![]() The original process of loading the film was apparently too much faff for the US Army. Interestingly, there was actually a version of the M2 made that was designed to speed up the process. The M2 was pretty much the same, though there was the extra step of manually resetting the frame count to zero once the camera was loaded. This sounds like a faff, but really it’s fine when you get used to it, it’s just not a particularly quick process. You then need to make sure the film is located properly, close the back of the camera, attach the bottom plate and finally shoot and wind on the camera a couple of times to make sure fresh film is in front of the film gate and the counter is set to zero. You then need unspool just the right amount of film from the canister, then insert both film canister and take up spool into the camera parallel to each other. Loading the older M3 involves taking the bottom of the camera off, removing a take up spool (which automatically resets the frame count) and pushing the end of the film into the take up spool. There are two key ways in which the M4 is faster to use than the M3 and M2, the first is in the process of loading camera, the second is in the unloading. It appears evident to me that one of the biggest goals of the design of the Leica M4 was for it to be quicker to use than the models that came before it. The most simplistic way to view at least a couple of it’s advancements is to simplify them to their core purpose. The most obvious place to start with the Leica M4 is to look at the specifics of how it was designed to be an advancement upon what came before. ![]() Of course, with Leica cameras, there’s sometimes a bit more than just what’s on paper… The question are then, what are the minor differences the Leica M4 provides, why would someone choose one over the other models, and what else might swing it into favour? So what would make one choose the M4 over any of the other models? Well, as I talk about in the preamble to my M2 review, seeing as so many of the range are so similar to each other, on paper it just comes down to a combination of budget and preference for fairly minor differences. Of course, since then we’ve also seen the M5, M4-2, M4-P, M6, M6 TTL, M7, MP and M-A and that’s just the large-scale production models – there are a whole bunch of other rarities (the M2-R for example) to choose from too. ![]() It took the best features of both M3 and M2 cameras and combined them with new advancements of its own to create what, as mentioned, some view as the ultimate classic Leica. ![]() Production of the Leica M4 started in 1967 after the M3 ceased production in 66 and the M2 in 67. The Leica M2 was designed as a cut cost, more accessible and slightly more versatile version of M3. The Leica M3 was originally released in 1954, with the M2 following in 58. If you are unaware of the history of the Leica rangefinder, the M4 pretty much superseded both the M3 and M2. I’m not so sure myself – all of the models have their hardened fans – but looking back at the features and the history of the Leica M, it’s easy to see how people come to some of the justifications and positive views held about the Leica M4. In fact, if you spend any time reading around forums and websites looking for opinion on this camera, you’ll find it holds the prize with many as being the ultimate Leica M camera. The Leica M4 in many people’s eyes is the last of the classic Leica rangefinder cameras.
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