where can i find information on the leica r-e? why did it not follow the r3,4,5,... line? is it any good? any other model for the same price which offers more or are better? is there anything to be careful when buying used?

-- stefan randlkofer (geesbert@yahoo.com), December 05, 2001

Answers

The Leica R-E was an 'economy' version of the R5. It was identical to the R5 minus the variable program and shutter priority exposure program modes. Brian Bower in his book LEICA REFLEX PHOTOGRAPHY considers it to be a "robust and reliable budget Leica R that can be thoroughly recommended to anybody".

-- Muhammad Chishty (applemac97@aol.com), December 05, 2001.

Hallo Stefan

Check this site http://www.wildlightphoto.com/leica/R5.HTM

Cheers

-- Salvatore Reitano (reitanosalvatore@hotmail.com), December 05, 2001.

It did follow the R3,4,5 line, it was released in 1990, between the R6 and before the R6.2. It is identical to the R5 except it doesn't have Program or Shutter-priority autoexposure modes. The same relation that the R4s had to the R4. Given that the prices for the R- E these days are pretty much equal to the R5, I'd opt for the latter unless certain that I'd never use either mode.

The R5/R-E have basic TTL flash, which sets the shutter to 1/100 in any mode, so tricking the flash to do TTL daylight fill-in is for all intents and purposes, impossible. They both also lack the mirror pre- release of the R6,6.2 and R7, and the R5/R-E's lowest manually- settable shutter speed is for some bizarre reason, 1/2 second vs 1 sec for its prececessors. Those are the drawbacks. The plusses over earlier models are the TTL flash (with noted restrictions) and adjustable eyepiece diopter. Unquestionably, of the pre-R8 series, the R7 is significantly more feature-filled than the others...and its price, used, correspondingly higher.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), December 05, 2001.

R5 have black and chrome bodies, RE has only black body.

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), December 06, 2001.

Wouldn't you be able to trick the TTL flash by setting the ISO setting on the camera by 1 -1 1/2 stops, and shoot manually.

eg: Ambient light is x100 and f11 for 100 ASA. Set ISO setting on camera to 320 or 400 ASA. Wouldn't the TTL flash set the fill to the ISO setting in the camera? cheers, Brooke

-- Brooke Anderson (dbanders@videotron.ca), January 09, 2002.