So, if you designed your own Limted Edition MP...

[Gabriel M.A.]

Santa cachucha, indeed, this is fun. I feel like a kid with my nose and mouth on the chocolatier's window (ok, there is a chocolate factory at the city I was born, and people travel to buy there, so just let me...)

Here are mine (yes, I went as far as going with two!) Anybody with about $10,000? You can buy lots and lots of pictures from me 😀

 

[former member]

I wonder if we all pitched in if we could not just buy Leica and be done with it.

Leica, An RFF owned Company.

40% Discount to RFF members.

 

[cp_ste.croix]

I wonder if we all pitched in if we could not just buy Leica and be done with it.

Leica, An RFF owned Company.

40% Discount to RFF members.

that's the best idea I've heard today.

 

[Mohan]

I would love a black paint MP-3 with M-7 rewind and no preview lever.

 

[x-ray]

I just received my a la carte MP this past Friday. It has a .85x VF, black chrome (much better than my black M6), black ostrich skin, traditional MP controls, complete set of frame lines and signature on the back. I would modify the frame lines if i could but checking with Leica and DAG it is impossible. I would make the bottom frame line complete across the bottom of the frame for the 35 and 50 plus ad corners to the 75 frame. The feel of the leather is so much better than the vulcanite.


http://www.photo.net/photodb/member-photos?user_id=790229

 

[MelanieC]

This IS fun!

I guess I'm weird, but I just don't get the appeal of the black paint.

To avoid basically recreating the M3 I have, I went for green leather.

 

[Andrew Sowerby]

Nuthin too strange:

MP with M7 rewind; black chrome; black vulcanite; .72 VF with 28/35/50/75; blank top plate except for "AJS" monogram.

 

[Doug]

I think I'd go for an M7 with MP3 top style and hardware including knob rewind, navy enamel with soft navy cowhide, traditional engraving, 0.58x finder with 28, 35, 50, and 75mm framelines. Wish it were possible to pair 24mm frames with the 35...

 

[amateriat]

I wonder if we all pitched in if we could not just buy Leica and be done with it.

Leica, An RFF owned Company.

40% Discount to RFF members.

Or at least controlling interest... 😀

This really has been fun. Everyone here, IMO, has put forth a more interesting custom Leica than the the RG edition on offer – maybe not entirely to my liking, but certainly more interesting.

I suppose part of what got me going with this thread are the LHSA Leicas that collectors go nuts over – often for reasons I can't fathom – and simply thought (brain in Don Quixote mode...again), what it might be like to create a limited edition RFf Leica for the non-collector, or, perhaps, the stealth collector...after all, the most sought-after Leicas to this day (not to mention Nikon rangefinders) were produced with absolutely no thought of collector status, but do represent a standard of build quality for an era.

My ideas about the things that are useful (and useless) in a camera have sharpened over the last handful of years (aided by briefly dragging around a then-newfangled big-assed Canon 1D). Say what one will about Leica (and we will, no matter what), the ability to create a bespoke Leica M, here in the early 21st Century, is wonderful, if you can afford the tab. Perhaps we can come up with something less financially exalted: say, an RFf-edition Zeiss Ikon...


- Barrett

 

[Uncle Bill]

Ok my custom MP would be with the black paint, black leather covering, no red dot, the usual engraving on top with Bill Smith Special added, framelines for 35, 50, 75 and 90 and the M3 rewind(its what I am used to).

Bill

 

[SDK]

Well I admit to foolishly ordering an M7 customized with 0.58X Finder, Black Paint, Chrome Controls and Lizard Look Black skin. I love it, but I really did not need it. See below for a crappy digital pic from the lab's Kodak DC 290. I probably would go for Vulcanite skin if I were doing it today. Still it's nice to have a unique picture taking engine, and I carry it and make pictures with it every day. So far the black paint is holding up rather well, with only a little brassing on the base edges and some fine scratches, after 1.25 years of use.

The only thing I would want to do that's not in the a la carte menu is leave off the 50mm and 90mm framelines, so I could Just have 28mm, 35mm and 75mm framelines to go with my favorite lenses. I'm sure most people would find this a totally weird set of framelines.

I think the worst thing about the R. Gibson MP is the lack of the preview lever. I never find it gets in the way and it is very useful to help gauge if I want to change lenses. I also think it would look better in black paint instead of black chrome. The LHSA MP3's are much, much prettier cameras.