M4-2 misconceptions

kbg32 said:
I owned a M4-2 for over 20 years before selling it to Blake. (BTW, you still owe me $100 you frickin' redneck.)

I bought mine new. Paid $600 dollars. It did come with a pinhole in one of the shutter curtains. Leica USA was kind enough to replace it and get it back to me in less then two weeks at the time. Leica had an office in the Gulf-Western Building on Columbus Circle here in NYC. I brought it to them with a couple of contact sheets and negatives, and they took care of it. Why didn't I just return it to the shop where I purchased it? I worked at the shop, Camera Barn, and policy was if you bought something, and something was wrong, you had to deal with the manufacturer. Other then the pinhole, that camera performed flawlessly for the remainder of the time it was in my possession.
Click to expand...
Camera Barn- I remember seeing those ads in one of the many modern photography magazines I had lying around

Who were the other premier NYC shops at the time?
 
GarageBoy said:
Camera Barn- I remember seeing those ads in one of the many modern photography magazines I had lying around

Who were the other premier NYC shops at the time?
Click to expand...

Olden Camera (where I bought my first Leicas), Cambridge Camera, 47th Street Photo ... these are the ones I remember best. I used to take the D train to Manhattan after school (high school in the Bronx) and visit them every few weeks.

There were several others, IIRC.

G
 
Robert Lai said:
Those of you who downloaded the Modern Photography review of the M4-2 will note that the flash contact mount was pointed out as a source of weakness. Instead of the aluminum mount used in the previous cameras, on the M4-2 the flash synch port mount was plastic. Even on the test camera Modern said hairline cracks had developed on the plastic.

So, yes the original flash mounting was definitely a problem due to cost cutting. But, surely it can be fixed properly today if it hasn't already been done in the course of time.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure how they are meant to be fixed. When Youxin CLA'd my M4-2 ( that the dood who sold it to me with foggy vf claimed it was cla-d....) he said someone had at least once repaired the flash contacts by gluing them back in. He had to reglue them as part of the cla, but when i got the camera back I made the mistake of putting in those white plug caps, which snagged my shirt and snapped them off again. So I glued them back in, again, and no longer used those caps so there is nothing to snag against.
The camera itself has been great, and I much prefer the vf than that of the m4-p, m6, mp, even my m7. As long as I do not need to use a 28mm lens. Which I rarely do. My CLE is for that.
 
Prices on M4-P's are running low these days. I bought a minty black one for $795 this past summer and see them on the auction sight now in minty condition for $895.
 
Huss said:
... As long as I do not need to use a 28mm lens. Which I rarely do. My CLE is for that.
Click to expand...

Since I can't see 28mm framelines even when I have them due to my glasses, everything I can see in the viewfinder is close enough... :)

G
 
Well, I'm quite happy with my early M4-2. I bought it in 2011, had the viewfinder taken care of, and done nothing other than use it since. It works as perfectly as I need it to ... :)

G
 
To date, mine is my default camera. In any format and in any medium.

And Tom, I'm happy to learn about the durability of the 1500xxx and later cameras as mine is of that batch.
The previous owner(s) hadn't enough carefulness so the camera looks beat up. But Youxin Ye has rebuilt it internally and I'm happy as a clam with it.

Once life turns around, I may seek some artsy-rendering black lenses for it. Say a 1.5/50 C Sonnar and an adapted 2/85 LTM Sonnar.
 
I bought a new one when they first came out and used it professionally for quite a few years. I shot a lot of film through it but didn't abuse it and never had an issue. In nearly fifty years of using them the only issues I've had were a couple of RF alignments on my first M3 in the 60's and a self timer spring that broke. I had my 1960 M2 need its first cleaning about five years ago and my new MP a la cart shutter had a shutter capping problem. I've owned more than a dozen new and used bodies and shot thousands of rolls through them. I currently have and shoot four bodies. I still have and shoot my 1960 M2 and am the 2 new owner, dry nice M3 SS, minty M4-P and my MP I bought new. The digital and Leica lenses are another story though. I've owned M2's, M3's, M4's, M4-2, M4-P's and MP's. The M4-2 was just as good as all of the others, no difference.
 
The "woe is me M 4-2" saga must be at least a decade old running thread here on RFF. It is periodically dusted off and presented to a mostly new audience. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom