Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/03/01
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Well, here are some quick reactions to the Leica M7 that we just handled here in NYC: 1.) the finder bright lines are DEFINITELY brighter! No question. 2.) I pointed the camera right at a halogen light in the store and noticed little to NO flare. Did the same with an M6 TTL and it flared. The coating on the viewfinder is the single best improvement to my mind! 3.) the shutter was totally silent on the slower speeds. At 4 sec. you hear one click, a pause and then a second click 4 sec. later. Cool... 4.) the battery cover is now a "snap on" bayonet cover. Forever ending the overtightening and commensurate mangling of that poor little ($40 ) battery cover. Batteries stand vertical inside the camera....keeping it slim just like the M6. 5.) shutter button still bounces in continuous mode with motor drive. Why? Would have been great if they changed that too. 6.) the LED's are thin and elegant. Really Leica-like and they seem to just float in the finder. Meter diodes looked the same as the M6 TTL to me. 7.) brass top plate, but hard to tell. The black looks a little different, but the Leica rep. fled with the camera when I took out a key to scratch it! Personally I like the big "M7" on the front instead of the world "Leica" as on all late M6's. No biggie though. My rep. said there were 350 improved parts in the M7 over the M6 TTL ...so I think we have just "scratched the surface" (ok we tried to) on this camera today. My reaction to the M7 is that it is indeed an improvement over the M6 in several ways and aperture priority only being one small part of it... cheers, Rich www.photovillage.com - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html