By Ked · May 2026

The Leica M4 Family: M4, M4-2, and M4-P

May 2026

If you want a fully mechanical M-mount Leica with no built-in meter and no electronics of any kind, the M4 family is where you shop. The three bodies (the M4 of 1966–1975, the M4-2 of 1977–1980, and the M4-P of 1981–1987) represent twenty-one years of incremental refinement on the same basic concept: take the M3/M2 design, simplify film loading, improve a few small things, and leave everything else alone. No batteries, no meter, no electronic shutter. Just the camera.

The M4 family sits in a useful place in the M lineup. It's older and less expensive than the metered M6, more refined for everyday use than the M2/M3 (because of the quick-load mechanism), and entirely battery-independent in a way the M7 isn't. For shooters who want a do-anything mechanical Leica without paying M6 prices, the M4-2 and M4-P are often the most rational buys in the whole M-mount market.

Leica M4 (1966–1975)

The original M4 combined the best of the M2 and M3 and added the most important quality-of-life improvement Leica ever made to a film-loading rangefinder.

• Quick-load film mechanism. Earlier Ms used a removable take-up spool. You had to detach the spool, attach the film leader to it, and reinsert the loaded spool into the camera body. It worked, but it was slow and many shooters lost or bent the spool over the years. The M4 replaced this with a fixed multi-prong tulip-shaped take-up built into the body. You drop the new film cartridge in, pull the leader across to the tulip, and the film loads itself as you advance. This single change made loading an M roughly five times faster.
• Slanted rewind crank. The M2 and M3 used a slow knob for rewinding film. The M4 introduced a small fold-out angled crank that rewinds a roll in a fraction of the time. The crank also folds flush when not in use.
• Self-zeroing frame counter. Open the back, the counter resets to zero automatically. The M2 required manual reset; the M3 was inconsistent across production runs. The M4 settled this once and for all.
• 0.72x viewfinder magnification. Same as the M2. The M4 was designed as the everyday body, not the precision-focus M3 successor.
• Brightlines for 35mm, 50mm, 90mm, and 135mm. The 135mm frame line was the addition vs. the M2 (which had 35/50/90). All four frame lines auto-switch as you mount different lenses.
• Self-timer. A small mechanical self-timer lever on the front of the body. Useful occasionally, mostly cosmetic. The M4-2 and M4-P deleted it, so it's an M4-specific feature.
• Same 1 second to 1/1000 mechanical shutter as the M2 and M3. Battery-independent.

The M4 was made in Wetzlar from November 1966 to 1975, totaling about 58,000 units across chrome, black chrome, and black paint finishes. Wetzlar-era build quality is uniformly excellent. Many M4s have been in continuous use for fifty-plus years and are still going strong with periodic CLAs.

One detail: the M4 was discontinued briefly in 1972 when the M5 was meant to replace it, then quietly brought back into production in 1973–1974 as it became clear the M5 wasn't going to be the success Leica needed. These late-production M4 bodies (sometimes called "M4 final" or "M4 1974/75") are sought after because they have the latest build refinements.

Leica M4-2 (1977–1980)

The M4-2 is the camera that brought Leica back from the financial crisis the M5 created. Production was moved from Wetzlar to Midland, Canada (Leitz Canada), where labor costs were lower and Leica could build a more affordable body. The basic camera is the M4 with a handful of changes.

• Hot shoe added. The accessory shoe on the M4 (and earlier Ms) was a cold shoe, with no electrical contact for flash. The M4-2 added flash sync contacts to the shoe, enabling direct flash mounting without a sync cable. This is the M4-2's main shooter-facing feature.
• Self-timer removed. Small cost reduction. Few people miss it.
• Frame line preview lever removed. The M4 (and M3, M2) had a small lever on the front of the body that let you preview frame lines for different focal lengths without changing lenses. The M4-2 deleted this lever to save cost.
• Brightlines unchanged from the M4: 35/50/90/135.
• Canadian production. Build quality is generally good but not quite as refined as Wetzlar-era M4s. The differences are real but small, and most users won't notice unless they're directly comparing.
• Some bodies designated "MOT" (factory-modified for motor drive). The MOT variant is uncommon and trades at a premium with collectors but is no more useful for ordinary shooting than a non-MOT.

Roughly 17,000 M4-2 bodies were produced. The M4-2 is the least loved member of the M4 family, since the cost reductions are visible to anyone who has handled a Wetzlar M4 immediately before. As a shooter, though, it's entirely capable, and prices reflect that. The M4-2 is consistently the cheapest mechanical M body on the used market.

Leica M4-P (1981–1987)

The M4-P is the most refined member of the family and the camera most often recommended as the "best mechanical M for shooting" today. The "P" stands for "Professional." Leica positioned it for working photographers who wanted the M4-2 with a better viewfinder.

