I recently purchased a mintish M4 only to find upon inspection it has been retooled to have M6 framelines. Who would have done this, I assume it would have been by Leica; and does this affect its value? thanks, Bob

-- Bob Haight (rhaigh5748@aol.com), November 26, 2001

Answers

It is a simple and relatively inexpensive thing to do. All that is changed is the frameline mask set. The last time I checked it was about $130US to do the work.

-- John Collier (jbcollier@powersurfr.com), November 26, 2001.

Hallo Bob,

if you look at it from the collectors point of view it is not the best thing which happened to your M4. But for a user camera it is an advantage IMO because you can use your 28 and 75 mm lenses without auxilary finders. If you do not have them so far, have a look at the VC alternatives or decide for the LEICA ones. X-mas is around the corner ...

Some here dislike the 75 mm frame showing together with the 50 mm one because it can distract from composing. Thousands of M6 users got used to this frame setup. So just get used to it as well.

Some years ago I decided - when I had to CLA my M2 - to add the M4 frames in the viewfinder. So, if you want, letīs change our cameras if you should still dislike your finder.

I appreciated the additional possibilities with the camera a lot. Keep on shooting with it.

Best wishes

-- K. G. Wolf (k.g.wolf@web.de), November 26, 2001.

Anyone know if it is possible to have the mask customized to display just 35 - 50 - 90 frames? (would be my preference for my .85) If so who could do the work.

-- Hank (hgraber@narrativerooms.com), November 26, 2001.

DAG blocked the 50mm frameline in one of my CLs. I presume he can do the same with an M series.

-- Wilhelm (bmitch@home.com), November 26, 2001.

Yes DAG can.

-- John Collier (jbcollier@powersurfr.com), November 26, 2001.