Leica M-A Now the Best

[hamish_gill]

The speed dial has a slot in it to couple with a Leicameter. Remarkable. The last Leicameters were made in 1985, thirty years ago. Isn't it about time Leica offers a Leicameter again? A modern, digital lightmeter that couples to the speed dial would be a most welcome accessory for many users, also for users of the old meterless M Leicas.

Erik.

I'd like a lower profile one

 

[Pioneer]

Cheers for the link Pioneer

It continues to be interesting reading people's thoughts on the camera!

I've got more to add to that post through the expletive of ownership ... But I'm keeping that under my hat for the time being 🙂

My pleasure Hamish. I enjoy your blog. Being a very happy M-A owner and user i just naturally found this particular review.

 

[Pioneer]

Thanks to all those who wished me a happy July 4th party.

I had a terrific time with the family, as I usually do, and took a lot of snapshots with the M-A. I'll try to find a few worth posting when I finish developing them.

I consumed lots of Guinness and Newcastle Brown in honor of those fine British gentlemen who kindly decided to go home and leave the tics and skeeters to us.

 

[Pioneer]

I'd like a lower profile one

Maybe we can convince Cosina to build us a nice low profile Voightlander that matches to the M-A shutter dial?

How about it Tom A or Cameraquest. Put in a good word. I'll buy one. 🙂

 

[Godfrey]

Maybe we can convince Cosina to build us a nice low profile Voightlander that matches to the M-A shutter dial?

How about it Tom A or Cameraquest. Put in a good word. I'll buy one. 🙂

I'd buy one too. I have both the Voigtländer and the Leicameter ... the latter is much nicer in use despite being ancient and a bit over-sized.

G

 

[FrozenInTime]

The M-A's lines are too perfect to spoil with a bolt on meter.
For me, efforts would be better spent making a beautifully engineered, small and slim, pocket watch like light meter - in brass and black chrome or black paint 🙂

 

[sc_rufctr]

The speed dial has a slot in it to couple with a Leicameter. Remarkable. The last Leicameters were made in 1985, thirty years ago. Isn't it about time Leica offers a Leicameter again? A modern, digital lightmeter that couples to the speed dial would be a most welcome accessory for many users, also for users of the old meterless M Leicas.

Erik.

Here Here... I really don't understand why Leica haven't done this.

Sure it's not as "pure" with a meter on top but an external meter is such a great idea for redundancy.
If it goes faulty pull it off and replace with a new one.

 

[sc_rufctr]

The M-A's lines are too perfect to spoil with a bolt on meter.
For me, efforts would be better spent making a beautifully engineered, small and slim, pocket watch like light meter - in brass and black chrome or black paint 🙂

You've basically described a Voigtlander II meter. I've got one on the end of a string that I carry around in my pocket.

 

[f16sunshine]

Lost in these last few posts.
What on earth could be the benifit of an external exposure meter when a perfectly PERFECT one is already available built in to the MP (for less money overall mind you!).
I'm an idiot or maybe just a complete simpleton or you all have been overcome by nostalgia 😱

 

[jonmanjiro]

From my interpretation of the attached link, the recently introduced Leica M-A is the culmination of Leica's manufacture of M film cameras over the past 60 years. It takes all the best of each of the cameras and combines them into the M-A.

http://www.35mmc.com/19/04/2015/leica-m-a/

From the linked blog:

> Even the MP, which supposedly stands for Mechanical Perfection includes the slightly crappy plastic battery cover and ISO selecting dial similar to those found on the back of M7 and M6 that came before.

This is a genuine question as I haven't been following the discussion on the M-A very closely and don't remember reading about any mechanical or optical changes made with the introduction of the M-A. Minor cosmetic differences like the notch in the shutter speed dial aside, and besides these "slightly crappy plastic" bits that are necessary for the metering system (and which I suppose could easily be made of a material other than plastic if Leica so desired)...

... aren't the M-A and MP essentially the exact same camera? 😕

Lost in these last few posts.
What on earth could be the benifit of an external exposure meter when a perfectly PERFECT one is already available built in to the MP (for less money overall mind you!).
I'm an idiot or maybe just a complete simpleton or you all have been overcome by nostalgia 😱

I'm lost too 😛

FWIW in Japan, a new MP and a new M-A will set you back the exact same amount of YEN.

 

[ian_watts]

Minor cosmetic differences like the notch in the shutter speed dial aside, and besides these "slightly crappy plastic" bits that are necessary for the metering system (which I suppose could easily be made of a material other than plastic if Leica so desired)...