• Six frame lines instead of four. The M4-P added 28mm and 75mm to the existing 35/50/90/135. The result is the same six-frame-line set Leica would use on the M6 three years later: 28/90 paired, 35/135 paired, 50/75 paired. If you've shot an M6, you've used the M4-P's viewfinder. Leica didn't change it for the M6.
• Same body, same shutter, same lens mount as the M4-2. Hot shoe, no self-timer, no frame line preview lever.
• Still made in Midland, Canada. By the M4-P production years, Leitz Canada had refined its M-body manufacturing further, and late M4-P quality is generally considered very close to Wetzlar-era.
• No light meter, no batteries, no electronics. Pure mechanical M.

Roughly 25,000 M4-P bodies were made. The M4-P is the body M6 shooters reach for when they want the M6 viewfinder experience without the meter: same six frame lines, same body proportions, same shutter behavior. The only difference shooting them side by side is that one has a meter and one doesn't.

What All Three Share

From the M4 to the M4-P, every M4-family body has:

• The same horizontal cloth shutter, 1 second to 1/1000 plus B, all mechanical
• The same M-mount bayonet, so every M-mount lens Leica has made fits all three
• The quick-load tulip film mechanism
• The slanted fold-out rewind crank
• The self-zeroing frame counter
• The 0.72x viewfinder magnification (no other options were offered)
• No light meter, no batteries needed for anything

Servicing is straightforward across the family. Specialist technicians comfortable with the M4 are comfortable with the M4-2 and M4-P, which share the same internal mechanism. A full CLA runs $250–$400 and the camera will be good for another decade of shooting.

Which One Should You Buy?

The decision logic for the M4 family is more straightforward than for the M6 family because the variants are sequenced (each later body adds something) and prices roughly track that sequencing.

• You want the build quality of Wetzlar-era Leica, and the self-timer or frame line preview matters to you → original M4. Most expensive of the three on the used market but unambiguously the most refined.
• You want a mechanical M with the M6's six-frame-line set, no meter → M4-P. The most shooter-friendly of the three for the way most modern users actually compose. Best value for what you get.
• You want the cheapest mechanical M body that still works perfectly → M4-2. The Canadian-build cost reductions are visible but the camera is mechanically as reliable as anything Leica has made. Often the right buy for a first mechanical M before deciding whether to upgrade.

If you have any intention of mounting a 28mm or 75mm lens, the M4-P is the only choice in the family. The M4 and M4-2 have no frame lines for those focal lengths and you'd need an external viewfinder.

Prices Today

As of mid-2026 we track around 160 active M4 listings, 40 active M4-2 listings, and 53 active M4-P listings. Going by what buyers actually pay rather than the raw average, a standard-finish working M4 sells for around $2,000 (asking around $3,100), the M4-2 for around $2,350, and the M4-P for around $2,100. The M4's headline figure looks far higher only because black paint and 50 Jahre Anniversary bodies in the upper tens of thousands drag the average up; a plain working M4 actually sits right alongside the M4-2 and M4-P. Detailed tier-by-tier ranges from current UsedCameraTracker listings:

• Original M4 (Wetzlar): $1,800–$3,000 for chrome user-grade bodies; clean serviced examples in the $2,500–$3,800 range; black paint M4 bodies command substantial premiums ($4,000–$8,000+ for clean examples). The 50 Jahre Anniversary edition (1975, ~1,750 made) trades at $4,500–$9,000.
• M4-2: $1,400–$2,200 for user-grade; $2,000–$2,800 clean and serviced. The least expensive mechanical M-body in the market.
• M4-P: $1,700–$2,800 for user-grade; $2,300–$3,500 clean and serviced. Slightly more than an M4-2, noticeably less than an M4, and arguably the best practical shooter of the three.

For comparison, a comparable-condition M6 Classic runs roughly $1,000 more than an M4-P. If the meter matters to you, that's not much money. If you're a sunny-16 / handheld-meter shooter, the M4-P at $700–$1,000 less is genuinely a better-value buy.

A Note on Black Paint

The M4 was the last M Leica made in true black paint (rather than black chrome / anodized) as a standard finish. Black-paint M4s are particularly desirable on the used market because, like the M6 Millennium and the MP, they brass through with use. A working photographer's M4 in black paint with decades of brassed edges is one of the most recognized "real Leica" objects in the entire used market, and prices reflect that. If you find a clean black-paint M4 at a reasonable price, that's a special camera worth considering even at a premium.

Browse current M4, M4-2, and M4-P listings on UsedCameraTracker. Each variant has its own model bucket so you can compare prices, conditions, and finishes side by side across the full market.