A bit of love for a Canadian Leica M2

We all got impacted one way or another by the Covid pandemic and even if I was lucky enough to keep my job and go to work with my colleagues every day, my evenings and weekends became much more quiet. This means I spend a bit more time on the internet, looking at everything and nothing at the same time. By surfing on multiple camera websites, I found (without looking for it) a 1960 Leica M2 for sale that needed a bit of love. The old beast had issue with the shutter not closing properly and the vulcanite cover was in a very bad shape and broken in multiple places. Due to that the price was quite low.

I already had a black Leica M6 for a year that I really enjoy (see one year anniversary review here), but before finding the M6 for a very good price I always wanted a silver Leica. I was interested an older fully mechanical and manual one and because I am more a 35mm than 50mm guy, that M2 seemed to be the right candidate. On top of that, by looking at the serial number I realized that the camera was from 1960 and was from a small batch of Leica M2s produced in Canada (around 1600 units out of 90 000 Leica M2s produced). This Canadian M2 was turning 60 years old this past May and I was myself living in Canada after 9 years after moving from France, I felt like I had to take care of it.

The camera store was in my city and when I contacted to know if I could reserve it until they re-open to see it (the store was closed to the public due to the pandemic) they told me that two people were already waiting to examine it and I was the third person in line. I thought that the only way to get it for sure was to buy it online without close examination. It was reported to have a clean and clear viewfinder and no other issue than the shutter. Having a friend who fixes fully mechanical cameras, the decision was easy and a week later the M2 arrived at my door. A fews days later the shutter was fixed and I started to work on the vulcanite removal:

It was quite a big work, but with patience and some good music in the background work gets done:

I always liked wood textures and feel and I wanted to do something different from the traditional covers. I found that brown wood imitation as a cover (Hugo Studio Camera Covers) and also a wood shutter button and shoe cover (The More Gooder). Two weeks later they were here and yesterday I could finally finish my pandemic project:

At the end of the day I am really happy with that M2, it feels great, the shutter also sounds very nice. It will start a new life and will be loved as it should. I had the time to go out and shoot a first roll of film, here is the first result of my little pandemic project: For the Love a Leica M2:

Thank you for reading.

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