Leica M5 light meter - cant find it!

[SergioGuerra]

Hi there!

I just received a "new" Leica M5... after two M2s in the past, could not be without a Leica M, so got what apears to be a fully working M5.
Neat!
She looks gorgeous to me!

Now.. the light meter is working, and seems to be actually spot on, but... err... I cant see the arm getting up or down?!?

I also own a Minolta CL and I thought the light meter would be an arm that would get up and down in front of the shutter curtains. I do not see any arm, either with the shutter cocked or not. But the meter still gives a reading!

I am lost!
Could it be possible for this M5 to have an M6 meter? If so where would it be? Could a previous owner have locked the meter arm inside the body and stil get it to make a reading?

Maybe I am missing something obvious, but I will let those who know this beast well help me out 🙂

Best regards,

Sergio

 

[css9450]

If I recall, the arm won't come up unless there's a lens attached. Unlike the CL where the arm moves with or without a lens attached.

 

[a.noctilux]

Unlike the CL, when lens unmounted, the cell hides itself at the floor.

Only when shutter cocked AND lens mounted that the cell pops up for reading.

Simulation here with an adapter LTM to M to simulate a lens:

image from this site
http://leicaphilia.com/tag/leica-m5/

 

[SergioGuerra]

ohhh!!! Thank you so much, sorry for the dumb question 🙂

 

[BLKRCAT]

you can see the meter moving when a lens is attached if you look through the lens wide open. I can see the cell in the middle of my lens with my 50 on. But like everyone already said it's only up when a lens is attached.

 

[Richard G]

Congratulations on your new camera. A great machine. The Leitz engineers protected that meter arm very well. The only thing that can get near it is a collapsible lens. Sad face emoji.

 

[sepiareverb]

You can see a pin in the lens mount of the camera, in the bottom of the opening. It you press down on that pin the arm will move up enough to see the meter cell/arm better.

 

[Vince Lupo]

Similarly if you have a Leica M-LTM adapter ring, you can just mount it onto the camera and you should be able to see the arm move up and down.

 

[SergioGuerra]

Thank you all for the answers, yes, this is much safer than the meter on the CL.
Already got film on it!

Looking forward to use it tomorow morning 😉

Only got a Minolta M-Rokkor 40 f2 and a Jupiter-3 with the m39 adapter... I wish the J3 was black :\

 

[Nokton48]

The only thing that can get near it is a collapsible lens. Sad face emoji.

Actually Leitz officially said to run a band of DYMO tape around your collapsible lens, and all is good. That was a supplement stapled in my M5 instruction book. So 100% Leitz approved.

 

[David Hughes]

If you don't want to put a bit of Dymo tape around the/a collapsible lens barrel then an elastic band or two work just as well and can be removed for its use on other cameras.


Regards, David