Leica M Factory Conversions: A Bygone Category of Two
Once you could upgrade your M1 or down-scale your M3 to MP specs!
by Jason Schneider
Leitz Wetzlar once offered a plethora of options for converting your existing BarnackLeica into a later model, or even transforming a fixed mount, noninterchangeable-lens, scale-focusing Leica I (Model A) into a camera that provided the full feature set (though not the body shell) of an early ‘50s Leica IIIf black dial! By the late ‘50s some of these unique services were no longer available, but if you were the proud owner of a rangefinder-less Leica M1 you could have it converted into a Leica M2, and handful of accredited photojournalists had their beloved M3s converted to original ‘50s MPs complete with manual frame counters.
Convert Away — So Many Options
According to Wikipedia, Leica introduced the Leica M1 in 1959 as a simplified, low-cost M body designed for scientific and technical work and it was typically mounted on a Visoflex reflex housing. The M1 has no rangefinder, but its viewfinder simultaneously displays projected parallax-compensating frame lines for 35mm and 50mm lenses. Only 9,431 Leica M1s were produced between 1959 and 1964, most in chrome and 208 in olive for the German military. Early examples have button rewind actuation; later ones use a more convenient lever.
Converting a Leica M1 into an M2 entails removing the M1’s viewfinder and replacing it with the M2’s 0.72x range/viewfinder with projected, auto-indexing, parallax-compensating frame lines for 35mm, 50mm, and 90mm lenses. The converted M2 retained its original serial number, but the replacement top was engraved M2. Factory converted M2s are quite rare and genuine examples command premium prices.
Devolution of the M3? Not exactly.
Converting a Leica M3 into an original ‘50s-style Leica MP did occur in a handful of cases, but it was never officially listed as an option. It was a bear to execute and only done at the behest of noted Leica-shooting photojournalists. It entailed removing the M3’s automatic self-zeroing frame counter and replacing it with an MP/M2 type external manual counter. It is also said that the internal wind mechanism was upgraded to more rugged MP specs, possibly using steel gears instead of brass. All original MPs are rare enough to have attained the status of museum pieces, and factory converted M3s with appropriate markings are rarer still, commanding stratospheric prices at the leading auction houses.
Other unusual Leica M conversions occasionally turn up in unexpected places, such as the “Leica M4 M4-P from M2 Factory Conversion” currently offered on eBay at $4,236.08 plus $136.60 shipping by a reputable dealer in Frankfurt, Germany. It has an M4-style wind lever atop an external manual frame counter, M4-style plastic topped self-timer and frame line preview levers, an M2-style rewind knob, and an M2 serial number and model engraved on what looks like the original top cover! What’s inside? According to the seller, a “converted range/viewfinder” with (6- frame line) M4-P specs. Whatever its provenance it sure is beautiful and in pristine condition.
Many thanks to James Lager for providing most of the images and much of the background information for this article.