M9 Brassing?

cmogi10

cmogi10

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I have been shooting a black m9 pretty heavily over the past couple months and noticed it's already started to brass along the edges. It took my MP a couple years to start this.

I'm kind of annoyed, why can't they use real paint? or did someone mess up when they were painting mine. :p
 
Mine has chipped in two spots along the edge of the bottom plate after only two months of fairly careful use. I think this is by design. In a year or so I expect to see bunches looking like Winogrand's (only black).
 
Well, I have to say that I don't normally inspect my cameras closely to see whether they're brassing or not, but I'd idly been thinking that the M9 hadn't brassed at all since December when I got it. So I looked closely, and I can't see any brass. It's been used reasonably hard - a good few thousand exposures - and it's never been 'babied' in thousands of miles of travel. So it must be a matter of luck. My MP is quite heavily brassed.

Cheers,

R.
 
Mine is limited to the bottom plate. I checked the body itself, and there's not even any rub marks from the straps (yet). So maybe it is more of a bottom plate issue.
 
Mine has brass marks after only two months of use. Several light marks as well. All on the top plate. I had my M8 for two years and it did not mark like this. I don't baby my cameras, but I'm not hard on them either. Definitely a "softer" paint job on the M9.
 
I don't mind a camera that looks like it's been worked hard. When it HAS been worked hard.
I don't want paint falling off to improve my photo-cred.

I just wanted to see other's experience. I think my M9 has more brassing then my M8, which has been through hell and back.
 
'Brassing is Beautiful'.
There are those who would pay extra to buy used Leica showing it's brass.
-Arun

PS: Brassing is not a real word.
 
Actually, yes. My D3's chipped paint and loose grips look like bad damage. Brassing is just the patina of hard work.

But yes, turning substandard paint quality into a feature is a neat trick.

BTW, brassing is a real word as everyone here knows what it means. Dictionaries and lexicons always trail behind the useful colloquialisms and give them "real word" status after some time.
 
I think you would have to try very hard to find a brassed M8 cmogi10 because all the black ones are all finished in black chrome, its only the M8.2 that has a softer black paint finish.

The M9 is finished in a hard wearing black paint. My black paint MP started to brass from the day I first used it, so its entirely the opposite experience to yours. But my M9 is holding up very well after nine months of hard use, only a tiny scratch on the bottom plate edge and a minisule edge of brass showing on the sharp corner near the viewfinder window. I have seen photo's of very brassed M9's, but I suspect sandpaper, for instance you don't see any ugly scratches on them, only edges that are carefully manicured.

Steve
 
Crikey! I don't inspect my cameras with a loupe for marks, I use them to take photographs..
 
jaapv said:
Crikey! I don't inspect my cameras with a loupe for marks, I use them to take photographs..
Click to expand...


haha, go crikey yourself,

Leica takes great pride in durable well made cameras, the finish is part of that. A discussion on if it is intentionally soft or poorly done, (and if you agree with their desician) is a reasonable argument for both sides.

And if you need a loupe to spot the brassing you might need a less vision driven hobby. ;)
 
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