Leica m7 vs mp

For all of my nitpicking, do I like the new Leica MP? YES indeed. I like it a hell of a lot. In this ever increasing age of plastics and disposable camera, it is very refreshing to see Leica go the other direction and introducing an even higher grade mechanical camera. The mechanical MP is unexpectedly outselling the M7. Kudos. Over the last few years under CEO Cohn's leadership, Leica has become much more responsive to customer's input than in recent memory. The improved M product line is looking better than it has in decades.

March 2003: New Leica MP regular production introduced, returning a hand fitted Leica to standard production after almost four decades.

March 2003: New Leica MP6 Limited Production introduced, with a traditional Leica script top plate engraving, serial number starting with MP6 instead of MP, and a traditional vulcanite body covering instead of the a new shark skin like body on the new MP. Originally 400 planned, but due to low orders the actual production closer to 200. Ten are said to have been made by special order in chrome. All MP6 quickly became sought after collectibles.

October 2003: A new LHSA MP made in grey hammertone, with matching hammertone Leicavit MP and special chrome 35/2 ASPH Summicron. Production 1000, commemorating LHSA 1968-2003. Available January 2004. The hammertone is a particularly handsome finish and should be very popular with collectors.

October 2003: A new chrome Hermes MP with chrome 35/2 and red leather became available. Predicted production 500 units. About $8500. Unfortunately it looks rather garish to my eyes.

Leica M2 Serial Numbers

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Revised: December 08, 2005 . Copyright © 2005 Stephen Gandy. All rights reserved. This means you may NOT copy and re-use the text or the pictures in ANY other internet or printed publication of ANY kind. Information in this document is subject to change without notice. Other products and companies referred to herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies or mark holders.

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LEICA Lens Serial Numbers
© 2012 KenRockwell.com. This page best with Corporate S regular and bold activated.

It helps me keep adding to this site when you use these links to Adorama, Amazon, B&H, Calumet, Ritz, J&R and eBay to get your goodies. It helps me keep adding to this site when you get yours through these links, thanks! Ken.

April 2012 LEICA ReviewsLEICA Lenses

I personally buy from Adorama, Amazon, Ritz, B&H, Calumetand J&R. I can't vouch for ads below.

When Leitz decided to start making camera lenses, they did the right thing and used six digits for the serial number, and started at number 100,000.

Leica M3 Serial Number

As serial numbers should be, they gave each lens its own serial number, and counted up. Serial numbers as low as 50,000 are still floating around.

Leica made lens number 1,000,000, a 50mm f/1.5 Summarit, on 24 October 1952, at which time they already had onver 100 years of experiance.

Because of this orderly behavior, it it trivial to figure out when your lens was made. Sadly, Nikon and Canon are not as organized, and use completely unrelated serial numbers for every product. (Canon uses separate date codes, and Roland Vink is the world's guardian of Nikon's serial number data.)

No two Leica lenses or cameras have the same serial number. If Leica ever almost duplicated a number, the second item had a star added after its otherwise identical serial number.

Cameras and lenses each have their own run of serial numbers, so a number may be found on one camera and on one lens.

Year
Lenses Made
1931
29 576
1932
18 394
1933
39 384
1934
40 948
1935
48 234
1936
60 384
1937
71 495
1938
74 011
1939
48 474
1940
26 384
1941
17 264
1942
10 383
1943
1 884
1944
128
1945
5 953
1946
32 283
1947
13 957
1948
34 864
1949
74 032
1950
84 281
1951
111 193
1952
100 982
1953
72 927
1954
111 938
1955
97 022
1956
125 594
1957
89 389
1958
97 284
1959
71 721
1960
110 191
1961
86 684
1962
54 102
1963
48 543
1964
61 182
1965
78 873
1966
80 293
1967
17 989
1968
58 733
1969
71 997
1970
83 837
1971
34 658
1972
53 983
1973
107 192
1974
68 574
1975
29 203
1976
48 382
1977
71 182
1978
86 865
1979
46 756
1980
73 734
1981
73 744
1982
88 743
1983
45 857
1984
51 289
1985
36 985
1986
39 983
1987
32 908
1988
23 083
1989
24 394
1990
37 737
1991
43 383
1992
26 848
1993
33 873
1994
32 272
1995
53 250
1996
40 584
1997
47 765
1998
39 874
1999
25 458
2000
29 250
2001
28 895
2002
27 853
2003
22 192
2004
9 843
2005
16 964
2006
11 192
2007
22 922
2008
28 828
2009
11 483
2010
17,943
2011
11,937
2012

Notes

This is not exact.

Serial number blocks are reserved, and then lenses may or may not be made with these numbers.

Serial numbers after 2000 are less accurate.

Leica loves to do crazy things like pull out an old, discontinued design and make twenty of them in Persian Pink as a special order for the Sultan of Brunei to hand out as party favors. When Leica does this, you will find serial numbers disconnected from the normal run of a product.

Ellen muth pics. For a far more detailed list, see Erwin Puts list to end all lists.

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Leica Serial Numbers Screw Mount

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If you find this as helpful as a book you might have had to buy or a workshop you may have had to take, feel free to help me continue helping everyone.

If you've gotten your gear through one of my links or helped otherwise, you're family. It's great people like you who allow me to keep adding to this site full-time. Thanks!

If you haven't helped yet, please do, and consider helping me with a gift of $5.00.

The biggest help is to use these links to Adorama, Amazon, Calumet, Ritz, J&R and when you get your goodies. It costs you nothing and is a huge help to me. eBay is always a gamble, but all the other places have the best prices and service, which is why I've used them since before this website existed. I recommend them all personally.

Thanks for reading!

Ken

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