Re: [Leica] Quality (was: Chrome M4 made in Canada)

[Rob Schneider-Laura Tully <robslaurat@earthlink.net>]

Since many folks around here like to ponder the imponderable, chew on this
awhile:

M4 cameras were made at the Midland plant in Canada.  Bill Rosauer noted
that M2's and M3's were built at Midland as well.  If I'm not mistaken, no
one challenges the quality of these cameras -- they're good ol' M2's, M3's,
M4's that just happened to have been built in Canada.  Some of these cameras
sell for oodles o' greenbacks, so they are "collectable" as well.

Yet, when the M4 was revived as the M4-2, with all tooling and construction
shifted to Midland, the consensus, apparently, was that the camera was a
dog, the build quality sucked, etc.  When I owned an M4-2, which worked fine
and felt like a Leica to me, I was told by one highly regarded independent
Leica repair person, in a totally unsolicited remark, "the M4-2 is the worst
Leica ever built."

So, was the M4-2 a 16,000-piece demonstration of Canadian forgetfulness
(they had built these cameras before, right?) and incompetence?  Or is there
just some collector's bias that says, since they "cheapened" the M4 (is a
self-timer really a crucial indicator of camera quality?) the camera is a
pile of crap.  I don't believe that bias applies to the gold-and-snakeskin
"Elvis" edition M4-2, but I suspect few of those classy numbers were ever
put through their paces.

To reiterate,  I liked my M4-2 a lot, and thought it was a great deal.  (I
still think the M4-2 is undervalued and a great deal.)  I did not say the
M4-2, nor Canadian construction and quality control, were crappy.  Others,
however, including an esteemed repair person and a noted dealer told me the
camera was a stinker.  My M4-2 looked like a Leica M, felt like a Leica M,
and, most important, worked like a Leica M.  The people in Midland had
experience building M4's, but to this day Leica connoisseurs say the M4-2 is
garbage.  How come?

Rob Schneider

> The Midland engraved M4 Chrome cameras are in the batch 1178001 - 1178100.
> Lager's book shows #1178005 with Midland engraving.  I have seen another of
> these cameras but did not record the serial number.  All of the black chrome
> M4's were made in Canada, although most were engraved Wetzlar.  Again, only a
> minority were engraved Midland.  In fact, M2's and M3's were also made in
> Canada.  Another tip off of manufacturing origin is the wax seal at the 12
> o'clock position on the lens flange.  Cameras made in Wetzlar had an "L"
> seal, whereas Canadian cameras had a "C" seal.  Of course, subsequent repair
> would destroy these seals.
>
> Bill Rosauer
>