Surprised by M5

I own a three lug Leica M5, that i use in combination with an MR-9 battery adapter, bought in London, at The Small Battery Company. The Leica M5 is a fantastic luxury camera, fascinating, glamorous, precise, realiable, silky smooth. A true pleasure for the spirit. I love very mutch.
Ciao.
Vincenzo
 
M5 owners on RFF are a dedicated bunch.
DAG converted the meter to use new batteries and installed a third lug on mine. It was very reasonable.
 
I sold my M5 because I thought that it was too bulky looking and not as elegant as the M3. I may have made a mistake to sell the M5., but then I may not have bought other items. It's just another camera.
 
I like the M5 as it is. The size is quite convenient, it doesn't poke me in the eye when rewinding and I've got big hands. Ergonomics are great, you don't need AE with the meter and one-handed operation. The meter can be difficult to read; I'm thinking of hacking together an LED-based frameline and meter illuminator one day.
 
Tomorrow I'm going to get my M2 back from Will van Maanen who Cla'd it after I bought it two weeks ago. I thought my GAS was stilled for a while, but now that I read all this, I realize I'm hopelessly addicted...
 
The M5 was quite a departure from the classic form, IMHO, the only way they could have improved it was to put two more traditional lugs on the right side and forget the left. The M5 longs to hang from it's right side on a right shoulder.

The shutterspeed dial, spot meter, long EBL all are world class. I would get one but I am currently in a move to the darkish side (zone 2) a new to me Nikon S3 2000 and friends (25/35/50/105).

They are beautiful cameras those M5s.

B2 (;->
 
to John Milkins: I have a 3 Lugs and use it with a wirst strap (you can't do this with a 2 Lugs model) holding the camera in a bag. There is no problem in use it this way.
Regards.
 
My first Leica was a M5 with a dead meter.
Loved the viewfinder readout and the shutter speed wheel - even size wise it was more egronomical than the traditional sized Ms.
Had the meter been working, I would have also preferred its swinging needle readouts over the LEDs of the M6s & MP.

But its chunky and utilitarian design reminded me of a SLR (which I had a few) - hence it didn't really fit my purpose of buying a Leica.

Had I been forced to live with only 1 camera of any breed, I would probably have stayed with an M5 (either that or my Olympus OM SLR).
 
I have my late dad's M5 – I swapped owned-from-new 0.85 M6 for it when my brother decided he was going to sell the M5 and buy an M6. I couldn't bear to see the old man's camera being sold off, even though I'd always thought he was mad to have bought an M5 over an M6, when both were available second-hand for about the same money.

Now here's the thing; my dad was right all along, and I now realise the M5 is by far the better camera. That big – and yes, ugly – body fits in the hands far better than the smaller Ms (and who ever heard of an M5 user seeking some kind of add-on grip to improve handling?) There's no problem seeing the 35mm framelines if, like me, you wear specs. The metering area is clearly delineated in the finder and exposure is absolutely spot-on.

This is a fetishist's point, but the M5 is beautifully made – far better finished than a mid, or late production M6.

I have been warned that most repairers are chairy about fixing the M5's meter, should it ever fail. That one thing seems to be the main downside…
 
Funny, I did more or less the reverse with my older son (without having to pass on first) and have no doubt that getting the M6/.85x was the smart move, but that's just a question of personal preference and I'd agree that the M5 remains a formidable user.

On the meter, you may or may not know that Sherry Krauter has made something of a specialty of working on M5s. When my son bought mine, we sent it off to her to be made like new, which she did a nice job of.
 
M5 can use 1.4V Zinc Air Batteries

M5 can use 1.4V Zinc Air Batteries

Hi,

I love my M5.

I'm in the USA and I am using Waldgreens brand Premium Zinc Air Hearing Aid batteries, size 675. They are 1.4V and not the same as the original 1.3V but all my exposures are correct anyway. I did not need any calibration to the exposure system.
I get 6 batteries for $4.99. Zinc Air battereis are only activated when you peel off the tape sticker on the battery and expose the 4 small holes to air. The air activates the batteries. They last between 3 and 6 months each.
 
I am interested in getting an M5 but put off by some Photo.net users saying the meter tends to drift in time so is not accurate enough for slide film. Any comments on this?
 
Mine doesn't drift. Maybe someone used an alkaline battery, the meter is designed for mercury cells and probably doesn't have any stabilisation. With the characteristics of an 1.35V Mercury battery or an 1.5V silver-oxide battery I don't see why it should, as they have a relatively flat discharge curve.
 
Rayt said:
I am interested in getting an M5 but put off by some Photo.net users saying the meter tends to drift in time so is not accurate enough for slide film. Any comments on this?
Click to expand...

Flat out not true unless they're using alkaline cells in the meter...which is what I bet they are doing.

Edit: sorry, I see the previous post said the same thing.
 
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Uhhh... ok, I've been fascinated by the M5, and sort of latched on to it in my mind because of all the great things said about it. Today I got the chance to play with FrankS' M5, formerly belonging to Keith.

The meter layout and shutter speed dial are, indeed, very, very nicely done. Not to rain on the M5 parade, but ...

It is bigger than I anticipated, especially with a Luigi case the height seems enormous.

Next to my OM, it is positively Brobdignagian! The OM is slightly smaller than Victor's M4-2 (or any M4 for that matter! 😀) ... so I've made a preliminary decision that I'm not going to go after an M5 after all. (Sorry Wayne!) After shooting OMs and small and smaller RFs (my 35SP is pretty much the same size as an M), I don't think I could make the change.

It's strange because I had no problem acclimatizing to a Rollei SL66 kit, and have no problem when I break out the Toyo 4x5.

The M5 is a great, solid performer, so this is just me admitting I probably wouldn't cozy up to it. Oh well.
 
History

History

Some cameras are really milestones ... unique... that can be said about the M5 even if this camera was one of the main commercial mistakes from Leica, the second one being the M8.
I have adapted a 50 mm 1.5 from zeiss from the 50's to it and the whole bunch costed me 700 $... 😱 😱 😱 😱 😱 😱 😱

The only problem with this camera is when travelling ... it is big ... you do not want it to be hurt in a bag ... so I do not take it as often as a Konica Hexar AF , a Contessa 35 or a Canon EOS 30 v (Elan)...😎
 
Can't help spinning your reference to "milestones." It's true that the M5 was a milestone in many ways, but also a millstone and nearly a tombstone. They are way underappreciated by almost everyone except the few who post in these threads!
 
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