MP question (for owners)

[krishilife]

Hi,

I consider an MP, and I have no opportunity to check it in person, so...

1) Can you operate shutter wheel with one finger? I see that M6 TTL, and M7 have bigger wheel, and so it's easier to rotate. How about this smaller wheel in MP? Do you need to use 2 fingers? Also, how smooth is the wheel? Do you need a firm pressure, or it works as a butter, as smooth as an aperture ring on a good lens?
I can understand working in manual mode, but using 2 fingers to change the shutter time makes unconfortable, I think.

2) There is a little eye piece MS-MAG x1.15 (don't confuse with Leica x1.25) which suppose to enlarge the viewfinder a bit. I wear glasses, so I'm thinking about 0.58 version of MP. I also work mostly with 50mm lens, and thought that this would help me sometimes. Now, if I use it, how about these red dots and arrows of the meter?, will I see them in the window, or they will be hardly visible, and obstacled by the mask?

3) How accurate is it with slides? I know that M7 is better in this area, but what's your hit rate with MP?

Thanx,
Kris.

 

[ckuang]

The MP

The MP

Hi Kris, I'm quite a fan of the Leica MP and use these cameras extensively during the course of my work as a wedding photographer. With regards to your questions

1. Yes, I am able to change the shutter speed with one finger without removing my finger from the shutter speed dial. It is a really smooth camera, probably one of the smoothest of modern Leica cameras. It is however, not as loose as an aperture ring. Believe me, you wouldn't want it that loose.
2. I wear glasses and shoot with a 50mm as well. With a 0.58x finder and a 1.25 magnifier on, you should have no problem at all seeing the arrows and dots. I use mine with a 1.12x magnifier on a 0.72 when I'm using my 75mm or 90 and have no problem seeing the exposure settings. However, do note that the magnifiers, even the Leica ones, does darken the viewfinder.
3. It is very accurate and I routinely use the inbuilt meter to shoot with slides.

 

[sepiareverb]

The shutter speed dial tension can be adjusted.

 

[x-ray]

Kris, I have 3 MP's and yes you can rotate the shutter speed with one finger but why would two fingers be an issue? Just curious???

Don't use the magnifier so I can't answer.

Where do you get the idea that the M7 is a better meter? Both are very good but only as good as you are. It doesn't think for you and you have to know how to use it properly. The meter in the M7 reads 18% just like the MP and where you point it tells the camera to set or you set the exposure for the metered area to be 18% tone. This is how virtually all meters work. If you shoot someone in a white suit and expose per the meter the suit will be 18% not white. If you shoot a black cat and the meter spot is on the cat the cat will be 18% tone. That's how meters work. They assume the world is 18%. If you don't know how to meter then you'll be better off with an SLR with TTL metering that integrates various points in the image area and compares them against a data bank of various subject configurations. Nikon and Canon are such cameras and are much more fool proof than a semi spot meter, at least for the inexperienced. If you don't know how to use a meter then a modern slr with advanced metering will be a better choice and give much better results and more consistent.

 

[krishilife]

sepiareverb,
How the tension can be adjusted?, if done by a technician, then I can understand.

x-ray,
Better accuracy of M7 over MP is (as I read) in electronic shutter precision. Even if meters work the same, 1/500 of MP is not always as accurate as 1/500 of M7.

I'd like to operate shutter dial by one finger due to the fact that you can move instantly pointing finger from the dial to the shutter release.
That's what I've read.

Thanx.

 

[maddoc]

I find setting the shutter-speed with the larger wheel of the M6TTL (or M7) much easier compared to the MP (or M6 classic), because less force is required (larger diameter) and the diameter of the wheel just reaches to the edge of the top-plate.

The M7 with an electronic controlled shutter should maintain shutter speeds (especially the critical ones, 1/500s and 1/1000s) better over the time.

 

[bankcheck]

Don't mean to be off topic. I have an M5 and MP, always find the M5 easier to operate when it comes to changing the shutter speed dial.

