Any love for the Leica M-A (Typ 127)?

maddoc said:
Another problem are the soft strap lugs, Leica had (has ?) a problem with the supplier. I have to use brass key rings to avoid extensive wear of the strap lugs.
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This blows my mind: Leica had perfected the part many years ago, with beautiful satin-finished steel (?) parts on M6, M8, M9 and others. It was one area where I felt extra care and expense had been lavished.
 
maddoc said:
I have my M-A for a little over a year now and after being serviced by Leica it works well now. I was under the impression that Leica introduced the condenser lens again with the MP in 2003 but not sure. My M-A had the typical problem that the RF was horizontally and vertically off, a well known problem with the M-A due to lack of quality control. Luckily, I don't have the overlapping frame issue that was reported by many new M-A owners. However, the frames are very narrow, if two frames in a series were taken with the Super-Angulon-M, the frames almost touch. Another problem are the soft strap lugs, Leica had (has ?) a problem with the supplier. I have to use brass key rings to avoid extensive wear of the strap lugs.
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I’m sure there must be many happy M-A users we’ll never know, serious photographers by the very choice of this camera. As to the love of the OP’s question maybe it soured with an experience like maddoc’s, recovered fortunately with Leica Wetzlar’s help and the owner’s patience no doubt, but not enough to praise the thing. We’ve read of disappointments with ‘forever camera’ MPs too. Having to remember to use the Super-Angulon (or any 21?) on an older camera would be annoying.

I played a recently restored Steinway in Melbourne many years ago. It was the most wonderful piano I had ever played. Everything else for sale since I hated. I couldn’t understand why. I learnt recently that American Steinways are delivered assembled, but not prepared. The expectation seems to be the new owner will get his expert tuner in and spend a day working the piano into a playable state. In Germany for sale they’ve been tuned and voiced and adjusted for playing. It can be the same with some cars. Maybe Leica could send a factory rep to Hamburg for tips on shipping rangefinder film cameras adjusted like their pianos.

Maybe this piano perspective could make the early ownership experience of an MP or M-A less traumatic, and some love will be made more evident. Indeed, did we ever actually see love for an MP, other than the black paint and its brassing?
 
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I love my Leica M-A. In fact, I shoot with two.

A couple of years after Canon ended EF development, and with software moving to subscriptions, I wanted off the digital upgrade train. Maybe everything felt like work since I’m in tech. I sold all my gear, and six months later, I bought my first M-A. I’d been fascinated by the idea of the Leica M-A ever since it was announced. It felt like the camera I was moving towards.

When I started photography 20 years ago on a battery-dependent manual-focus SLR, the electronics failed after six months. That was the end of electronics in film cameras for me. Everyone else was moving to digital during that time. By the time I sold my Canon gear, I wasn’t even using the camera’s meter anymore, relying on spot and incident meters instead. I felt I had built enough confidence and experience not only to prefer meterless, mechanical cameras, but to actually own and use them.

I’ve never really talked about the M-A before. Most threads focus on the M6, MP, digital Leicas, or getting value from older models. Maybe M-A shooters just keep to themselves. It delivers a specific kind of experience — and that’s enough.

After four years, I eventually added a digital Leica, but not a -D version. If you’re going to shoot digital, it might as well be a deliberate digital Leica experience. I still can’t do EVFs except for video. I love seeing the world as it is through optical viewfinders.
 
I’ve got two MAs. One silver and one black. I like black chrome. It doesn’t look like anything special. I just use them. They’re simple and work. Probably my favourite cameras. FWIW, I’ve also got an M3 and a 0.85 MP - both are functionally equivalent but I only picked up the well used MP for the higher mag viewfinder and because it was in a local small independent shop where I know them well.
 
Richard G said:
I learnt recently that American Steinways are delivered assembled, but not prepared.
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Many moons ago, when I was working in Moldova, locals were still buying USSR-era UAZ trucks. Upon delivery, they'd immediately bring it to a specialized garage where it would be taken apart and rebuilt. People bought them because they were dirt cheap. The same cannot be said about Steinways and Leica MA's.
 
Archiver said:
But if they hardly use the internet, and you know what cameras they have, then... you must know real people!
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Imagine, real people!

Sadly, two of those M-A cameras are mine now.

Edit: I am not joking, it is sad, they were left to me in the will of an owner who died.
 
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Richard G said:
Maybe this piano perspective could make the early ownership experience of an MP or M-A less traumatic, and some love will be made more evident. Indeed, did we ever actually see love for an MP, other than the black paint and its brassing?
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That's an astute comment Richard....sold mine and happily replaced it with a bp M4....❤️
 
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