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LEICA M4

Leica M4 is a camera with relatively simple performance but complex production background. It is also the dividing line between the function and appearance of the early Leica M and the later Leica M. The Leica M4 has learned a lot from the design experience of the Japanese camera, which has changed the appearance of the camera to some extent, but the design essence of the Leica M camera has been preserved.

Since the function of M4 is really simple, let's take a look at its appearance first. Almost all the functions are written on the face. I chose a black paint M4 at auction, but in reality, most of the M4 is silver, and the original black paint is very few. Many of the black paint M4 we see are post-made, and there are craftsmen in both China and Japan.

The shutter of M4 is the horizontal curtain shutter since M3, the speed is 1000, with B gate, flash synchronization 45. This cloth shutter will burn a hole if it keeps facing the sun. If the shutter is maintained, the accuracy and stability are very good.

The viewfinder has the same structure as M2, with a view magnification of 0.7 and a wide-angle orientation, and a new frame line is added, with a total of four frame lines, 35, 50, 90 and 135. If you are friends who often use Leica cameras, then these four lines must be enough, followed by 28 and 75, which are used a little more, while 75 is rarely used.

The camera is equipped with timing shooting and can take selfies. Like the previous M camera, it is placed on the front in a twisted way. However, the appearance of the front part of the M4 has changed. It is no longer an all-in-one part of the M3 Magi M2, but a split piece. This appearance also feels like a Japanese camera. In fact, the split can not improve the user experience much.

Compared with the previous M2 cameras, the main changes, or upgrades, of the M4 are at the non-exposure operating level.

M4 uses the small window count of M3 to change the shape of the over-wrench and the structure of the inverted piece.

The passing piece is changed into a split part, which reduces the angle of passing the film, and theoretically can improve the speed and feel of the passing piece. In fact, this kind of film will be easy to use only if your eyes don't leave the viewfinder, otherwise it won't make much difference.

The reverse film is changed from a button to a rotating wrench, which greatly improves the efficiency of the camera. Before that, reporters added a part to the inverted film in order to improve efficiency, which can be seen on the Leica M3D.

In addition to improving the efficiency of film passing and rewinding, the biggest change is to improve the efficiency of film installation.

We'd like to see how the traditional M3 and M2 are installed. To tell you the truth, many people recommend M3 and M2 to beginners. I guess the novice will have to search the video for half a day even how to load the film.

Leica cameras do not open the back cover, but open the bottom cover, this is ancestral, L39 screwdriver camera like this. As for why, it is technically because the Leica body has been integrated since L39, which can improve the strength and durability of the fuselage.

After opening, the shaft of the film can be removed, and then you pull out the film first, clamp the shaft, and then aim at the anti-reversing gear when you put the film back together with the shaft. The schematic diagram is as follows, which is from the M3 manual.

Although it looks very simple, but when you change the roll, you have one hand film and one hand film spool, where do you put the camera? It can only be somewhere else, or put it on your leg, and you can't move it, or you can put it in the right place.

Therefore, the installation mode of the M3M 2, which is inherited from the L39 camera in the 1920s, must have been backward and inefficient in the 1950s and 1960s.

However, the Leica fuselage has been working on one piece for decades, and it is impossible to open the door now.

As a result, Leica engineers launched a three-claw quick assembly on the M4.

Or the instruction manual, this is the M4 manual, the installation of a picture, just this change can feel that the installation of the film is faster. And starting with the M4, when the Leica M camera opens the bottom cover, you can see a schematic diagram of loading.

Leica sets up three claws in the place where the roll is loaded, just pull the head out, plug it into the gap in the claw, aim it at the anti-reversing gear, and hang it up at once. In fact, this action can be done with one hand, and its efficiency is much higher than that of M3, because M3 Magi M2 has one more film to hang on the spool, and the spool needs to be aligned, both of which are not available on M4.

Since then, M cameras have been installed in this way. In fact, according to my experience over the years, this kind of film is indeed faster than opening the door, but beginners often do not pay attention to the inverted gear which leads to empty hanging, so we should pay attention to it when installing it, especially after we go up, we must pass the film and make sure we hang it up.

There is another problem here, that is, M2murR. Leica's M2 was discontinued in 1968 and the M4 was launched in 1967, which means M2 was not out of production when the M4 was launched. So it was the M4 that launched first, and then the last batch of M2 was changed into a three-claw film, that is, M2MurR. M2Murr has produced more than 2000 units in total, and the number is very small.

After looking at our head picture, we probably guessed that there is no photometry in M4, not to mention TTL, there is no external photometry.

Leica M4 was launched in 1967, when the Japanese SLR camera TTL has a lot of metering, and external metering has become standard.

What Leica means is that, anyway, there is a linked external light meter, and the metering system on the M3 and M2 can continue to be used on the M4, and it is also very convenient. And at that time, the flash was mainly disposable, less using the cold boots above, and more using the flash interface on the back of the machine.

The M4 is a camera launched by Leica in 1967, and its performance is backward compared to the 1954 M3, even in the viewfinder. It can be said to be an upgraded version of M2, not an upgraded version of M3. Moreover, in terms of the technical content of the camera at that time, the electronic technology content of the M camera could not be compared with that of the Japanese camera, and it could only win by taking into account durability.

But, in essence, by 1967, Leica M had lost its main target customer, journalists. Reporters do not pursue picture quality, they only pursue shooting, so for them, SLR cameras are much more efficient than paraxial cameras. I saw the MP,M3 black paint they auctioned at the Leica auction, which used to be used by journalists and humanities photographers, most of which were sold in the 1960s, but now it has been changed several times.

The production time of the M4 was very short, from 1967 to 1975, and only 60,000 units were produced, compared with 80,000 units produced by M2 and 220000 units by M3. In fact, in 1975, Leica closed its German factory and all their production was transferred to Canada. The Leica Canadian factory actually existed in 1952, and many M3s were assembled there and shipped back to Germany for testing.

The later M4-2 and M4Murp were also made in Canada, and it was not until M6, when Leica assets were restructured, that they returned to Germany to make cameras.

Although the production time of the M4 is very short, it coincides with the heaviest time of the Vietnam War, so it has become a kind of military aircraft with both durability and military ELCAN lens, which is used by the US military, code-named KE-7A.

ELCAN is the acronym of Leica Canada, can also be written as ELC, it is not the name of a lens, but a brand of Leica. Moreover, this brand is mainly used in military products, and its main products are military telescopes and scope.

In order to keep the camera low-key, black painting is used. As mentioned earlier, the original black M4 is very few. As for the performance of the camera, it is an M4, which is now a collection because of its military special lettering. As for ELCAN lenses, a small number of 50amp 2 lenses have been sold on the market.

In addition, Leica also designed a green military camera. Leica M3MAL M1 all have green military aircraft, mainly for West German Army reconnaissance use, the number is small. Among them, M4 green is the least, a total of only 31 units have been produced for military use, in fact, there are not many M3, only 140.

As for M4-2 and M4Murp, it will not be shown here today.

This article is from the official Wechat account: film fan club (ID:jiaojuanmi), author: Shanghai Old dirty Turtle

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