 

[tmfabian]

the mp shutter dial is EASILY operated with one finger.
I wear glasses and routinely work with 28mm - 50mm and i have little problem seeing framelines with my glasses on with .72 viewfinders(the 28mm is a little hard to see but it's not impossible with glasses on)

 

[Chuck Albertson]

1. Yes
2. No idea.
3. Yes. I shoot chromes with it all the time.

 

[visiondr]

The shutter speed selector was initially very tight on my M4-2; so tight that it could scarcely be moved with one finger as is my practice. After removing the selector knob via the small screw set into the top, I discovered a second slotted screw atop a brass dial, the bottom of which is the actual selector mechanism. Loosening this screw allowed the dial to turn more freely. Then all I had to do was replace the marked shutter speed dial. Perfect! This would work provided the MP's mechanism is the same as the M4-2. The shutter speed dial itself and the set screw atop the dial are similar.

 

[cmogi10]

One finger easy.

Don't use a mag but I have a .72 finder and use a 35+50 almost all the time and it works great. I have a .85 M6 which is great for 50+75. I've never used the .58 but don't really need it.

I havn't had battery's in my MP in a while, one day I'l get around to getting some new ones but I've found it to be very accurate if you know how to use it. If your used to matrix metering you're going to be disappointed at first. (IMO)

 

[rolo]

1. Yes, I am able to change the shutter speed with one finger without removing my finger from the shutter speed dial. It is a really smooth camera, probably one of the smoothest of modern Leica cameras.

Confirm. Do that all the time without taking my eye from the finder.

Rolo

 

[dreamsandart]

Sounds like an M7 maybe the better camera for you, unless you really want a manual camera not dependent on a battery.

Although I have no trouble turning my MP dial with one finger, the M7 dial is bigger and so a bit easier to find and move. The M5 has the best shutter dial Leica ever made as mentioned.

I use a leica 1.25x magnifier and with a .72 and 50mm lenses or longer it helps. With a .56 finder and the Leica magnifier it may be a bit tight for a 35mm lens depending on your glasses, but with a 50mm lens it shouldn't be a problem.

The M7 shutter is the most accurate Leica has ever made. Meter reading with either camera would be the same. But any well adjusted manual shutter like the MP should be within 20% (tops) of actual shutter value. Even with slide film this is fine. If its truly a critical shot, just bracket a few exposures, sometimes the 'true expose' isn't as good as one a bit less or a bit more. (The M5 meter from the factory was adjusted to 1/3 under expose to help with color slide saturation). 'Hit Rate', I think I do better with my MP than with the M7 on AE I had because I am looking more at the light and where the meter is reading. I'm more careful with slide film loaded, and with B&W actuate exposers are a non-issue.

 

[mervynyan]

I have to use 2 fingers to change shutter speed on the top, can't see how I can do it with one fingers, it is not rotary. But that is not a big issue. Just think about it as shutter priority mode.

Shooting slide is an exposure question, not MP vs M7. However, M7 does give you ability to constantly on same aperture setting. But I personally prefer a fully manual camera.

 

[krishilife]

Well,

I'm realy surprised how many of you prefer MP over M7, even if you can use M7 in MP mode.
Is this all about mechanics, or hating electronics?

So, the bottom line is... M7 is a better camera with improved ergonomics, but you still like MP more.

Kris.

 

[mr_phillip]

So, the bottom line is... M7 is a better camera with improved ergonomics, but you still like MP more.

Umm, no. The M7 makes its compromises in different areas and ways to the MP, which may make it 'better' for certain users in certain circumstances, but will also make it worse for other users and weaker in other areas.

In theory any electronically controlled shutter should be more accurate than any mehcanical shutter, and retain that accuracy for longer. In practise however the MP has one of the best mechanical shutters ever made, and is extremely accurate. It will also remain fully functional in conditions that may make the M7's electronics problematic (extreme cold being one example). Also the MP obviates the need to carry spare batteries with you at all times as the shutter is entirely battery independent. As I said, different rather than better or worse.

