Black or Silver? Poll

Black or Silver? Poll

  • Black

    Votes: 646 50.7%

  • Silver

    Votes: 426 33.4%

  • Not bothered. Worthless question anyway!

    Votes: 203 15.9%
  • Total voters
    1,275
Honestly? I'm just happy to have a Leica. I never thought I'd be able to afford one (still not sure I can), and somehow I now have TWO and a bunch of lenses.
FWIW, the bodies are chrome, as are most of the lenses (the two ZM lenses I have are black).

It doesn't really matter though, I'd be perfectly happy with black too.
or even Tom's purple one... http://www.cameraquest.com/TAnotcoll.htm (scroll half-way down the page)

-Brian
 
Ming Rider said:
It's just my opinion, so don't beat me but I always felt the silver finish kind of, dare I say, cheapened them (slightly, just a bit). Like it was trying to be something it wasn't, ie. made of silver. Rather like gold colored cars.

The original Leica silver color was, I assume, the color of the metal used (Nickel ?) or was it alloy?

Oopps, I think i've opened another can of worms.

I would easily be the first to say that I do carry the M8 with just a touch of superiority (snobbery even). Afterall, that's one reason why I bought it.
Click to expand...


Leica's, and many other cameras, were originally painted black as the process of producing a chrome plated body was not widely available. Once the process was economical, use of chrome was widespread as it is more durable than paint.

Black painted cameras were preferred by studio professionals as it did not reflect light that might make its way into the photograph, and war photographers preferred Black painted cameras as chrome cameras make easy targets.
 
Last edited:
How about the perversion of a black body and a chrome lens?

3823427365_1f17da9cc6_o.jpg
 
I will always love my chrome MP, but I have a black M9 on order.

I have two lenses, a chrome 35/2 and a black 75/2 --both were bought second-hand, so I didn't really have as free a choice. I guess I will end up with a good mix of chrome and black, I don't care too much.
 
Hey guys...

Black or Silver? This is not a stupid question! People who say this a waste time don't understand how important this really is. 😡 In order to underline this, I'm using the first ever emoticon in a post. Probably the last as well...

I learned the hard way. When I had two silver cameras and told my girlfriend, bring this camera or that camera, it was always the WRONG ONE. Arguments always ensued...

Now that I sold one of the silver ones and bought a black one instead, we never have anymore arguments about her bringing the wrong camera! Very clear request, "Honey, bring the black one..." She always gets it right.

So: my answer, I prefer silver, but I have one of each.

JP
 
I started with a chrome SLR (Pentax K1000), then i had my father's Nikkormat in black, he then bought me my black, it took my about 5 minutes to break that (ripped out the film door release and tried to fix it myself... stupid teenagers), a few months later, he decided to buy me another FE for my birthday, a chrome FE, loved that camera, used it for a couple years, dropped it, broken. Eventually, I bought my own cameras, all in black. When i got my m6, black made sense, a bit more discrete i guess. I have black lenses on mine, but when i had the 21 biogon in silver, that was beautiful too.
 
I had decided to get a black M9 (one of these days), but then I saw a silver one in real life. Now I'm not so sure anymore.

Jarle
 
Started with a silver Praktica L, then ´til today a silver FE, two silver Rollei 35SE, one black Minox 35GT, last year a black R-D1 and right now a silver M8.2. So I think I´m more the classical type in terms of camera color. I vote for silver.

There was also a lot of stuff more in between (all these ugly black Nikon D-SLRs) but that doesn´t realy count 🙂
 
I've been using a black M6 for the last couple of years and it's lovely and of course very discreet but having just bought a chrome M8 there is really no contest. The chrome is a much prettier camera. But with black not chrome lenses...and who are these strange people who like chrome lenses on black bodies!

Thrice: Slightly off topic here but what is that half case? I'm looking for one just now. Luigi is too expensive.
 
Brian Sweeney said:
Leica's, and many other cameras, were originally painted black as the process of producing a chrome plated body was not widely available. Once the process was economical, use of chrome was widespread as it is more durable than paint.

Black painted cameras were preferred by studio professionals as it did not reflect light that might make its way into the photograph, and war photographers preferred Black painted cameras as chrome cameras make easy targets.
Click to expand...

Hey, Brian! Stop introducing facts into a perfectly good argument!

(Especially when you beat me to it by a week).

Cheers,

R.
 
Well... I took three black M cameras to war and it wouldn't have mattered if they were PINK. Although if I had to hand select a color to paint my cameras again, a flat matte dark grey would be fitting for today's conflicts in third world countries. Anything new really stands out in those kind of situations, whether it was our uniforms, gear, etc. When things started to get used, broken in and dirty they were actually more effective. And more importantly - more comfortable. Cameras are no different.

Second thought, maybe pink would be a nice choice.
 
I noticed that the answers are in favor of black by almost two to one. That is a good reason to get the silver, if you ask me. 😉
 
tightsqueez said:
Well... I took three black M cameras to war and it wouldn't have mattered if they were PINK.
Click to expand...

By the way, PINK was the camouflage colour used by SAS in Africa during II world war.

Anyway, when I decided to buy a M8 I looked for a black one but I had to take a silver one. Now I love her. But next M9 will be black in order to distinguish it from the former.

I agree with whum maintains that stealth depends on how you use the camera, more than on its colour.
 
Last edited:
Does anyone have more new pics of the steel gray M9 (in real life, with either black or silver lens)?

I'm just interested to see how it looks with people holding it (+accessories like thumbsup, etc)... Most of the shots I've seen are just promotional shots... They've made over 4000+ of these so some pictures of them must be on the net somewhere... Searching on flickr doesn't seem to reveal much at all. People with steel gray M9, show them off a little! 🙂
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom