I bought my CL outfit back in the late '80s or very early '90s. It, at the time had a little finicky meter movement. Sent it off to be serviced by Leica and the speeds were right on, the metering contacts were cleaned, viewfinder cleaned and had an option to replace the top cover that had the slightest infamous CL indent. The service was done in early '91. Thereafter it served as my only 35mm system camera along with a Minox ML that gave up the ghost decades ago and my MF system.
It was used to teach courses, weekly Saturday shoots, daily walkaround, vacations and everything in between with no, none, consideration as to it being supposively fragile. To set things straight. 1) it is no less robust than almost any other camera; no not built to hammer nails like the LTM and M models but easily as robust as most everything else and better than many. Weakest point is the metering is not as dust proof as the M.
The denting seems to really require some serious hitting right at the edge. Mine has been banged about and there has been no additional indenting and I am not particularly careful and with other cameras I have used equally as hard, have incurred more visable damage.
The plastic sprocket issue seems mostly related to not understanding completely how to load the leader, it is opposite of most cameras and if done improperly, stresses the tabs. Reading the manual does matter with the CL.
Some comments about the finicky metering I have found when working with new owners often is more related to not understanding the metering than the mechanism. It is a semi-spot, closer to spot metering and hence with only a minor movement the meter can react quite a bit. The metering spot is about the size of the spot in the center of the viewfinder, think 12 degrees. At the time, it was the only camera with t5his type of metering including the Pentax "Spotmatic" that has a much wider metering area. The M5 also has this. Hence, those used to the more common averaging metering pattern of thl metering seem to intially fond iot a bit finicky. Years ago in discussing this issue with Leica, I was told modre than 2/3rds of the CLs returned with reported metering issues were in fact within all specs but they as a routine cleaned the circuits, anyway.
The Summicron-C is IMHO about as good a lens as made that I have used and has that distinctive Leica glow. I used to summit slides in competition and at the time the only regular Leica user. There were a couple of really old timers who had for years used Leica rangefinders before moving to an SLR and these guys almost 100% could pick out the Summicron-C 40 and Rokkor-M 90mm lenses as Leicas. Others noted there was some difference but not sure why. At times in shooting assignments were shot the same subject at the same effective fl, lighting, settings and film to do some lens comparisons in these slide competitions.
There is a difference of opinion by Elmar-C 90MM lenses vs the later Rokkor-M version. Some who have both say the Rokkor is noticably better. I have never had the Elmar so can not comment but when I bought the system from someone whom I well respected he had the Rokkor and said it was the better and though it required a different set of filters, the difference was worth the added costs.
I sort of got the CL by mistake. I was not looking for it, just helped a friend in financial need and had a Leica on my short list but not the CL. Since then it has been a most reliable user and though I have had chances to buy other M flanged bodies at decent prices all feel too large and unweildy now. It also killed any desire for an SLR other than my MF.
The other big adjustment that makes the camera seem to difficult or nonintuitive to work with is the speed setting dial and metering movement. The meter moves down when overexposed and vice versa. This coupled with the speed adjustment dial that is reversed of most and on the front can drive an occasional user totally nuts. Reading the manual again helps. After reading it and thinking about the design it is evident it makes more sense in use than the conventional systems but, one needs to practice and not shuffle between cameras to really get used to it and use it as intuitively as with the more conventional systems. I have more problems when using other cameras in this regard as the CL is used maybe as much as 90%
of my 35mm shooting.
If there is a pain with the camera, it involves the issue of the battery. It is inboard where the film loads so, make sure it is up to snuff as replacing it when there is a roll installed presents a problem. It is compounded now with the problem that the 625 is no longer available as it is a mercury battery. One solution is to send it to someone like Sherry in the US or Kindermann in Canada and have the metering adjusted to use a modern battery that can be done, use an air cell or an adaptor such as the C.H.R.I.S. Getting the adjustment is maybe the best idea, as at the same time the camera can be cleaned and speeds checked, etc. Remember any camera of this age possibly can stand some hospital time. 2nd is the adaptor as it does not have the disadvantage of the air cell while not costing as much as having the metering adjusted. The air cell is probably 3rd. Once activated it begins to die pretty quickly whether used or not and usually within couple of months is too gone to have sufficient voltage and current for the metering to work. This is a problem when there is a roll of film in the camera as previously discussed. I use the adaptors as I have meters and another camera that used the 625 and the CL works fine. Metering is dead on with the adaptor when checked against my Weston Ranger and Metrawatt meters that all meter about the same angle as the Leica. The Ranger a couple of years ago was checked and found to be dead on well, within 1/8th stop of the standard it was tested against so, all seems good.
There is a caution as to using some of the collapsing lenses as the backs can hit the metering lever. Leica published a list of these and recommended if they were going to be used, the easiest thing to do would be to wrap around the barrel a length of the 1/4" plastic DYMO tape that then was so common. Other fixed lenses with long backs were also listed.
The rangefinder is shorter than the other M flanged bodies and 90mm is the longest practical focal length. That said I have mounted a Canon SM 135 mm with the LTM to M adaptor on the camera and used the aux viewfinder than comes with the lens with success. Stopping the lens down helps in the rangefinder. It is not shorter than the Voightlander and a black rangerfinders I have and I have used all 3 with success with the CL. I am not as comfortable the front of the camera is sufficiently strong enough to handle the weight of the lens as it is very heavy. The 90mm is fine for almost all use so, not a significant matter. Also, and maybe the weirdest is my use of the Visioflex on the CL. I have a LTM version and with the M adaptor can close it and the shutter with the same finger. I all works as well as on an M or LTM body and just as weird to use. A real Rube Goldberg special by Leica and when I used it and persons were around, an instant way to have an instant crowd with their Nikon and Contax cameras wrapped around their neck.
I am not sure if compared to others I am one of the longest owners of the CL system responding or not but after all these years with mine going as strong as ever since the "overhaul" that in the end was all but not needed other than the contact cleaning, I figure my experience may carry some assurance that it is an excellent camera.
In closing, love the idea of the CL, the controls, the metering, the size, the concept, the reliability and, the associated lenses.
