M4-2! M4-2! M4-2! M4-2!

Great camera, in spite of some bad raps. I've had one since 1982 and it's never failed me. It took great pictures all the way up to the summit of Mt. McKinley (now Denali), unlike an M6 I took on another trip which froze up on me when the temperature was about 10 degrees F.
 
I have had this camera for some time now and have enjoyed it much. But hey, sitting still is sad. I was pondering on which to let go, the M4-2 or the CLE. The CLE won because of small size and the ease of AE. And I still have the IIf.
The winder is big but I liked it anyway. Especially with the hacked GMP grip on it makes handling a lot better. Nice thing with the winder is you feel the shutter button coming up again.
In about a week you will have it in your hands, Dan.
 
I bought an M4-2 in the RFF classifieds, partly because I have no need for a meter, but mainly because it's Canadian made and I am very patriotic. I absolutely love it and I have no regrets whatsoever! I hope it helps you sculpt lovely negs for years to come!
 
Thanks, Rob! Looking forward to receiving it. I think your "hack" to the winder is clever, I like it. I have one of those grips, myself, and I have had to rebuild it, as it had some issues. But it now works well on M5.

I was looking -hard- at the M4, but after reviewing old M4-2 threads here, I think I'd rather have a newer body that takes the winder. I remember handling the -new- M4-2 at a downtown camera store in Denver, Colorado, when I lived there. It was way out of my price range (then), but it isn't now. 🙂


laptoprob said:
I have had this camera for some time now and have enjoyed it much. But hey, sitting still is sad. I was pondering on which to let go, the M4-2 or the CLE. The CLE won because of small size and the ease of AE. And I still have the IIf.
The winder is big but I liked it anyway. Especially with the hacked GMP grip on it makes handling a lot better. Nice thing with the winder is you feel the shutter button coming up again.
In about a week you will have it in your hands, Dan.
Click to expand...
 
mine

2604827022_b61d4ab843_o.jpg
 
It is just like any good ole M6... without the meter. I really like mine. So much I liked it I started a blog, just for the heck of it. You're welcome to peek at it!

Congratulations!
 
I've had two M4-2s, one bought new in 1977 and one bought used in 1996. Loved them both. For a while I used a winder on the 1977 canera, but ultimately found it made the camera too bulky. I share the view that it is a vastly underrated camera, along with the M4-P, which I also had. Now I am using a couple of M6ttls -- I really like having the built-in meter -- but there is nothing wrong with the older ones.
 
Nokton48 said:
Does it do any harm to fire the camera/winder without film in it? On the web a found a warning regarding that, although it seems odd to me. Any worries with that?
Click to expand...

From my own personal experience with cameras, including my M4-2, firing the shutter and playing with the camera without any film in it does not harm the camera. If it does do harm, I'm screwed because I always play around with the camera before buying it to make sure everything performs well.

On a sidenote: I scraped off the white paint from the logos on my M4-2. It wasn't hard to do and I like the plain, low-key look. I've got a picture of it up on my Flickr: http://flickr.com/photos/calexg/3230374576/
 
calexg said:
From my own personal experience with cameras, including my M4-2, firing the shutter and playing with the camera without any film in it does not harm the camera. If it does do harm, I'm screwed because I always play around with the camera before buying it to make sure everything performs well.

On a sidenote: I scraped off the white paint from the logos on my M4-2. It wasn't hard to do and I like the plain, low-key look. I've got a picture of it up on my Flickr: http://flickr.com/photos/calexg/3230374576/
Click to expand...

i got my camera used from a pro, well he used the m4-2 winder a lot.
look at the wear at the contacts. he put several thousand rolls through the thing.

m4drive23.jpg

(im stripping the winder down to make a grip)
 
Erik L said:
i got my camera used from a pro, well he used the m4-2 winder a lot.
look at the wear at the contacts. he put several thousand rolls through the thing.

m4drive23.jpg

(im stripping the winder down to make a grip)
Click to expand...

That is a well used M4-2! The problem with the "big" M4-2/M4-P winder is that it can damage the M4-2's. The early version of the winder was prone to advance before the camera completed the cycle. On the later version Leica made a sightly different drive ( it was designed to absorb and correct for tolerance shifts in the camera body drive). With your winder/camera I suspect that it has done that by brute force!
 
no its my my 1981 m4-p
the winder was worn out, so much use had the motor's screws coming undone. it was horribly noisy. the motor was barely attached and would flop around inside the case. it was barely functioning, and the outside had lost its covering.

i dont know what version it was but it didnt have that post on top that some had to acivate with the shutter.
 
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