... aren't the M-A and MP essentially the exact same camera? 😕

Yes and no. Mechanically they share many components but the differences do go beyond just the cosmetic and "crappy plastic bits". There are differences in the frameline sets: the M-A frames do not need to accommodate the metering diodes so the 35 and 28 frames have a proper bottom line plus the 135mm and 75mm framelines are reduced to barely noticeable corner ticks. This is the most significant and welcome difference for me and the reason why I don't buy into the "just take the batteries out" school of thought. The other difference for me is that the M-A shutter release doesn't need to have a metering point so requires less travel to fire the shutter (the difference becomes surprisingly quite noticeable if you use an MP after many months of only using an M-A). Other physical (though not significant) differences include the internal shroud inside the lens mount. The M-A lacks the baffling that you get inside the M6/7/P.

 

[philipus]

Isn't it about time Leica offers a Leicameter again? A modern, digital lightmeter that couples to the speed dial would be a most welcome accessory for many users, also for users of the old meterless M Leicas.

I should think this is in the pipeline (it will be suitably dear of course).

I agree on the black paint option.

 

[ian_watts]

What on earth could be the benifit of an external exposure meter when a perfectly PERFECT one is already available built in to the MP (for less money overall mind you!).
I'm an idiot or maybe just a complete simpleton or you all have been overcome by nostalgia 😱

I suppose the benefit of an external meter is that you retain the nice clean framelines that you get with an unmetered M camera. Personally I don't have any interest in a new external meter. For me, an attached meter would compromise the "zen" purity of the unmetered camera and strikes me as offering neither one thing (proper integrated metering) or the other (unmetered camera free of distracting elements).

 

[jonmanjiro]

There are differences in the frameline sets: the M-A frames do not need to accommodate the metering diodes so the 35 and 28 frames have a proper bottom line plus the 135mm and 75mm framelines are reduced to barely noticeable corner ticks. This is the most significant and welcome difference for me and the reason why I don't buy into the "just take the batteries out" school of thought.

The other difference for me is that the M-A shutter release doesn't need to have a metering point so requires less travel to fire the shutter (the difference becomes surprisingly quite noticeable if you use an MP after many months of only using an M-A).

Other physical (though not significant) differences include the internal shroud inside the lens mount. The M-A lacks the baffling that you get inside the M6/7/P.

Thanks for that. That's the first time I've read about those differences, although they make complete sense considering that the metering system no longer needs to be accommodated for. And I can certainly understand someone preferring the changed frame lines and shorter shutter release action.

 

[Erik van Straten]

I can certainly understand someone preferring the changed frame lines and shorter shutter release action.

I completely agree. The longer release action is above all annoying on the M5. You really need to get used to that one. On the M6/MP it is less so, but it is still there compared to the older meterless M Leicas.

Erik.

 

[ian_watts]

I should think this is in the pipeline (it will be suitably dear of course).

I can't really see it happening, Philip. I don't think there is enough of a market to justify it. I'm not sure how many M-A bodies Leica have sold but I don't think it is more than a few hundred (I know that serial numbers are an unreliable indicator but the M-A that I bought last October was replaced a few weeks ago by Leica in Mayfair and the serial numbers are only 36 apart🙂). Of course, there are countless other unmetered Leica M bodies already out there but how many of the owners are likely to stump up the hundreds of pounds/euros that a new Leica meter is likely to cost?

It's worth noting that the little metering notch in the shutter dial also appeared on the MP Classic and, I discovered recently, the LHSA MP3 edition (the latter having an internal meter😕). I think the inclusion of the notch is just a nice nod to the heritage of the M camera that is also of functional benefit to those who might own an original Leica meter – I don't think it indicates any intention on Leica's part to introduce a new accessory.

 

[Erik van Straten]

I don't think it indicates any intention on Leica's part to introduce a new accessory.

Nobody knows that, however, a new Leicameter would not only be beneficial to the 100 or so owners of the M-A, but for all the owners of old meterless M Leicas. The old Leicameters are really not up to date anymore. The old cameras are still up to date, the proof of that is the introduction of the M-A. They could sell quite a lot of these new meters.

Erik.

 

[ian_watts]

They could sell quite a lot of these new meters.

You might be right. My feeling is that there isn't much demand for a new meter by owners of M2/3/4 bodies but I haven't done any market research.😀 In any case I don't think there is any chance that Leica will sell a new meter that is remotely an 'in-house' product, any more than they manufacture their own flashes*. If Leica are to release a new external meter it'll be entirely dependent upon Leica finding a suitable supplier of that product.

*Incidentally, with the recent demise of Metz, Leica no longer have a supply of flashes. Nor apparently is there any immediate prospect of stock appearing. Worth knowing if you are attached to your SF58 or SF24 flash guns.🙂

 

[Erik van Straten]

If Leica are to release a new external meter it'll be entirely dependent upon Leica finding a suitable supplier of that product.

I don't think it would be difficult for Cosina to make a Leicameter based on the VC 2.

Erik.

 

[Pioneer]

A meter is handy when photographing in difficult or changing light conditions. I use my VC meter for those occasions. But for the other 90% of the time I just go around au naturel, or hang my Weston Master IV around my neck for the occasional quick check.