. I really like it too! :)
 
It seems we have conflicting views on whether the first batch was the good batch or the bad batch?
 
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