Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/02/24
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]It is difficult to say how complete Erwin's report is but I will hesitantly offer observations based solely on it. Overall I would have to give the M7 the thumbs up. A simple (though not simple to implement) extension of their present philosophy. It sounds as though having one in your kit would not require any adjustments to your shooting habits. My first criticism is having the exposure lock as part of the shutter release. This means you cannot lock a reading for more than one shot (possibly you can with the Motor-M or RW attached?). It would have been better to have a separate exposure lock. Other descriptions I have heard seem to imply that there are some buttons on the back so maybe it is there after all. Erwin was a little cagey on battery consumption even though the M7 has double the number of batteries. I think it is safe to agree with him that carrying back-up batteries (multiples?) will be a very good idea. Erwin poo poos the value of very fast shutter speeds and I certainly must admit that I seldom even use 1/1000; however, too many people have raved about their usefulness for me to say that faster speeds would not be a good idea. Obviously Leica does not have economic resources to develop a new shutter that would deliver them in their present cramped rangefinder body. This of course raises the point of whether Leica should try to make a camera for everyone rather than concentrating on filling their own niche. I like the present body very much and am willing to accept the compromises it imposes. It is not for everyone but it suits me. I do not agree with Erwin that the M5 was a good camera. I have heard too many tales of woe from my camera store's counter staff to think otherwise. Maybe it can be made into a good camera but as delivered there were too many meter cell/arm problems. Perhaps they were mostly owner caused with even old body caps capable of damaging them. Still, not exactly a bullet proof design. I was interested to learn that the Hexar/Contax shutter has potential light leak problems if put into a manual wind camera. Too bad but I think having a manual wind is very important; at least more important to me. Comically it is nowadays very expensive to have a manual wind like Leica's. The economy of scale has kicked in and the wind motors are cheap like borsht (local saying in Castlegar B.C.). Now we will have to wait for a few more user reports to get the big picture. John Collier > From: Brian Reid <reid@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> > Thanks Brian! - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html