What's the story with this M2?

[mto'brien]

Hi,

I've seen this M2 being offered for at least a month now and I assume so have some of you. The seller keeps dropping the price every time they put it up for auction, yet no interest. It is now in user price territory and the seller claims it is an impossible to find Leica M2 rarity. I'm not buying it either.

So, what is with the story in the description? Fake? Top plate from a different body? Real Leica mistake?

http://cgi.ebay.com/LEICA-MIS-PRINT...505682030?pt=Film_Cameras&hash=item230ad6746e

 

[Pickett Wilson]

I've seen the ad and it is hard to make sense of what he is claiming. He seems confused about the difference between an M1 and M2 and about the whole thing with the serial number.

 

[Livesteamer]

The button rewind could be changed to lever rewind. Looks like a regular M2 to me. I'm just scared to spend that much money on e bay with a seller who has less than 100% rating. Joe

 

[Pickett Wilson]

Yeah, it could be a pieced together camera, as well. Kinda spooks me, too.

 

[mto'brien]

ah, good, i'm not the only one.

 

[Tom A]

It is probably a M1 that has had the M2 rangefinder installed. The picture is a bit fuzzy of the top-plate -but it does look like there is no prefix "M2" before the number. It was a fairly common conversion ( I have had a couple done). The M1 is pretty useless as it is and in "the good old days" it was an easy (and cheap conversion). The lever rewind is another simple conversion.
Many years ago I had an old and battered Army green M1 converted - it became an old and battered green M2 instead.

 

[mto'brien]

Thanks for posting that, Tom. makes sense.

 

[drewbarb]

Now ten bucks says somebody snaps it up within 24 hours...

 

[mto'brien]

funny, the auction had about 20 views an hour ago... now it's over 100. if it sells because of this thread, the seller owes me a tortilla.

 

[peterm1]

Leica was known to undertake various conversions back in "the day". I own a 111a with a 1936 serial number (in very fine condition incidentally) that was at some stage updated with the Leica 111f flash sync, complete with the 111f shutter release collar containing a dial to set time for the flash to go off. (Different flash bulbs take different times to reach maximum brightness and had different burn times so they needed to be set off at slightly different times to give a predictabel result. This collar made fine adjustments of that nature.) Also the lens a 1936 50mm Elmar was also updated with the addition of coating, presumambly at the same time. This was a particualrly nice and not all that uncommon conversion.

 

[mto'brien]

interesting, thanks Peter.

I wonder what other conversions leica was known to do?
these would be useful things to know while camera shopping. oh who am I kidding, I'm pretty much always camera shopping.

 

[axiom]

isn't it just an M3 with an M2 top?

 

[Roger Hicks]

interesting, thanks Peter.

I wonder what other conversions leica was known to do?
these would be useful things to know while camera shopping. oh who am I kidding, I'm pretty much always camera shopping.

Anything that was technically possible: even the ones that weren't advertised were often done, much like 'a la carte'. 'Upgrades' on the same basic chassis were quite common. When I saw it, for example, #139 was a ratty II with a horrible (non-Leica) synch added. Remember that was the 9th Leica ever made...

Cheers,

R.

 

[ray*j*gun]

With 3400 transactions and a 96% rating...........no way....too risky.

 

[umcelinho]

isn't it just an M3 with an M2 top?

buddah ears strap lugs made me think the same!

 

[jsrockit]

Check the feedback... he's had issues with other cameras.

 

[ray*j*gun]

Check the feedback... he's had issues with other cameras.

Hmmm lets see 4% of 3400 sales is 136 problems bad enough to get neg feedback. And that's with the new rules on feedback.

 

[sc_rufctr]

The problem is there's no way to verify the origin of this camera.
I doubt it's a Leica mistake as the seller claims.

More likely a repair done on the cheap. Maybe the camera was dropped and the top plate was swapped with one lying around in a techs work area.

At the asking price it's not a bad deal but what else has been "cheaped" out? 😕

 

[dogberryjr]

The button rewind could be changed to lever rewind. Looks like a regular M2 to me. I'm just scared to spend that much money on e bay with a seller who has less than 100% rating. Joe

Right on. If he were 96.4% over 50 transactions? Well, maybe that's just bad luck. 96.4% over 3465 transactions? Run away!

 

[Paul T.]

Right on. If he were 96.4% over 50 transactions? Well, maybe that's just bad luck. 96.4% over 3465 transactions? Run away!

I agree, I wouldn't bother with him, but it's worth noting that the 96.4% is f/b for the past year, not for all his transactions.
Still, his feedback is not impressive:

http://toolhaus.org/cgi-bin/negs?User=jforbes300&Dirn=Received+by