Black Chrome vs Black Paint

What is the difference between a "Black Chrome" finish and a "Black

Paint" finish? Is one better than the other? Can you find both of

these finishes on lenses as well as cameras?

Black chrome is the normal black colored body.

 

Black paint was normally for special models only, e.g. the LHSA one. It is now the standard black color on the MP.

Black chrome is for fondlers who want their cameras to remain unaturally pristine. Black paint if for users who don't mind the odd bit of brassing.

Black chrome is real metal plated over the metal parts of the camera. Paint, whether lacquer or enamel, is painted over the unplated brass body parts. Eventually it will wear and chip, especially at the edges, showing the underlying brass. Unless you use the camera every day you won't keep the brass "bright" without polishing it. At two extremes are those who pride themselves in keeping their black paint cameras in like new condition and those think that the brass shows that they're serious photographers who actually use their Leicas. Silver chrome shows "scuff marks", but less so than black chrome. If you want to fondle and show off your cameras it can be a concern. If you want to shoot with it buy a used camera from somebody who's going bonkers because his precious Leica got a boo-boo. My bodies are silver chrome, my lenses are a mix of black and chrome. It was all bought used because the price was right, the cameras functioned and the glass was clean.

The answer is in greater detail on the Nemeng.com site. Black paint finish is enamel over brass top and bottom plates. Black chrome cameras have a zinc top plate, brass bottom plate. They are chrome plated first, and then the black chrome plating is applied over the silver chrome plate. Thus, with wear on a black chrome finish, the effect is somewhat similar to wear through the bluing of a firearm.

And of course, Al, a person can buy a new Bessa R2, load it with film, put it in the camera bag and have almost instant brassing.

(Just kidding) Actually, I too, would rather buy a Leica body from someone who rejected it because of scuff marks.

John

<<Black chrome cameras have a zinc top plate, brass bottom plate. They are chrome plated first, and then the black chrome plating is applied over the silver chrome plate. Thus, with wear on a black chrome finish, the effect is somewhat similar to wear through the bluing of a firearm>>

 

Ok, before that heap gets added to the mountain of Leica fallacies already rampant on the net:

 

1)Not all black-chrome Leicas have zinc top-plates. The M5, M4-2, M4-P (except the very last ones), the very last M6TTL's and all M7's in black chrome all have brass top plates.

 

2)They are zinc-plated, *not* chrome-plated, before the black-chrome is applied. Zinc top-plates have the black chrome applied directly.

 

3)The wear on a black-chrome Leica looks nothing like the wear on a blued gun. Scratches are a shiny silver, and rub wear is a light gray.

 

That said, black chrome and black paint both look like sh*t when they're heavily worn. The difference is that black paint is much rarer on the older models and that's more a reason why they command a higher price than esthetics. Black-paint MP's are a regular-production item, in fact as of now there are more of them than silver chrome, so in the future I would predict that the silver ones will be worth significantly more than all but pristine (read: un-used)black paint. That is, if there's still a collector market for Leicas when MP's are as old as M4's are now.

To put it another way: Leica gives you two ways to have a black camera which looks like sh*t. With the black paint version, you can have your finish scratch, flake, or simply fall off. With the black chrome version, you can have it develop what looks like a case of mange. Pick your poison!

Silly. This could happen on any camera, not just a Leica.

 

You aren't suggesting that Leica make them out of plastic are you?

Black chrome matches the red of the Ducati better (I think it's the Leica- designed reflectibility of the metal, see for yourself with an incident meter), but black paint has just a killer look when standing near the new BMW740i. I don't know myself which is more important...

<I>Zinc top-plates have the black chrome applied directly</I><P>

 

Sorry Jay, I think you are incorrect this time.<P>

 

According to Tom Abrahamsson (he of Rapidwinder & Softie fame), the process

for "Black Chroming" is (I quote) "acid copper sealer / nickel / black chrome". Bill

Rosauer adds in greater detail " On the zinc top plates, first a flash

coat of copper is applied, then nickel plating, chrome plating and then the

finish black chrome plating".<P>

 

You can read their exact words in the Leica FAQ at topic:<BR>

[<A HREF="http://nemeng.com/leica/042b.shtml">http://nemeng.com/leica/

042b.shtml</A>]<P>

 

Thus it is the nickel/silver-chrome layer which gives the sliver look to worn patches

on black chrome Leicas, not zinc alloy.

