Most Maligned Leica M Model

Most Maligned Leica M Model

  • M3

    Votes: 11 1.8%

  • M2

    Votes: 3 0.5%

  • M4

    Votes: 3 0.5%

  • M4-2

    Votes: 65 10.5%

  • M4-P

    Votes: 15 2.4%

  • M5

    Votes: 303 48.9%

  • M6

    Votes: 7 1.1%

  • M6 TTL

    Votes: 12 1.9%

  • M7

    Votes: 20 3.2%

  • MP (new and original)

    Votes: 11 1.8%

  • M8

    Votes: 146 23.6%

  • M9

    Votes: 23 3.7%
  • Total voters
    619
css9450 said:
The problem with the M5, in my opinion, is that it doesn't look like the other Ms. Purely an aesthetic issue. To the style-conscious Leica collector in the 1970s, the M5 was tacky. It was new and different. It didn't cry out "old money" like the M3 and M4 did.
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Well, I'd been using Leicas for a few years when the M5 came out: I still have the original brochure. I'd started with real (screw-mount) Leicas with a IIIa in 1969 and I'd recently got my first M, a second-hand M3. My reaction to the M5 was nothing to do with my being "style-conscious": the M3 was pretty portly next to screw-mount, and the M5 was just too damn' big and awkward.

Cheers,

R.
 
I think a late and deserved entry will shoot to the top of the charts.

The M10D, with its non functional fake film wind must already be the most maligned Leica ever. And fair enough really.
 
I wasn't alive when the M5 came out, but the most maligned one in the last decade seems to be the M240.

There were so many criticisms. Too big, too heavy, bad colors, useless video. In comparison to the M240, the M9 and M10 seem universally loved (by people who like Leica M cameras.)

The M8 was the first digital M. It had a lot of flaws, but people didn't have many expectations then. It had a smaller sensor, but Leica said full frame wasn't possible at the time.
 
The most maligned are the M5, M4-2, M7, M8 and the M9 and variants with the bad sensors. Which means there was a long stretch (three or four decades) between the M4 (and its metered equivalent the M6) and the M240, where Leica produced nothing but maligned cameras. The current cameras are all modeled after the M2/M3 from the 1950s, now including Leica's latest innovation: the fake film advance lever, not coincidentally also of M2/M3 design. Seriously, it's like they haven't had a good idea in 60 years.
 
ptpdprinter said:
The most maligned are the M5, M4-2, M7, M8 and the M9 and variants with the bad sensors. Which means there was a long stretch (three or four decades) between the M4 (and its metered equivalent the M6) and the M240, where Leica produced nothing but maligned cameras. The current cameras are all modeled after the M2/M3 from the 1950s, now including Leica's latest innovation: the fake film advance lever, not coincidentally also of M2/M3 design. Seriously, it's like they haven't had a good idea in 60 years.
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Well, aside from all the lenses (and the aqueduct and the sanitation and...)
 
I hate the last Leica m10-D. Because of the useless lever that’s used as a thumb grip. I mean come on Leica you could do better! Why not try to introduce a real lever for cocking the shutter? Wasted opportunity!
 
o-Tom-atic said:
I hate the last Leica m10-D. Because of the useless lever that’s used as a thumb grip. I mean come on Leica you could do better! Why not try to introduce a real lever for cocking the shutter? Wasted opportunity!
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Leica claims there's no room in the digital bodies for the manual cocking mechanism.
 
Roger Hicks said:
Well, I'd been using Leicas for a few years when the M5 came out: I still have the original brochure. I'd started with real (screw-mount) Leicas with a IIIa in 1969 and I'd recently got my first M, a second-hand M3. My reaction to the M5 was nothing to do with my being "style-conscious": the M3 was pretty portly next to screw-mount, and the M5 was just too damn' big and awkward.

Cheers,

R.
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Some M5 fans then would say: "my hands are very large" ...
 
I would say the most maligned Leica M is the M 4-2

I can't even count the amount of threads started by asking if the M4-2 is inferior to other M Leicas in the nearly 15 years I been on this forum.
 
Erik, I agree that the M5 was a brilliant camera in design and build. I had one for a short while, but ergonomically it didn't work for me at all. The classic M bodies on the other hand, fit me like a glove.
 
I voted M5. I believe that it is what the thread title says it is, :Most Maligned Leica M Model. But it doesn't in any way mean its bad.

It's got a ton of advantages over many M models. Just a few that I can think of

  • Taller body means bigger faster lenses have less viewfinder obstruction
  • shutter speed dial is ergonomically placed, shutter speeds show up in the viewfinder
  • The metering needle in the VF is a much more intuitive way to view your exposure (the arrows and dots of the M6+ is a joke. Poor way to evaluate a scene).
  • Bigger grip is good for those with bigger hands, you also get less accidental RF obstruction when focussing with gloves in the winter.
  • Precise framelines. The viewfinder is the last of its design (or so I've read). Leica changed the rangefinder/viewfinder in the M4P+ and shooting the M240 now I find the framelines to be way more inaccurate than the M5's. Something has to be said when a 40 year old M body outperforms one of Leica's latest offerings.
  • Framelines also don't share focal lengths so they are clean and not distracting to shoot with.
  • Side mounted lugs are good for carrying under a coat or carrying off to the side under an arm and out of snow or rain or for stealth.

I love my M5. I can't see myself shooting without it. When push came to shove between my M4 and my M5 the M5 was the one I kept and sold the M4. It's THAT good.

It's definitely function over form but I'm ok with it.
 
p.giannakis said:
Hi Erik,

What makes the M5 the best of the bunch in your opinion?
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- most precise framelines;
- shutter speed can be changed with one finger when looking through the viewfinder;
- stepless shutter speed dial;
- speeds indicated in finder;
- built in spotmeter, spot indicated in finder;
- highest quality of manufacture (best build quality of all the M's);
- best Leica M for making color slides (most precise lightmeter and calibrated shutter);
- most sensitive lightmeter.

All Leitz trained repair people from the generation of Ton Scherpenborg and Sherry Krauter will confirm this.

Erik.
 
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