Leica M4-2 Review

Well, it has been a while since I last posted about a camera or anything here and that is all for good reason. A lot of great life events and also using less and less equipment for taking photographs which made this not as important for the reasons before but I felt like it would be a great time to write about a camera that has taken up all of my time and had me using less. I feel like most photographers go through phases of trying as many cameras as possible because it’s fun trying new things and seeing what works for your workflow of making pictures and then the other side of the scale is one camera and one lens. The latter of that statement is what I have been doing for almost the last seven years as the calendar flips over to 2025. In 2018 I purchased a Leica M4-2 from my mentor as a birthday gift to myself and a milestone piece and then a few days later my Voigtlander 35mm skopar showed up then a Voigtlander VC Meter II and the rest was history for a few years. I thought I enjoyed the Leica R7 but this camera clicked for me and became like second nature to me and I made some of my favorite images and memories with this camera. It turned into a camera that I brought everywhere for every moment and didn’t think about needing another camera or contemplate what one would be better for certain situations, it was just this camera for every situation (excluding the water of course). It reminded me that the images being made are what is important and if I didn’t have to think about the camera making the images it took one variable out of the …picture… and helped me … focus… on composition and it felt like an extension of my eye.

Now, you are probably thinking this is some absurd Leica M brainwashed cult talk but it could have happened to any camera and I think the camera I used up until this point was coming very close to this feeling, and this just really clicked and ticked every box I needed it too. Now before this turns into an intro to a recipe blog and you are looking for the skip to the actual review of the camera I promise I am almost there. One of the reasons I settled on the Leica M4-2 is mostly down to my budget and what I was able to afford and it’s funny what I paid for it now and thinking it was a fair price but when I was in college looking at the M6 prices that where the same price for I what I paid for that and I was thinking that’s insane about of money and if only past me could see what M6 cameras are selling for no let alone a reissue would be released. Okay to the review.

Overview

a more recent photo with the 35 Summicron v4 and Voigtlander VC IIMeter

The Leica M4-2 has a rather strange history as it was released after the Leica M5 due to it being such a departure of the “classic” Leica M styling and it put Leica in a bad spot financially (I’m sure there are more reasons as well …cough… cough …Leica R line) but you could argue this camera saved Leica. The M4-2 has the shortest production date of any M camera as it was produced from 1978-1980 in Midland Ontario Canada. To some, anything in Canadian Leica is not great and of lesser quality, and to some degree that is true as they were made to be repaired and have parts replaced and not adjusted like the M camera well before it. The camera is not made of brass and is black chrome, not black paint, and has no meter, seems like a step back from the M5 with no meter. Another change was the rangefinder glass was changed which made it more prone to flare that is something that I have experienced and it is rather annoying when the rangefinder patch and frame lines disappear, this was present in every Leica after it until the MP. You can also probably tell from the photos that the self-timer is missing from the camera and the covering of the camera was plastic and not vulcanite. For this camera, the skin has been replaced with leather from Aki-Asahi.

Now reading this you are probably thinking why the hell would I want this “cheaply made” Leica compared to the M3, M4 and that’s a great point but looking at it during its berth it was made this way to help Leica survive thanks to Walter Kluck who pushed for this camera to be made to help with the disappointing sales of the M5 and Leica focusing on the R system that was always a step behind other cameras of the day. If he did not push for this camera Leica might not have existed much longer. Leica has high standards for making cameras and optics and you hear all this about the camera being made to a lesser quality than the M’s before it but Leica still made it with their high standards and it makes it a cheaper option for others now that want to get into a Leica M at a lower cost.

first week of owning this camera, no lens hood or meter

Nuts and Bolts and handling

Just like every other Leica M it is a M-mount camera so it can use any lens with that mount and the optics are what matter. It is shutter speeds are bulb to 1/1000th a second it has a cloth shutter and has a hot shoe which is nice if you shoot flash. There is no meter so if you like to use the Sunny 16 rule or your phone, I highly recommend a Voigtlander VC II meter for the camera as it fits the camera perfectly and has a good degree of reading light. The camera has frame lines for 35,50,90 and 135 and honestly, I have only used a 35mm lens on this camera and the viewfinder with a 35 lens and glasses is a bit of an issue but never really bothered me much. I did add a plastic cover for DAG to my viewfinder to limit the amount of scratches on my glasses.

