A reader sent me this picture – the film shape actually got imprinted in the camera’s back (Leica M4). Sorry, I cannot post the original picture here. The camera belonged to Garry Winogrand. Is this even possible? I was looking at another beat-up Leica M3 on eBay and the back plate was unmarked, see bellow (btw, did you see the eBay price?).
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As far as I recall, that one was indeed Winogrand’s camera. That was a few years ago.
That M3 though… Quite a lot of money for a camera that hasn’t been owned by anyone famous.
Not sure what your question is… is it about how mucked-up the pressure plate in Winograd’s camera is… or why the black M3′s is so clean? Winograd shot literally tens of thousands of rolls of film… there are STILL somewhere around 8000 undeveloped rolls of Tri-X in his estate. The markings on the Winograd camera’s plate are a combination of wear, and likely dirt/muck/grunge left by thousands of rolls of film moving through the camera. Since the camera is an Artifact, and no longer a Tool, there is no incentive to clean it off. Winograd fans WANT to see the film muck that he left on there.
The black M3 may or may not have had nearly as many rolls go through… and, just to make this THAT much more complicated… some M3′s had black glass pressure plates, that were more easily cleaned off, than black-enameled aluminum.
Greg.
Greg, this was exactly my question – is this marking practically possible? Thanks for your answer.