Are the chrome version mainly for collectors? Other than that why would one want to get a chrome rather than a black?

Any collector here in this forum?

-- James (boggia@netivgator.com), March 12, 2002

Answers

I refer to all the m lens rather than the body.

-- James (boggia@netivgator.com), March 12, 2002.

I am strictly a user. I bought a chrome cause I "Leic" the look. The weight also adds to the sturdy (but quite weighty) feel. Other than that, there is on apparent difference.

-- Kristian (leicashot@hotmail.com), March 12, 2002.

This probably won't relate, but I found it so interesting that I'm telling anyway. :-) I just bought a 28/1.9 Voigtlander lens. I'd wanted black (paint) but could only find chrome, which I did buy. Now I have discovered, to my surprise, that I like the chrome a lot better because I realize that the black paint on my 35/1.7 is relatively thicker and softer feeling than the new chrome, which keeps the sharpness of all the machining crisp. Consequently, the chrome is easier to hold and focus with because the sharper edges grab me back. It wouldn't have occurred to me until I'd actually tried it.

-- Michael Darnton (mdarnton@hotmail.com), March 12, 2002.

I, simply, think the chrome is more attractive. There isn't really any reason I can think of to get chrome vs. black other than the look. You might argue that for candid shots, the black is less conspicuous (our eyes notice shiny things fast). And if you are REALLY anal, you might consider that the black won't add light pollution to your scene.

Really I think it's just cosmetic. Why do you think chrome is for collectors?

-- Ramy (rsadek@cs.oberlin.edu), March 12, 2002.

Dang it, I want BLUE paint lenses!!! or PURPLE haze :D

-- Alfie Wang (leica_phile@hotmail.com), March 12, 2002.

I thought the chrome is more traditional. Besides the chrome version usually sell more in the 2nd hand market. Isn't it?

-- James (boggia@netivgator.com), March 12, 2002.

The simple answer is you want both. Black for B&W film, chrome for chromes. I use a variation on this idea with my SL bodies: black for K64, chrome for K200. Easy way to tell what film is in the camera.

I stretch this further by re-packing K64 in black plastic film cans, K200 in white plastic film cans so I don't have to fumble for glasses to see what film I pulled out of the bag. I still want a "safari" SL.

-- Douglas Herr (telyt@earthlink.net), March 12, 2002.

Golly! This is an awful, confession. We have a chrome M4 (fitted for M2 masks) that my wife saved up for and gave me in 1970, and an early classic black M6. I've ordered a black M7, as I really can't give up that chrome M4 - - - and my spouse would get suspicious if she saw TWO MX chromes on the shelf. I guess more than one of us has to live with the WAF (Wife Approval Factor)

-- George C. Berger (gberger@his.com), March 12, 2002.

Alfie, you can get your purple haze... look at the purple leica on this page:

http://www.cameraquest.com/TAnotcoll.htm

i personally would prefer to have black lenses on my Chrome M6 due to the weight... if somebody wants to trade a mint 50 cron that is black for a mint silver one (german made late pervious model, same optical design, but with focus tab)... i would be interested.

-- Matthew Geddert (geddert@yahoo.com), March 13, 2002.

At least two replies in
http://greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=0084RO
recommend even more replies.

-- Michael Kastner (kastner@zedat.fu-berlin.de), March 13, 2002.

color be gone!

-- Matthew Geddert (geddert@yahoo.com), March 13, 2002.

Some things come, and some things go, Matthew, but I don't get that one (about color).

-- Michael Kastner (kastner@zedat.fu-berlin.de), March 13, 2002.