The camera handles just like any other Leica M before it or after it. It feels light when you have a 35mm lens on it and it feels about the same weight as some of the newer digital M’s and M6’s I have held. Now to me, most M bodies feel like a slab when holding them when coming from a point-and-shoot or an SLR that has some sort of grip on it but it never bothered me due to the film's advance as a thumb grip.

a few weeks in to ownership taped up and still no meter

Issues

The few issues I have had with this camera over the seven years of ownership are some shutter drag on my higher shutter speeds and a light baffle leak and burn hole in the shutter from the sun. This led to having it serviced by Youxin Ye for adjustment twice as the shutter drag was a bit persistent but he worked his usual magic and it was fixed the second time after testing with film. The baffle leak unfortunately wasn’t able to be fixed without getting another camera to swap out the internals of the shutter mechanism but he had a simple solution keep a lens cap on the camera when not using it as well as keep the lens out of direct sunlight. This was an easy solution but anyone with a rangefinder can tell you that if you don’t remember you have a lens cap on you might take a few shots with the cap on. In the same vein, I had a hole in the shutter cloth from the sun and it was a simple repair to paint the cloth with a paint solution that he mentioned where to get it if I ever ran into the issue again.

Most of these problems are due to the age of the camera as well as paying more attention to how is was carrying my camera so I don’t think anything directly with the camera was an issue for me other than needing a few tune-ups. I did find the 1/1000th limiting at times depending on the situation and film I was using. Some would say not having a meter in the camera would be an issue with the camera but I found the Voigtlander VC II meter to be an awesome meter and accessory to the camera that felt like it was a part of the camera and the degree of light it read was perfect for what I needed. The only fundamental issue with the meter on the top of the camera with separate dials I would forget to transfer those settings to the settings of the camera but again something simple to pay attention to.

Images

Here are a select few of images over the most recent years but I have several pages on my website that are shot with the camera and the Voigtlander 35 color skopar but all the images below are with the Leica 35 Summicron v4.

Conclusion

This camera has been everywhere with me for the last seven years and it is hard to sum it up as my ideas of what a camera needs to be have changed and simple and something that works and doesn’t get in the way of making the picture is important to me and that is this camera. After using so many before this and a few while owning this this camera was still the one I used and trusted for every moment over this time. I carried it everywhere, to work, to the grocery store, and sometimes around the house and it helped me be more present when taking photos some would say that is bullshit and any camera could do that but for me, this camera was an extension of me. It has been a fun camera to use and the hype for the Leica M camera is real it is a simple camera that works and I can see why so my people lust after it. For many reasons this a camera that I will never sell and keep forever for the images that I have made with and moments that experienced with this as well as a camera that I will keep using every day until the film gets too expensive. I do think if you are looking to get into a Leica M and want to save a little bit of money I would consider this camera and I know the following of this specific model I know others would say the same.

Polaroid OneStep 2 Review

Polaroid is back ?! This is the new Polaroid One Step2 made by Polaroid Originals (originally The Impossible Project ) but we will get into that in a bit. This is the much younger brother of the Polaroid OneStep Sx-70 from 1977, this is the first Polaroid camera in 12 years.  I was so excited to hear about this camera coming out because it is a direct competitor of Fuji Instax and it really a great step to know that Polaroid was here to stay. 

So some back story is needed, Impossible Project acquired majority stock in Polaroid back in May 2017 which was great news for the Impossible Project. Fast forward to September 2017 and Polaroid is announcing a new sub-company "Polaroid Originals" meaning an end of The Impossible Project.  With that announcement there were price reductions from Impossible Projects prices and the biggest announcement was the Polaroid OneStep 2 of $99 USD that would ship October 2017. 

I could not pre-order this camera any faster because I wanted to support Polaroid Originals and the fact that this was anew instant camera with Polaroids name one it. With the hopeful success of this camera that would open more opportunity for Polaroid Originals to come out with a more Pro Instant camera. 

Overview 

With this being a modern version of the original OneStep Sx-70 what could be different in this OneStep 2? Well, a whole lot! With it being a camera being produced in 2017 there are a lot of modern advances. The biggest one is the built-in Lithium-battery, which means the film packs for this camera do not have a battery in it making the film cheaper, which is a major selling point for this camera. With that built-in battery, the camera is good on a full charge for about 20 packs of film. I have only charged the camera twice since I got it, one right out of the box and another after having it for a few weeks and wanted a full battery for a trip.The OneStep 2 has a build in flash that is pretty good and bright and has an override button that you have to press simultaneously with the shutter button. 

