So why is the M5 unpopular?

[Prosaic]

It's the box they live in.

Nice box though.

 

[Keith]

Hey ... no one has mentioned the M5's shutter. When I had mine it was the second quietest camera I had next to my M7 ... that and the perfectly positioned shutter speed dial that responds to firm pressure from a fingertip make it a great interface for your favourite big lens!

I swapped my M5 for a Bronica RF645 kit ... now there's a macho camera ... makes the M5 seem delicate! 😛

 

[elude]

It's quiet, has spot-meter, and works perfectly well. (I would prefer the black one even though I prefer classic M in silver chrome)
I highly regret not having one but my M6 works great too..
I'd recommend it 😉 however, be aware that a few lenses damage the camera.

 

[sepiareverb]

Hate it all you want guys, some of us love it. Just stop with the need to tell us how wrong we are- we don't care what you think.

 

[rogue_designer]

I like to think of the m5 like I think of Saab cars. You either love them or hate them, but you can't argue with how nice they are to drive.

 

[rxmd]

The M5 is unpopular with Leica users because they are incapable of thinking outside the box, namely a 138 x 77 x 33.5 millimeter box.

 

[venchka]

Right on!

Right on!

Hate it all you want guys, some of us love it. Just stop with the need to tell us how wrong we are- we don't care what you think.

Amen Brother!😎 😀

 

[Ororaro]

The M5 is unpopular with Leica users because they are incapable of thinking outside the box, namely a 138 x 77 x 33.5 millimeter box.

The M5 is perfect all the way... until you present them with smaller alternatives.

The problem is not the M5. The problem are the M2, M3, M4, M4-2, M4-P, M6, M7.

Feel better?

 

[FrankS]

M5s are like Volvos: boxy but good.

 

[Vincenzo Maielli]

The M5 is a real mystic camera, absolutely quiet and terribly infallible. Only when i was take the M5 on my hands, i had really undestand the true magic fascination of the M5. I love my M5.
Ciao.
Vincenzo

 

[LOOP]

M5 + summicron 50 m 2.0

M5 + summicron 50 m 2.0

I have paid less than 1100 euros ( around 1500$) to get an M5+Summicron.
When you have it in your hands, you get a great feeling it is the last Leica before "business" has taken power on Photography. 😎
Look at a Exakta Varex IIa, a Contax II a Rolleiflex TLR it is not the 2008 digital world I really like it, ... the real world.🙂

 

[rxmd]

The problem is not the M5. The problem are the M2, M3, M4, M4-2, M4-P, M6, M7.

Hey, a 138 x 77 x 33.5 man! 😉

Feel better?

Not until you've snuck in a Noctilux defense somewhere.

Philipp

 

[lemalk]

I can't understand the disdain for the M5 either.
I just got mine a few days ago and it offers all that Leica's known for. It's technically advanced, but still simple.
It's also really well-built.

It can handle pretty much any M-lens and is definitely a "gateway" introduction to the M-system.

After this, I'm contemplating an M3 or M6 to complement it.

The M5 has its place - it's too bad not enough on here have had any real hands-on experience with it to discover its charms.

 

[Prosaic]

I recently posted a question as to which Leica to buy - the consensus was M6 (I'd like a meter built in for one thing). Some M2/M3 loyalists chipped in - but no-one recommended the M5. Is there a good reason why?

Honestly, I dont like the typography. The M5 was introduced in 1971 but really looks more like 1950 to me.

 

[dreamsandart]

The M5 concept, style and design comes from the mid 60s, to make it all work technically took a few more years and it was ready for introduction in the early 70s.

 

[df cardwell]

The M5 made life wonderful for this shooter when it hit the market.

Spot meter. Easy to wrap my hands around and hold steady in low light.

Hung from my shoulder, with it's end straps, and was easy to shoot all day.

The only defect, by my jaded standards, was a CDS cell. Big Deal. It is STILL a spot meter, and being able to KNOW EXACTLY what your meter is seeing is worth everything. The M6 has a critical flaw in that regard. IMO.

It shot K64 in split lighting with perfect accuracy. Shooting negs, it is still unsurpassed.

Why is it unpopular ? Because the judge doesn't shoot with it, because the pictures don't matter.

 

[sepiareverb]

Well, it seems the tables have turned? From out of the woodwork we come, brandishing M5's, meter cells ablaze. Desist fools! Ye cannot quench our fire!

Or, well, there seem to be more on our side eh Wayne?

 

[venchka]

To hear some people talk if you put a tabbed lens on an M5 the Earth would tilt off it's axis, fly out of orbit and photography would cease to exist.

It's a good thing that the film doesn't know or care.

 

[rxmd]

If it hasn't ceased to exist by then, put a flash on it.

 

[kevin m]

Well, Wayne, I've really tried to like the M5, but I just can't.

It's not that the camera is too big, or too ugly, it's that it's NOT HERE! 🙁 😀

At this point I'm expecting an insurance settlement rather than a camera. :bang:

 

[venchka]

My condolences Kevin. Be patient. It will arrive.

I do put a flash on my M5. A lot. One more Rangefinder Rule broken. The horror!