The face plate adornment Poll, or The Most Important Poll of our time!

[Calzone]

The only adornment that offends me is the Red Dot used on M4-2's when it was on the vulcanite.

This also was used on some MD-2's, and was inconsistent on M4-2's.

Thankfully my Canadian MD-2 that I use with ultrawides has no said Red Dot.

To be truthful I found it amusing on the other thread how strongly people reacted to the oversized screw used on the rumored M10M. "Mucho entertainment value," I say.

Cal

 

[Ambro51]

Make the screw from a material which is impossible to damage, mar, strip paint from material. It’s a focal point visually and a black camera with a burred screw showing Bright is ugly

 

[AlwaysOnAuto]

I just looked at the thread Cal referred to and the rumored M10M with it's big wood screw front and center.
I'd have preferred a button head socket head cap screw myself.

 

[css9450]

Make the screw from a material which is impossible to damage, mar, strip paint from material. It’s a focal point visually and a black camera with a burred screw showing Bright is ugly

Which camera was it - the Minox 35 I think? - which had the battery compartment cover right there on the front of the camera? Maybe that was the look Leica was trying to replicate. Imagine how hokey that would look after the owner tries to open it a few times with the wrong-sized coin...

 

[drewbarb]

For what it's worth, I kind-of like the simple red dot with Leica script branding in general; but I think Leica should keep it on brochures, hats and tote bags and such. I REALLY DON'T like it on the front of the camera. It's awkward and silly to have the name on the front of the camera twice, and I find the dot unnecessary and distracting. Not to mention it seriously detracts from the looks of the camera, even though that's something I don't care very much about. I don't even like the black dot option. I do like the Leica script on the top plate, especially on the older cameras; but the newer version of it is somehow a little less lovely, but only just. I did like the painted Leitz script on the top plate of the M4-2 cameras I have seen. And I must admit I kind-of lusted after the stealth version with no branding whatsoever when they did the A la Carte program. But these days if I were to buy a new Leica (very unlikely, given my finances and priorities) I would definitely go the extra mile to get one without that red dot. It would have to be a heck of a good deal for me to buy a camera with the dot, and I would definitely put a piece of gaffers tape over it ASAP, just as I did the last time I had a camera with a red dot.

Between flat and domed screws on the front, I don't mind either way; and happily I wouldn't be bothered by the slot being off axis at all, though I sympathize with those who would.

I am sorry I didn't include the gaffer's tape option in the poll. That was an oversight; bit I am gratified that the last option is (so far) still in the lead. Good thing we can enjoy a laugh over this silliness.

 

[David Hughes]

Well, I live in a small village and really only wellie green or mud brown would be acceptable.


Regards, David

 

[madNbad]

A Hughes Special Edition M10M! Muddy brown with a green rubber covering. Maybe scratch it up a bit like they did for Lenny.

 

[Pál_K]

Leica needs the "atomic" symbol, such as on the Yashica Electro 35. Why? Because we are in the atomic age. Atoms are everywhere!

If it were some adjustable thing, people would screw the rangefinder up (literally). To give an example, using a quote from the great Colin Chapman regarding making the F1 suspension adjustable by the driver:

"Make the suspension adjustable and they will adjust it wrong -- look what they can do to a Weber carburetor in just a few moments of stupidity with a screwdriver."

 

[farlymac]

Maybe they should move it to the back of the camera.


PF

 

[pyeh]

The thing about that big screw and the little access hole it covers is that you need an obscure specialised tool (which sure you can grind one yourself from a jewellers screwdriver) to work the perversely placed rangefinder vertical adjustment screw. So Leica made that adjustability primarily for shop techs to do, not for DYI. In which case they might as well have made the access to it through the hotshoe, like other rangefinders do, and obviated a hole in the front face altogether. That would make everything so much neater and we wouldn't be having this decades old discussion at all.
Given all that, now that we have this historic hole, my preference would be to have it covered with a flush fitted, non-branded circular plate, finished to match the surrounding metal.

 

[Chris101]

On my M4P the red dot says "Leitz" not Leica.

When I got my first M4P, I didn't like the gaudiness of the dot, so I obscured it. Then I came to like it, so I proudly displayed the dot on my second camera (also a M4P.) However I got a Zhou case for it, so the dot is hidden once again. Here it is, in all it's glory (with the controversial screw, domed and obtuse, in the background.)

Hey, my RF patch is slightly misaligned vertically. Is it true, that if I remove the screw, there is a screw inside that I can adjust the vertical alignment with?

 

[raydm6]

...and while we're at it... 🙂

• Leica Individualisation - Exclusivity to the point of uniqueness
• Engraving - Distinctively personal

 

[Rob-F]

On my M4P the red dot says "Leitz" not Leica.

When I got my first M4P, I didn't like the gaudiness of the dot, so I obscured it. Then I came to like it, so I proudly displayed the dot on my second camera (also a M4P.) However I got a Zhou case for it, so the dot is hidden once again. Here it is, in all it's glory (with the controversial screw, domed and obtuse, in the background.)

Hey, my RF patch is slightly misaligned vertically. Is it true, that if I remove the screw, there is a screw inside that I can adjust the vertical alignment with?

The red dot on my M4P says Leitz, too. Maybe they all do.

The vertical rangefinder adjustment is behind the screw, but I believe it may require a special tool (I haven't needed to make the adjustment).

 

[raydm6]

Early M6's had the "Leitz" red dot then later "Leica". Not sure when the change occured but according to Stephen: https://www.cameraquest.com/m6dif.htm

...M6's made at Wetzlar are so marked on the top plate, and also had "Leitz" on the red front decal. After the 1988 move to Solms, the cameras were marked Germany only, and "Leitz" was replaced by "Leica." Some M6's are marked only "M6" on the front in rather large letters, not "Leica M6." ...

 

[Rob-F]

Actually no Leica looks right without the frameline illumination window. There should be one on all Leicas, even if not needed for anything. This is the reason I don't buy an M240, M10, etc. They don't measure up in the most important way. It has nothing to do with money, of course. Leica decisions never do.

 

[jsrockit]

I will go ahead and say it... I like the red dot. That is classic for me. And if I’m really honest, I like them all....except the big red dot on the vulcanite of the M4-P. Still I’d have no problem using an M4-P.

 

[Ambro51]

So....what’s the origin of tge Red Dot Anyway? My theory (no doubt wrong) is that it’s an homage to the red dot on the Null Series shutter speed dial that denotes the point of rotation where you can lift and reset the speed dial.

 

[sepiareverb]

I’m sure the screw speeds up servicing a camera. Have you ever removed a red dot? Takes a while.

 

[giganova]

I love a black Leica logo, but this seems to be frowned upon by Leicaphiles.

 

[giganova]

Leica should sell t-shirts with a screw.