Has anyone ever seen a Minolta CL? I have both a Leica CL and a Leitz/Minolta CL but some tell me that Minolta also marketed the camera in Japan as the Minolta CL (not the Minolta CLE). I even had a friend search used camera stores in Japan and he couldn't find one. Just curious.

-- mark ackermann (mramra@qwest.net), February 28, 2001

Answers

Yes, there is a "Minolta CL", so there are a total of three versions. As I understand the story, the "Leica CL" was made by Minolta and marketed in originally in the US, while the "Leitz/Minolta CL" (the exact same camera) was marketed in Japan. When Leitz decided to drop the CL from their line, Minolta continued its production as the "Minolta CL" for the US and Japanese market. In the late 60's, Minolta added auto-exposure and and TTL falsh(!), and called it the "Minolta CLE". Hope this helps!

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), February 28, 2001.

More info at:

http://www.cameraquest.com/leicacl.htm

BTW, the CLE was introduced in 1980.

Cheers,

-- John Collier (jbcollier@home.com), February 28, 2001.

http://www.cameraquest.com/leicacl.htm

Sorry about that.

-- John Collier (jbcollier@home.com), February 28, 2001.

John:

Thanks for the correction on the year the CLE was introduced! I was thinking about 20 years ago, and meant to say the late 70's, which was apparantly wrong anyway! As I get older, I fall victim to "CRS" syndrome more frequently! (CRS = "Can't Remember Sh*t!")

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), March 01, 2001.