The M4-2 is the ******* child of the M4 from a drunken and very loose night in Canada.
Love mine, it is after all a decent camera, no less than any other Leica.
I found the rangefinder patch too prone to flare, is there any chance to place a M4 finder into M4-2? Its my favourite looking M.
The M4-2 is the camera that saved Leica Camera from extinction in 1978, when R system sales had tanked, the M5 too, and the CL was costing them way too much money in warranty repairs and rework costs.
Three batches of M4-2s were made, 1978, 1979, and 1980, before it was replaced by the M4-P. The first batch and part of the second had exactly the same viewfinder optics as the M4, although the RF mechanism was redesigned to be simpler and not require as much hand work to assemble. (This latter was part of the re-engineered manufacturing process designed to reduce cost of manufacture while maintaining quality in order to enable Leica a survivable profit margin.)
A running change was made to the viewfinder optics about the middle of the second batch which removed one element from the viewfinder optical assembly. The intent of this change was to increase the brightness of the frame lines (due to customer requests); unfortunately, it increased the propensity of the focusing patch to flare. This change continued through all subsequent M cameras until the MP, when Leica came out with an updated set of viewfinder optics that eliminated the problem.
When I returned to Leica Ms in 2011, I specifically looked for an early batch M4-2 as the M4 had my favorite viewfinder. Just four frame line sets—35, 50, 90, 135—with fine, clear, but not overly bright illumination; the perfect range for a 0.72x viewfinder M, and a very simple, uncluttered view.
The M4-2 is my last and favorite film M. I bought it cheap and neglected for $700, body only, and had the viewfinder/rangefinder cleaned, collimated, and calibrated for another $100 after I got it. The steel film transport gears are beautifully worn-in and are as smooth as any M3, M2, or M4 that I've used. The hot-shoe allows me to use an an RF flash trigger when needed, without any adapters. It's only problem now is that the shutter needs to be cleaned and recalibrated; it runs a fast at one end and slow at the other at 1/500 and 1/1000 (about .3EV off at 1/1000), but since I mostly use it with ASA 400 film and a 2.5 stop orange filter, it's rarely set to more than 1/125 second. I'll get that done someday.
I don't intend to sell the M4-2, ever. It will likely outlast me.
G