Got me an M4

[S.H.]

Hello,

some news after some years of lurking around this forum...

For some time now the idea of having a M4* was playing with me (or was it me playing with the idea 🙄 ). I already have a M3 and a M8, but here is the "rational" excuse : I bought a summilux 35 pre asph last year for the M8 as I like the 50mm field. It was quite costly (1300€ in a well known brick and mortar business in Paris), but it turned out good: I like it very much, in fact it is the only lens among those I own that I can recognize. So I "needed" a M with a good 35mm frame and parallax (external finder is OK for playing around exotic gear like Contax II though). I also love classic german gear, with chrome and all (Exakta, Contax, ...) so M4 it was (and they seem cheaper than M4-2/Ps ? 😕 ).

Last Sunday, with my incoming birthday next month (a little depressed about it, as always), I bit the bullet and got this baby on the bay (260835758255):



Hope it will turn out OK... fingers crossed.😱 I feel like I did something wrong buying a body like that, but I know some very good repairmen in Paris if something is fishy, and I have a two weeks period to return it anyway.


Here are some shots I like with the 'lux 35 (M8, night in Paris):

 

[maclaine]

My first M was an M4 that I got right here on this forum but sold a few months later to get a Zeiss Ikon ZM. My mistake, as I miss it very much. Congrats on your purchase, and take lots of pictures.

 

[Beemermark]

The M4 was the peak of the Leica M development. The M4-2 and M4-P were cheaper incarnations re-introduced when the M5 bombed. The M4, according to Sherry Krauter, has only 1, very minor, inexpensive upgrade in it's entire life. Think about how many revisions the M3 had (at least three major changes). I started using Leica M's in the late 70's or early 80's. The M3 was a nice camera but it took a few years and major changes before it reached it's final release. The rewind knob looks cool but try rewinding and reloading quickly (why it this so popular on the MP? So can people pay $$$$ for a thingie to attach to rewind film?). Yes, I know you can learn to live with it but why? The M3 never had an easy answer for wide angle lenses and I'm sorry but wide angle lenses are just made for photo-journalism. And I like the M4 VF magnification a lot more than my M7 or M8.2.

Both the M5 and CL had all kinds of problems, esp in the electrical department. The M4-2, very opinionated here, was a piece of junk from the get go. I had a M4-2, new, and would have given up on Leica at the time if I didn't already own an M4 and lenses.

I could go on and on but my M4 is the only thing I've held on too. Well, OK I sold the one I bought way back when about two years ago and then ended up missing it so much I went and bought another one.

 

[sanmich]

This is how I justify that kind of things:

"Honey, I needed to use the summilux as a 35mm. I just saved 5 K euros by not buying an M9 but an M4" :angel:

Seriously, great choice. and this year I also bought an M4 for my 40th birthday. An M4 produced exactly at my birth time!
And it's in much better shape than me 🙂

Enjoy it. It is really a great camera. Only the M2 is, in my opinion, as good...

 

[nonuniform]

Congrats on the M4. It's the one camera that is always with me. Mine has been repaired a few times now because of my own clumsy behavior, but it's workhorse!

 

[rogerzilla]

I have a photo of that building, taken on my much missed (leaf shutter died) Minoltina-S.

 

[exe163]

I have an M4, too. Though I caress it more than I shoot it. She's such a beauty!

 

[waltere]

Got me an M4

I've had mine for less than a year, it's my first Leica. I love this camera!

 

[S.H.]

Thank you all...

@rogerzilla: yes, it's this building exactly!

I also considered the M2, M4-2, M4-P and M6. Here are my (personal and subjective) thoughts :
- 28mm frames : useful for my w-nikkor-c 28mm, but I barely see them (I wear glasses)
- classical "made in germany" feeling & quality : M2 and M4 could be a tad better, and I know a very knowledgable repairman who thinks the M4 is one of the better build Ms. Last one made in Wetzlar, also last one adjusted by hand but still relatively easy to repair, easier than my early M3.
- the uncluttered finder of the M4 is tempting
- I do not really like the M2 frame counter
- M4 are for me better looking than later Ms 😛
- I do not really need a TTL meter... (I am getting used to 1950s cameras)


Finally, there is the price. I saw on different forums that M4-P and M4-2 were supposed to be cheaper, but I do not really see that trend in recent eBay/classified prices. Are the M4s currently cheaper than they were in the recent past?

 

[S.H.]

Finally, my M4 is arrived! Used but not abused, it still has his factory L seal, speed are within tolerances. My repairman said it will need a CLA at some time, as the lubricants are a bit dry. I will probably do it in a few months.
Not a bad deal after all. 😎


Untitled by s81h

Strangely, I think a saw more M4-2/Ps than M4s in Buy&Sell sections, even if there was more M4s in production...