Leica M2 And Leitz Summicron 35mm V4.

The trees at my Friday clinical site yielded up no Blip material this evening. So, while driving home I decided to continue with the Leica M thread from yesterday's Blip. Today's image is my late father's M2 bought new out of the box in 1962, the camera has a serial number indicating that it was made in 1960. The M2 is a stripped-down version of its exquisite older brother, the M3. Even in this simpler form, this camera condenses all the features of the older model and creates its own exquisiteness. Where-as the M3 with its .91 magnification view finder was meant for using the 135mm lens, the M2 is the camera for the 35mm lens, the reporter's lens. Its viewfinder has a magnification of .72, about 75% of life size. Since this is the lens which "works" best with the M2, I have shown it with the much-evolved 4th version 35mm Summicron. The external details of the new Leica M-A mentioned yesterday actually owe much more to the M2. My father was a man of understated tastes and I believe that all the refinements and flourishes of the M3 added up to more camera than his sensibilities required for weekend photography of his family. Here is the beautiful Leica M2 offered for ten years from 1957.