Opinions on Leica CL? just seen a nice one a very low price

B

http://www.briandavidstevens.com

-- brian (brian@briandavidstevens.com), April 12, 2002

Answers

BDS -- had a chance to check out your website durng the censorship discussion on the LUG. great work!! i love the niketown shot especially. anyway, i think the cl and cle are in some ways the best m mounts ever. very small, very well made, brite finder, and very quiet. in short, very very good for candid street shooting. my preference is for the cle. it seems a little more solid than the cl, is slightly larger and so balances better with m lenses, has an EXCELLENT auto exposure mode, has very accurate speeds, and is possibe the quietest m of all time. the baselength of the rf is also much longer in the cle for more accurate focus. the cl with the summicron c however is a great tiny package if your main interest is compactness. i love the cameras and think you will too. just check the electronics carefully before you buy.

-- roger michel (michel@tcn.org), April 12, 2002.

thanks Roger

just been to check it out, Looks great a lot more solid than I've been led to believe. IT WILL BE MINE!

B

-- Brian (brian@briandavidstevens.com), April 12, 2002.

Brian

They are sweet - you might need to have the meter cell replaced. Not much good with 90s in my opinion (tricky focussing) - a lovely camera with a 40mm or a 50mm though.

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), April 12, 2002.

brian -- i tried to email you directly, but your address bounced (maybe you mistyped). are you selling prints of the niketown/police cordon shot. if so, plase email me. thanks!!

-- roger michel (michel@tcn.org), April 12, 2002.

A CL was my first Leica, 20 years ago. On the plus side, CLs are very compact and lightweight. Minus: meter mechanism can go bad, if the battery dies while film is in the camera, oops, you have to take the back off (as I remember) to get at the battery. And it takes mercury batteries. External light meter solves those problems, but it'll probably be as big as the camera....

My second lens was a tele-elmarit, and I never had any focusing problem, even with action shots. Just get used to hyperfocal focusing and know your depth of field.

Opinion? If the price is right, and the meter and shutter work OK, go for it. The CLE is probably better, but they seem to cost almost as much as user M3/4-2/4ps these days.

-- Carey Russ (careyruss@earthlink.net), April 12, 2002.

Re batteries. It takes the CRIS converter for S76s no problem.

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), April 12, 2002.

With the Bessa R2 up and coming I'd have to get a *really* good deal on a CL.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), April 12, 2002.

CL is a good smaller than an R2 and it has frames for 40mm lens

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), April 12, 2002.

The CL is a gem. Great feel-pick one up and you realize immediately that you have a Leica M camera in your hands. Really bright finder. Check out the electronics though. You won't be able to use some backward protruding wide-angles on it.

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), April 12, 2002.

I believe the CLs can be updated for non-mercury cell, like many rangefinder camera's of his days.

-- ReinierV (rvlaam@xs4all.nl), April 13, 2002.