New In the court of the King M

[edodo]

"Ah, Zinc iz wunderbar!"

Hello all, let me join this section as I just bought a nice button rewind Leica M2 on evilbay. I come from a leitz IIIa and love its finish in chrome. I was planning on buying a used M6 or TTL but when I learnt that neither of them has brass top housing... just plain ugly nickel 😉 I choose a old M body. I was lurking at some nice double stroke M3 as they are so beautiful and certainly smooth, but I needed to frame a 35mm without those expensive finder.
Now I will mount on this baby my jupiter 12 and first summicron! Can someone please give some advice on a M39 to bayonnet M adapter? My M2 has the lever for the frame, so I don't need special adapter to bring the correct frame? Are the new voigtlander adapter any good? Are those low price chinese adapter on the bay any good? ...

 

[Magus]

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[edodo]

oups, you got me, but yet the ugly zinc 😎 still look pretty ugly as I fell in love with those forever lasting chrome on brass finish... so smooth, so beautiful under any sunlight... stop me, GAS freak ... keep telling yourself its just a camera... But hey my IIIa has such a beautiful chrome and it's 70 years old... I like the tool the M6 is, but those 10 years old M6 bodies just look bad in my humble(gear geek) opinion :angel:.

 

[Kyle]

You're going to need to get the correct adaptor for your lens. You can use just any adaptor for any lens, but holding the lever down while shooting gets REALLY old after a while. So if you're mounting a J12 on your M2, make sure you get the 35/135 adaptor.

As far as adaptors go, your best bet is a genuine Leica adaptor (usually just marked as a 135mm adaptor, if I'm not mistaken). Your second best bet is a brand new Voigtlander adaptor ($55 from Cameraquest, Photovillage, etc). The Leica adaptors sell for $40-100 depending on where you buy them. They typically sell on the low end on this forum. Cheapo generic $19 adaptors should be avoided.

 

[Magus]

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[rpsawin]

Edodo,

Congrat's on the M2. They are well built, uncluttered wonderful cameras to use. I have an M2 and use the CV Adapters,purchased at CameraQuest, with my lsm lenses. They work quite well and I have had no trouble with them. I think you would find that it's best to match the adapter to lens ( 35mm-to-35mm,50mm-to-50mm) as attempting to frame a shot, focus and manually select the proper frameline would be quite unpleasent and take away from the pleasure and enjoyment inherint in the M2.

Best Regards,

Bob

 

[Alec]

I beg to differ. The titanium M6, as well as several limited editions, does have a brass top plate. This (and the faux ostrich) is part of why I purchased one 😀

But I still love my M2. Welcome to the club edodo!

 

[peter_n]

What is all this stuff about brass? What's wrong with nickel, zinc, aluminum or anything else?

Presumably then you wouldn't buy most Leica lenses because they're not made of brass? Sorry but I don't get this one. 😕

 

[kevin m]

A button-rewind M2 with a Jupiter 12 was my first Leica, so congrats!

I have three screwmount adapters, two Leitz and one VC and they all function the same. The engraving is prettier on the Leitz versions, naturally. 😉

 

[Flyfisher Tom]

VC adapters work just fine.

Welcome to the club 🙂

 

[SolaresLarrave]

What is all this stuff about brass? What's wrong with nickel, zinc, aluminum or anything else?

Presumably then you wouldn't buy most Leica lenses because they're not made of brass? Sorry but I don't get this one. 😕

Fetish, Peter... these people with a brass fetish just don't get the point. I couldn't care less about the material of the top plate. In fact, my two M6TTL are very capable cameras, and proud of being made out of zinc.

Sorry, you're welcome in the forum, but your rationale to choose a camera simply gets no empathy from yours-truly.

 

[Kyle]

Its just a feeling that you're getting a classic, or "old-school" feel in a modern camera.

 

[shenkerian]

I think part of it also is how the finish looks as it's used -- black chrome on zinc shows wear differently from black paint on brass. I personally prefer the latter, although not enough to justify the cost.

 

[edodo]

Sorry dear M6 users, "Ah, Zinc iz wunderbar!"; the M6 is a very nice tool, but for me not the perfect camera! Alec, the TTL titaniums and those TTL brass tops from the last batch are really sought after I presume, you are lucky to enjoy such a camera! I am still student and not in photography area but in musicology so a camera for me, excuse the fetish way I choose a camera, is just but a picture taking machine that I find the most exquisite, otherwise I'll shoot a digital p&s, what I just can't do seeing the bad image quality. I preffer analogue to super sharp. I like even the look of the old screwmount summarit over any modern lens. I like to have a tool that respond to my desire technically like the M2 like the "no shutter lag" and the silent thing and the inherent benefits of the M form factor. And mostly because I love the chrome on the leica IIIa, I like to shoot a brass top chrome camera.

Thanks for all the advices here, I love this forum because there are great people in here. I hope that the way I like the camera isn't too odd because it's just that I love that special character, and I am not a professional photog so I don't need the most pragmatical tool, just a tool that I can love for its gorgeous beauty, alias its chrome on brass top hehe!http://nemeng.com/leica/042b.shtml

 

[Magus]

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