Are Black Paint Leicas over-hyped?

johan_niels_kuiper · January 5, 2017

A Black Paint Leica is a thing of beauty, that's for sure. Popular demand has brought the black paint Leica back to the market place and where the rough-looking black paint cameras were considered the ugly ducklings two decades ago, they fetch exorbitant prices in auctions and online sales these days.

Rightfully so? Or is there something wrong with those that draw their check book to pay what it takes to shoot (or fondle!) a Black Paint Leica?

http://www.johanniels.com/camera-gear-blog-posts/leica/101-bp-leica-m-fuss

aplumpton · January 5, 2017

Rarity is the Holy Grail of many collectors. There are few historical black paint Leicas.

If one wants a black paint Leica for photographic reasons (unobstrusiveness?), it is quite easy to have an old chrome Leica stripped of its coating and recoated with black paint and white numerals and letters by an artisan.

Some modern Leicas are available in black paint. I think that their price is quite similar to a chrome version if the latter is an option.

Jochen_S · January 5, 2017

Wearing the brass or whatever out of a black paint camera is a nice experience. - I did that to my 1st Pentax. On the other hand I am content with whatever Leica beaters I can get hold of for comparably little money and am looking forward to the day when my digitals' black chrome will look as shabby as my M4-P's.

If you desire a black paint finish badly I'd suggest paying CRR Luton to do it during a CLA or RF prism re-silvering. I see little use in outbidding wealthy collectors on the hunt after some rare historic originals. The lusting after black paint Leicas might die out just like it popped up. And unlike back on the black market after WW 2 all film Leicas have lost a lot of usability value for the average Joe these days; so will the worn collectables really fetch a sack of potatoes each, when you'll have to trade them in?

JDMvW · January 5, 2017

Remember in the beginning, the Contax I was black, and the later, and often more expensive, cameras were "chrome".

Greg M · January 5, 2017

I wouldn't bother trying to latch onto a black paint M4/M3, etc, but I did pick up a really nice, almost no wear, black paint

M9-P that I love shooting. The feel of the finish is much different compared to the M262, although I do really like using

both.

I can definitely see the allure for the collector.

rossb · January 5, 2017

I never really wanted an old beater camera myself so I would just pass it up. The collector's can have it.

Dieter Schaefer · January 6, 2017

the worn-down black paint cameras still spent months on end on the shelves at shops and dealers, nobody wanted them for their tatty looks.

</blockquote>

Good thing some collectors came along then to pay more than for a second hand 'new' Leica MP in black paint for a 40+-year old beater.

Leica now sells you a pre-worn black paint camera with matching lens, The digital 'Lenny Kravitz M-P Correspondent Set'

</blockquote>

What an abomination! But how else could a collector get that "worn look"; the camera never sees any real use anyway. The "pre-worn black paint camera with matching lens" now needs to be preserved and babied not to spoil the effect (and $24.5K value) with actually adding some real wear to it.

Jochen_S · January 6, 2017

I'd appreciate pre worn looking cameras that are heavily clear coated (like airbrush art on vehicles) to stabilize their finish. It wouldn't really have to be a collectors' edition Leica for me but if Olympus or Fuji release such, while surfing the Rangefinder-retro wave, I could get tempted.

Robin Smith · January 6, 2017

There is a similar phenomenon with electric guitars where fools pay way over the odds for "road worn" guitars which have been artificially aged to look as though they have suffered 50 years of hard use. People are really quite baffling.

mukul_dube · January 6, 2017

Few now buy black paint Leicas for reasons of utility. If the inflation of black paint prices is accompanied by a fall in the prices of silver chrome bodies, that is good for those who want only to take pictures with their cameras. If black paint is essential, Jochen gave the answer.

JDMvW · January 6, 2017

And anyone interested in these things, should also know that surface finishes are not "immutable".

For example, many people foolishly say that the Contax II was not made in black. They might better say "not made in black by the Germans".

johan_niels_kuiper · January 6, 2017

Pretty soon I plan to start writing several articles on the modern desire to create 'historical' Balck Paint Leicas in the kitchen stove, and on the scoundrels that create 'real' Black Paint Leicas and sell them online. Bookmark the website, there's a lot more articles on Leica and other brands and on photography to come.

aplumpton · January 6, 2017

I don't really understand the collection mania for expensive rare cameras, black, chrome, well used or pristine. A camera is but a tool to be used. Its body and lenses are made black for practical rather than aesthetic or fashion reasons.

So, it is not very complicated to take a good working order and quite well cared for IIIc or IIIf chrome Leica, costing perhaps 3 or 400 dollars, and having a specialist disassemble it, strip it of its chrome and intermediate nickel coatings over brass, and have it well repainted in black, for an additional 500 dollars. For some that is not necessary, but for photographers wishing a black camera in order to attain some greater degree of invisibility while photographing, the 800 or so dollars may not be a high price to pay. It is certainly considerably less expensive than trying to find a serviceable original black camera of that period. And in many cases, the resulting finish is more durable coating than Leitz provided.

In such cases the process of blackening mandated by a photographer has rarely the intent to falsify the camera's original state.

Because a rare old black camera has marks of use and brass bones does not make it better. If a well known photographer previously owned such a camera, his visable "mileage" on the camera is not going to make you the same photographer and create better images.

rossb · January 7, 2017

I just like a camera that is an original production model and still in good condition. My Nikon FMn2 was bought used on Craigs list and it has a few tiny chips on the black border around the leather. However I had it serviced and was told it's as new on the inside. It's my every day camera. I wish I had a Leica M6 or MP but the cost as always makes them out of my reach. I would just want one that has not been messed around with and in good shape. I would not care if it's silver or black. It's a mute point to me.

Robert_Lai · January 18, 2017

They still look like ugly worn cameras to me. I wouldn't pay any extra money for them.

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