M3 Film Pressure Plate...Glass or Metal, How to Tell?

[huw_finney]

Gary, you get less static with a glass plate, as per my earlier post.

[frank granovski]

Damn! You guys are smart; and I made it all the way through highschool. I got good marks too. I had no idea about the static electricity problem with Leicas. How about just running a wire from the camera to the ground? Or, have a couple of those rubber things cars have that dangle down at the rear? I assume one's chi can ruin film as well. Never know.

[rico_tudor]

Oddly enough, the ceramic pressure plate was reintroduced by Kyocera in the Contax RTS III of 1990. Rather than pair it with a DS advance lever, they chose instead a 5 FPS motor drive. Wonder where the static went. :-)

[mark_sampson]

A moment's thought would bring up this realization- that 47 years after Leica changed the glass pressure plate to metal, there have been no problems with either type. I've used Leica M3's since 1977, both types of pressure plates, and have never had any scratched film or even heard of any static electricity marks on film. And that includes a bit of work done below 0F, where static marks might be expected. glass vs. metal = total non-issue, IMHO.