<p>I was hoping to revive this topic to help me with a small chrome / paint dilemma. I have recently purchased a M4-P; I was also still considering the MP. I want to know if it is a black paint or black chrome. I choose it because I liked the finish; but knowing which one I prefer would be a nice fact to know.<br>

The M4-P is a early number, 1544xxx, and the rangefinder focusing window is receded into the top plate; these suggest to me that this M4-P is made of brass.<br>

The finish on the M4-P looks like a flat matte finish. Not glossy and shiny. Especially compared to the Leica MP that I was shown. Am I right in assuming that the shiny is a black chrome. And black paint looks flat in comparison?<br>

Thank you.</p>

<p>I was hoping to revive this topic to help me with a small chrome / paint dilemma. I have recently purchased a M4-P; I was also still considering the MP. I want to know if it is a black paint or black chrome. I choose it because I liked the finish; but knowing which one I prefer would be a nice fact to know.<br>

The M4-P is a early number, 1544xxx, and the rangefinder focusing window is receded into the top plate; these suggest to me that this M4-P is made of brass.<br>

The finish on the M4-P looks like a flat matte finish. Not glossy and shiny. Especially compared to the Leica MP that I was shown. Am I right in assuming that the shiny is a black chrome. And black paint looks flat in comparison?<br>

Thank you.</p>

 

Just to clarify, your M4-P is black chrome? From the table below I pasted from the Leica forum, it seems Leica started putting out black chrome with serial #1546:

Leica M4-P Serial Numbers

 

SN StartSN EndProductYearBatch

1528651**^ 1533350Leica M4-2 ^1980[4700]

15433511545350Leica M4-P (chrom)19802000

15463511552350Leica M4-P (black)19816000

15623511564350Leica M4-P (black)19822000

15863511590350Leica M4-P (black+Everest)19824000

16045511606550Leica M4-P1982-832000

1618551*1620550*Leica M4-P (13-83.chrom)19832000*

1620551*1622550*Leica M4-P (black)19832000*

1636551*1637550*Leica M4-P (13-83.chrom)19831000*

1642551*1643750*Leica M4-P (chrom)19841200*

1649251*1651250*Leica M4-P (chrom)19842000*

1691951 ^^1692950Leica M4-P ELW (black)1986*770*

Totalassignedserial numbers1981-198624,970**

 

I have a black M4-P myself with serial #1548. Both top and bottom plates have wear, including a small dent on the top plate (ugh) and has exposed more of “silvering” instead of “brassing.”

There were no black paint M4-P cameras produced by Leitz. All were either silver or black chrome.

Most black-paint Leicas are older models. Because black paint can gradually wear off with heavy use, Leica shifted from black paint to black chrome years ago. Black paint only shows up occasionally now on special editions meant to look like the older models.

 

Black paint developed a mystique for a couple of reasons. Because it is less reflective and visible than a sliver chrome finish when shooting in dim available-light conditions, it is less visible under those conditions if one wishes to be as unobtrusive as possible, or not be spotted at all. Years back, some photojournalists (and possibly some military or law-enforcement photographers) preferred the black cameras to the silver cameras for this reason. As the black paint would wear with heavy use, and the brass metal underneath would begin to show through ("brassing"), worn black cameras with brassing came to be associated with hard-working photojournalists, This, in turn, gave black-paint cameras a higher "CGF" ("cool guy factor) in the eyes of those who liked to imagine themselves as combat photographers, even if the closest they ever got to combat was reading newspaper articles about it.

 

Because fewer black-paint cameras than silver cameras were manufactured, and because of the "CGF" associated with brassing, used black paint models are viewed more as collectibles than as working cameras these days, and thus are usually a lot more expensive. If you want a black camera to be unobtrusive, but don't want to pay through the nose for a collectible, black chrome is a more affordable way to go.

Most black-paint Leicas are older models. Because black paint can gradually wear off with heavy use, Leica shifted from black paint to black chrome years ago. Black paint only shows up occasionally now on special editions meant to look like the older models.

Leica returned to black paint over brass for the digital M series, but I think the latest M10 is black chrome over brass once again. I've seen a lot of M9s on secondhand dealer shelves with significant brassing. The wear is much more obvious than it is on my black chrome (over zinc) M6, despite the M9s being a couple of decades younger. Brassing is one of the more graceful ways a camera can wear, but it seems to be happening a bit too easily with these bodies. The M10 finish will likely be more durable, but on the other hand when it does wear it may do so less attractively, since (if it's like previous black-chromed brass Leicas) there is presumably bright chrome plating underneath the black chrome:

 

Does 'black chrome' brass? [Archive] - Rangefinderforum.com

I have a black chrome M-A and a black paint M-P 240. I love them both.