Retro-Grouch
Veteran
In a normal family, you'd beat up your brother and take his Leica. Oh, sorry, you're Canadian... 😉
The Heavenly Leica M5…
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chuckroast
Well-known
That is slanderous. You beat up your brother, steal his Leica and then apologise. This is considered kosher.
Slumgullion
Well-known
This feels spot-on. When I visited Winnipeg a few years back I chuckled when seeing the city buses had a sign that read: "Sorry, Out of Service" (you also have to say "soorry" in Canadian). Even the buses were wonderfully and unnecessarily polite.
Slumgullion
Well-known
JHF07674-Edit by Jim Fischer, on Flickr
JHF07681-Edit by Jim Fischer, on FlickrThe M5 is such a wonderful camera. The use of frame lines to denote the metering spot is so brilliant/efficient. I don't think that point is shouted enough. As a result, you have the most accurate and usable meter of any film M. My Nikon F6 certainly has a more advanced metering system...but sometimes it still gets 'tricked.' With the M5, if the exposure is wrong, it's because I was a dummy.
chuckroast
Well-known
The M5 is such a wonderful camera. The use of frame lines to denote the metering spot is so brilliant/efficient. I don't think that point is shouted enough. As a result, you have the most accurate and usable meter of any film M. My Nikon F6 certainly has a more advanced metering system...but sometimes it still gets 'tricked.' With the M5, if the exposure is wrong, it's because I was a dummy.
I've had a IIIf forever but an LTM collapsible 'Cron became available to me early last year. "So", sez me, "I always wanted to try an M body", so I bought an M2 with an adapter for that lens. This led to all manner of retail therapy involving Leica lenses and accessories for the M2. In fairness I got a really good deal on the M2, but ...
From the day it was announced, I always wanted an M5. Teenage me thought they looked really cool and and, Leica like Hasselblad, of course, would make me a better photographer. So, when a 50 Jahre "Jubilee" black M5 came up later last year, I bought it. And I love the thing, especially now that DAG has overhauled it. It is a very different experience than the other Ms but all of the M5 hate is simply not justified. It's a superb instrument. As you say, aside from modern matrix meters, it's probably the most sophisticated meter ever mounted on a film body, easily blowing away things like the Nikon Photomic FtN head or the F3 meter.
Later still last year, I fulfilled another bit of Leica lust getting a mint M4 just overhauled by Sherry Krauter. So that should be it - hahhahahahahahaa - silly of me, I know.
Each of these cameras has their own vibe but each of them, from the IIIf through the M5 works really well. Remarkable considering these 4 bodies span the early 1950s through middle 1970s. The IIIf is clumsier to use, but I took it and a couple of Color-Skopars to Europe this year for some film street shooting. It was a joy to use.
And no, I don't have a GAS problem, thanks for asking. I am NOT hoarding Ms, I am .... what's the word ... INVESTING in them. But like I said, I think I am done .... I mean, who needs an IIIg, M3, M4-2, M4-P, M6TTL, M-A, or MP? Certainly not me, no, no, no ...
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Coldkennels
Barnack-toting Brit.
...if you have an LTM collapsible Summicron, you need a IIIg.
There's no conversation to be had here. You just do.
chuckroast
Well-known
Actually, I sold that lens because I prefer the look of the newer Color-Skopars to that generation 'Cron.
JSteed#2
Established
Has anyone ever concluded that the M5 body was somehow based on the Leicaflex as a sort of template?
chuckroast
Well-known
I can find no evidence of this. Do you know of something that suggests this?
JSteed#2
Established
I have no evidence either. I just saw a family resemblance in shape (love the 'flex shape because i have large hands).
JSteed#2
Established
JSteed#2
Established
see the prototype pictured above
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