Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1992/10/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]> Along the lines of what Brian said, I 've heard that the Leica CL > is the black sheep of the family. Supposedly it was plagued by > things like erratic rangefinder allignment, and the flipping > meter flag getting loose. I've also heard that the CLE was much > improved (no flapping flag, for one). I'm only one data point, but my experience has been very good with my Leitz-Minolta CL. I purchased it new in about 1979 and have been using it ever since. I have been careful with it, but not overly so. The meter is spot-on (I usually use Kodachrome 200 pro) and it is sharper than any other camera I own. (I don't own any other M-series). Recently I took it (and the 90mm Elmar)to Boston's Park Street Photo when they had an Leica rep there inspecting and testing cameras. He said that there was no need for any work on the camera, that the shutter was as accurate as new as was the meter. I paid about $400 for it new, and I think it has been well worth it. I have seen the Minolta CLE that was a later derivative of the Leica CL. It indeed does away with the swinging meter arm and instead uses light reflected off spots on the shutter curtian. I believe it also had an auto-exposure mode and a wider variety of (Minolta) lenses. Given that it didn't have any moving meter parts, it should be more rugged. However, the prices I've seen for used CLEs are significantly higher than for good quality Leitz-Minolta CLs. I think Leica would do well to consider building a CL-like camera again, perhaps in Japan, say for around $1000 with lens. They could use a solid state metering system, the existing CL-style M-mount. They could even consider adding a built-in flash or manually overridable auto-focus a la Contax T2 to broaden appeal. I think there would be a market for such a camera if they could keep the price down. This type of small camera would have a much greater appeal among traditional Leica buyers than the plastic point-n-shoot things they are selling now. --Jim Dempsey-- jjd@bbn.com