Question: Leica M5 - Illumination Window Issue?

[kennethshen]

Hi friends,

Bit new here and a very new to Leicas - so thanks in advance for any help here.

I'm looking into buying a Leica M5 that's currently overseas - but the shop owner says that you can't see the light meter reading because the exposure meter section is too dark and the scale cannot be seen.

They say the light meter actually functions fine, but you can read the light meter if a light is shone directly into the illumination window. Sounds like some kind of darkening of the illumination window and it's now not letting in enough light? Does anyone know about this problem and if it's an easy fix?

Couldn't find anything about this online - would really appreciate any help on this.

Thanks!

 

[xayraa33]

Welcome to the forum.

I know we have some Leica M5 fans here but if the idea of buying the M5 is the built-in meter and its convenient use thru the viewfinder....then the fault described by the seller negates all that.

IMO, I would look for another M5 that has NO issues or handicaps or better yet get a Film M Leica with no built in meter and use a hand held meter.

Kudos to the seller/shop owner for being so honest and fully describing the faults of that M5....much better than receiving nasty surprises from sellers that knowingly sell by mail faulty gear without being up front about it to the buyer beforehand.

 

[SolaresLarrave]

I have two Leica M5 bodies. I know something about them. 🙂

The window that allows light to see the meter is right above the finder. You cannot block it accidentally. It'd involve your hands going in an awkward position. Now, it's something akin to a fresnel type of window (not transparent but granulous rather). To be honest, I don't know how this can get blocked or not transfer light because there doesn't seem to be room for a mirror in that set up.

If the dealer is talking about a poorly lit meter... just don't buy the camera. It's not worth the aggravation. There are loads of black chrome Leicas out there, vs only 10,000 in silver chrome, but that still makes for a very nice, large number of cameras for sale. In cases like this, a bargain is not a bargain but a source of headaches and frustration.

Good luck and have fun shopping!

 

[splitimageview]

It all depends on the price; if it were me, I'd offer a low price that covers any necessary service, and for the time that it will be away.

 

[awilder]

I was a big fan of the M5 and despite it size, it was functionally a true joy to use back in the 1980's with its spot meter and low light sensitivity. That said, I'd now be wary of about any M5 if shooting slide film because I found that as its CdS meter cell ages, there was a shift in spectral sensitivity where blue colors would overexpose and red colors underexpose. The middle part of spectrum was fine. I found this to be true on more than one sample when buying an M5 back the mid 1990's. This was only problematic if using color reversal film which had little latitude for exposure errors. OTOH modern M light meters with their silicon blue cells found in the M6 and beyond were extremely accurate and exhibited no spectral shift in sensitivity. If shooting mostly monochrome or color negative film, go for the M5 as it's VF/RF was the last of their great ones. Sadly, Leica chose to cheapen the design of that key component from the M4-2 going forward making it much harder for users to adjust any mis-aligned RF vertical images and there was a tendency of increased flare-out of the RF patch in adverse lighting (eventually corrected with the MP).

 

[JFK]

I fully agree, repairing the M5 is very very costly since very few people, including in Wetzlar, can do it...
Just try to find another M5

 

[Highway 61]

I fully agree, repairing the M5 is very very costly since very few people, including in Wetzlar, can do it...
Just try to find another M5

Could be that the lightmeter needles illumination grid (it's hard to call it a "window") located at the front of the camera, over the main viewfinder window, has been cleaned with some unproper fluid at some point. It's made of acrylic plastic : cleaning it with alcohol would make its surface become opaque for instance. If so, this probably can be fixed (plastic parts designed to be transparent and which have opacified over time, for some reason, can be polished out so that they get transparent again). Could also be that the grid is very dirty with old congealed dust and grime trapped between its teeth, and just in need of a good dry toothbrush job, but it's hard to tell without that M5 in hands. So the caveat emptor rule may apply here indeed.