Similarly the ergonomics. Although the MP's design is largely an excercise in retro chic, there are good reasons for some of the design choices. Both the single-piece metal wind-on lever and the knob wind are considered by Leica's servicing department to be more durable and less prone to damage than the somewhat exposed angled rewind crank and the two-piece metal/plastic lever that you'll find on an M7. The larger shutter speed dial is found by some to be easier to turn, but Leica users managed fine with smaller ones for 73 years or so, and it is adjustable for resistence by a technician (or DIYer) if you so wish. Again, different rather than better or worse.

 

[sepiareverb]

Ron described the tension adjustment quite well- note that I've not tried this, both my 'little dial' bodies are loose enough. I had considered an adjustment to one, but it seems to have finally broken in.

As far as adjusting shutter speeds go the M5 is tops in my book, the larger wheel of the M5, 6TTL & 7 are easier for me, but not really that big a deal.

 

[martin-f5]

don't buy one,
it's too bad for your future!

 

[vieri]

1) Can you operate shutter wheel with one finger? I see that M6 TTL, and M7 have bigger wheel, and so it's easier to rotate. How about this smaller wheel in MP? Do you need to use 2 fingers? Also, how smooth is the wheel? Do you need a firm pressure, or it works as a butter, as smooth as an aperture ring on a good lens?
I can understand working in manual mode, but using 2 fingers to change the shutter time makes unconfortable, I think.

2) There is a little eye piece MS-MAG x1.15 (don't confuse with Leica x1.25) which suppose to enlarge the viewfinder a bit. I wear glasses, so I'm thinking about 0.58 version of MP. I also work mostly with 50mm lens, and thought that this would help me sometimes. Now, if I use it, how about these red dots and arrows of the meter?, will I see them in the window, or they will be hardly visible, and obstacled by the mask?

3) How accurate is it with slides? I know that M7 is better in this area, but what's your hit rate with MP?

First of all, I love my MP, it's a great tool and I use it almost exclusively for my street work 😀 to your questions:

1. Yes, easily;
2. I never used my 1.25x on the MP, but I have no problem in focussing my 0.72 MP using glasses and my left eye;
3. The MP meter works great as far as in-camera spot-meters work: it gives a tight enough and good enough (when checked against external meters) reading for my taste; as others said, the MP's shutter works just great and is engineered like no other, as far as the highest shutter speed (and the slowest, I might add) keeping their accuracy, surely an electronically controlled shutter has its advantages but:
a. have your MP CLA'd and checked wisely, and you will not have a problem with it;
b. your MP doesn't risk electronic failures (duh) and therefore will work in conditions where your M7 will be in troubles: have it under pouring rain, the MP will dry and keep working, maybe meterless, the M7 will not, the MP will work at all shutter speed without battery, etc etc - but I assume you already know all that;

2 MP, a 35-50-90 kit (with maybe a 21 C-Biogon), and a lot of film is all I need. 😀

 

[x-ray]

x-ray,
Better accuracy of M7 over MP is (as I read) in electronic shutter precision. Even if meters work the same, 1/500 of MP is not always as accurate as 1/500 of M7.

Thanx.

You're splitting hairs here.The MP may be more accurate or it may be less accurate. Even though the M7 has an electronically timed shutter it's still mechanical and subject to the same variations as the all mechanical shutter of the MP. Just because it's electronic doesn't mean it's any more accurate than a fully mechanical shutter. The variations in process and your inaccuracies of metering will be much more significant than the very slight variations of shutter speed. If you check timing on any electronic shutter you'll rarely find it exactly what is indicated in speed. Factors like age of springs in the shutter, how many cycles on the shutter, temperature and etc. all effect the timing of every shutter, electronic and all mechanical.

If you're this worried about a 5-10% variation in speeds I can assure you you will never be happy with your camera or results. You'll cast the blame for every bad exposure and problem on your equipment. Unless the shutter is really inaccurate in speed you'll never see any difference in results. You as the photographer are the weakest link in the system.