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The Leica M4-P camera replaced
the M4-2 to re-establish the rangefinder Leica as the ideal camera for
those photographers, particularly professionals, who need its special attributes
of accurate focusing with high speed lenses, especially in dim light, and quiet
vibration less operation for discreet, unobtrusive work or hand held exposure
with slow shutter speeds.
The production period started in 1981
and stopped in 1987.18057 issues were produced in
black chrome finish and 4334 in silver chrome finish in which 2500
special edition were engraved Leica 1913-1983 on the rear back of the top plate
and on the front edge on the base plate to commemorate the 70th
anniversary of when Oskar Barnack completed the first prototype LEICA and
200 issues to commemorate the scaling of Mount Everest. Remain 1630 in plain silver
chrome issues.
It differs from the M4-2 in that
bright-line frames are provided in the parallax-corrected viewfinder for 28mm
and 75mm lenses in addition to the 35, 50, 90, 135mm of the M4 and M4-2.
The frames are arranged in pairs thus
: 28mm/90mm, 50mm/75mm, 35mm/135mm.A pre-selector lever on the front of
the camera allows each pair of frames to be viewed in turn for selecting the
appropriate focal length.
A new winder was produced to use on
the M4-P, catalog number unchanged 14427I all other respects the M4-P
is similar to the M4-2.
For illustration here : a M4-P
in black chrome finish from 1984 fitted with a 2.8/28mm Elmarit, version
III, catalogue number 11804, made in Canada with its sunshade, catalog number
12536.
By side a M4-P in chrome finish pre production exemplar from
1980 in plain silver chrome finishing (no special engraving) fitted with a
1.4/75mm Summilux, catalog number 11814.
A winder, second model, marked
LEICA-WINDER M4-2 note the lack of Leitz logo on the front face, it
is now on the bottom face of the battery pack.
In the foreground : an original
camera box for the M4-P and leaflet instructions for use for the
M4-P and for the WINDER.
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