The camera has a 106mm plastic fixed lens with a focusing distance of 2 feet to infinity. The lens is pretty sharp but since it is a lens that focus is based on the distance it has its limits and it has its sweet spot which I have found it being around 4-10ft. The self-timer button is next to the top of the flash is an 8-second timer that has a blinking LED light right under the self-timer button. It is funny that it is an 8-second timer and not 10 or 5 seconds but the 8 seconds mirrors the number of photos in a pack of polaroids. Next to the lens in the bottom right corner is the light meter which is pretty good compared to the older Polaroids, which is expected since it is a brand new camera. The Light meter does a very good job and doesn't get very fooled too often. I have noticed that I have not touched the light and darken slider much other on very bright sunlight. Once you get used to the camera and the film you will get a feel if you need the flash or not or if you need to use the lighten darken wheel. The camera has a built-in frog tongue that stays on the frame once it's ejected to save it from getting burned from the light. 

insert close ups of camera 

The viewfinder of this camera is very different from any box style camera Polaroid has produced. Most Polaroid 600 cameras and Spectra cameras the viewfinders have this long protruding viewfinder but on the OneStep 2, it is missing for some reason. At first, I thought it wasn't that big of a deal but after using it for a few months I have noticed it being kind of an annoyance. One being that you have to put your eye very close to the viewfinder to get a full view of the frame and then you do that you end up tilting the camera a tad back and you change your framing and the subject matter of the photo is lower than you wanted it to be. When you tilt the camera the lens angles up but the viewfinder stays parallel and it's just something to keep in mind while shooting. 

The top of the camera has not much going on other than the rather unusual but very modern frame counter. The counter is made up of eight lights that light up for the number of frames you have in the camera. The counter does have a dual purpose of showing the battery life of the camera. By holding the flash button and turning on the camera it will indicate how much battery the camera has left. 

The bottom of the camera has camera has a standard tripod socket (plastic no metal thread insert). Also on the bottom of the camera, it has shooing instructions, which reminds me of the older land cameras that had the same.

The Handling

The handling of the camera is almost the same as any other 600 cameras that Polaroid has made. There is nothing really that sticks out to write home about but I think the main thing that I am glad they thought about is the flash override. Most of the time you will be needing the flash but outside in the bright sun, it's nice to turn it off and get some lovely shots of natural light. The way they designed it is that you will have to press both the shutter button and the flash off button while you take a picture. All the function buttons on the camera see to be in the right spot and it doesn't take much guesswork to find them while your eye is up to the viewfinder. I do think the camera is well made but I do think there are some downsides to the material that they used. Overall I think if you have used a Polaroid 600 camera before this will be second nature to you. 

The Not So Good

I will preface with this with some kind comments on the camera, I absolutely do love it and I was so happy to see it released but after using it for a solid three to five months I almost forgot about buying it and the fact that I even had it, I just started using my Polaroid Sx-70. I really wish the lens was not plastic or at least a better plastic but I would have loved glass.  The plastic the camera is made out of is awful, not in terms of build quality but the camera is an oil magnate and if you have dirty hands or a greasy face it will start to stain the camera. I think the biggest downfall of the camera is the viewfinder, I think they missed the mark on that one with design over function. It is really not glasses friendly, and you tend to tilt the camera back and up. This would have been easily fixed if they had a viewfinder just like the Polaroid 600 cameras. With leaks the past few days (May 29th,2018) it seems that Polaroid Originals has seemed to fix that with making an updated OneStep 2 with a viewfinder. I have read that some people harvested viewfinders off dead Polaroid 600s or used craft paper to make a viewfinder. I think they should have made the tripod socket metal instead of plastic and the strap that came with it was awful it broke the first week I had the camera. Now yes, I know this is a brand new camera and you can not get everything right on the first go and I do think this is a huge win for them(Polaroid Originals ) and I really hope they expand on the I-type cameras/film and make something for the "professional". I am excited for what is next. 

(June 4, 2018)As you can see above Polaroid Originals has updated the camera with a viewfinder to fix the issues and complaints that people have had about it. Funny enough they have raised the price $20USD for it. Also, it is not an entirely new back it's just an add-on. Above Images from Polaroid Originals Website. 

Images

The images are shown below where all shot with the Polaroid OneStep 2 and all scanned with the Epson v700 in Epson Scan. The film used was all Polaroid I-Type film both in color and black and white.

Conclusion 

I do really enjoy this camera and It was great to see The Impossible Project become Polaroid Originals and have them come out with a camera right out of the gate. It was amazing that they brought the price down for the film that really makes it a very solid competitor to Fuji Instax. I think the thing that makes me most upset is the the way Polaroid Originals Marketing is going and how its not as "for the users" like how The Impossible Project was and it makes sense to me, I just don't want to see what was invested in to The Impossible Project be lost in this new company.

With that all being said, I think this camera was a home run for them and it has really gotten a lot of people that are just getting into instant film, a camera that is great for beginners and help fund this company to make more things for people that are really into it. That's how I really see it is this camera was made to compete with Fuji Instax and to get people to fully invest in Polaroid Originals. I am happy the film for this camera is much cheaper but this will not be my full-time camera for instant photos, I will always grab my Sx-70 before this. I really hope they make something with more manual controls and that uses this I-Type film.

I think if you are looking for your first Polaroid camera I think this is the better route to go and get something brand new. My hats off to Polaroid Originals and I hope more is to come!

Cheers.