I am interested in others experiences using a Leica CL. I like the CL's spot meter, size, room around the 40/50/90mm frames, and the match needle. Wearing glasses I can see the entire view, however the finder is very small.

How do you get a diopter adjustment (would current X-370/700 Minolta diopters fit?

Would the 40 and 90mm CL lens be competitive with Minolta MD or C&N glass.

Would multi-coated Minolta Rokkers made in the 80s be an improvement over Leica badged single coated lens?

Does the CL have an accurate focus at distances over 3 ft since the rangefinder base is short?

-- Richard Jepsen (rjepsen@mmcable.com), January 01, 2000

Answers

I have not used a CL extensively but can answer your questions. The eyepeice correction lenses are CL only and are extremely difficult to find (found this in the Leica-users archives). The 40mm summicron is a very sharp, highly regarded lens and just as good as the 50mm summicron of the day (ie. excellent). Both of the 90mm f4 lenses were made by Leitz in Germany and are very good if a little slow compared to what we are now used to. The lenses for the CLE were multicoated but they also used a different focussing cam. The original CL lenses used a "steep" cam that was different from the M camera's lens cam. When Minolta made the CLE and its lenses they switched to the M camera type of cam so these lens are not supposed to focus accurately on the CL. I have heard people say they work just fine but would recomend you do your own focussing tests with a yard stick to be sure before buying. The CL rangefinder is fine for focussing its lenses. I would not mount a 50mm f1.4 to it nor would I mount a 90mm f2.0. If you stick with the CL's original lenses you will get sharp contrasty properly focussed images. Some people use a 90mm F2.8 and say it focusses fine but do your own tests first. The CL was a great camera and singlehandedly killed off the M5 and almost took out the M4 line as well. Leica stopped making them as they made very little money off them, though Minolta did alright making them for Leica, and the CL took away from sales of t

-- John Collier (jbcbicycle@home.com), January 30, 2000.

Well it cut off my final line which was to say that the CL took sales away from Leica's premium (and money making) cameras

-- John Collier (jbcbicycle@home.com), January 30, 2000.

Some people maintain that the CLE 40mm and 90mm are actually better than the CL lenses, because they are multicoated. They are certainly cheaper and of equal quality, although the 28mm is apparently not as good as the Elmarit of the same vintage. As to steep focussing cams etc. I think this was Leica propaganda. If Leica-M-lenses work on the CLE then it must work the other way round too. It was Leica basically attempting to stop CLE Rokkors from stealing their market for M owners.

-- Robin Smith (rsmith@springer-ny.com), February 08, 2000.

The CLE lenses do not use the steep cam, only the CL lenses do. The CLE lenses work fine on any Leica M camera but the CLE 28 will bring up the 35/135 frameline on a Leica M camera. It is possible to modify the bayonet flange by adding extra material to bring up the correct framel

-- John Collier (jbcbicycle@home.com), February 10, 2000.

It cut off my last word again! Frameline. I will inset this garbage sentence s

-- John Collier (jbcbicycle@home.com), February 10, 2000.

The Minolta CLE was a much better choice for me than the CL. I found that the CL's meter always seems to be jumping around, even on cameras that just had been repaired by a Leica specialist. The rangefinder base on the CLE was larger as well. As far as the lenses go, the 40mm multicoated Rokkor for the CLE is as good as any lens I have ever used, and is sharp even at f2.0. I wasn't as happy with the 90mm f4.0 and sold it. I already had a 90mm 2.8 Elmarit that works great on either the cl or cle, and is noticeably better than the f4.0 Elmar/Rokkor at all f-stops.

-- Andrew schank (aschank@flash.net), April 29, 2000.

Andrew, your advise came in handy for me. I happen to buy a used CLE recently and I was comtemplating whether to buy the Leica 90mm or the Minolta one. Looks like Leica will be the choice. Thanks.

-- Paul Chuah (the_photo_workshop@Yahoo.com), April 30, 2000.