Leica M4
35 mm rangefinder camera by Leica AG
The Leica M4 is a 35 mm rangefinder camera produced by Ernst Leitz GmbH.
Leica M4
The M4 started production in November 1966, as the direct successor of the M3 and M2, featuring framelines for 35 mm, 50 mm, 90 mm and 135 mm lenses in a 0.72 magnification viewfinder. It has the frame counter of the M3, with automatic reset after reloading. The M4 was the last Leica rangefinder of this era to be predominantly hand-built.
Three ergonomic modifications were introduced in the M4:
an articulating film advance lever, modernised self-timer and frame selection levers
an angled crank for rewinding the film that replaced the slow to use telescopic knob of the M3
a faster loading system that does not require use of a removable spool
Production of the Leica M4 ceased in 1975.
An olive coloured Leica M4, originally designed for the West German Army, sold at auction in 2009 for €87,600.
Leica MDa
A scientific version without a viewfinder was made as the Leica MDa (similar to the Leica M1).
Leica M4-2, Leica M4-P, Leica MD-2
Production of the M4 stopped briefly in 1972. Its successor, the M5 had been introduced in 1971. However, the relatively bulky and expensive M5 met with a cool reception, and sales did not live up to Leica's expectations. Production of the M4 was therefore restarted quickly until 1975.
“Leica M4” enters the record as 35 mm rangefinder camera by Leica AG. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Leica, rangefinder and camera can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q313954. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1966, 1975, 2009 and 1972.
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This entry incorporates text from “Leica M4” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.