Thinking of getting a Leica CL

[mani]

So here's a positive: this thread made me think of taking the CL out today. It's been a bit neglected recently, relegated to the back of the shelf by its newer neighbors in the camera cupboard. And I'm really glad I did! It's such an awesome little camera.

I was using the Mamiya 645 yesterday, and though I love the results from that kit, it's hard work to carry around all day and focus the 1.9 and generally it takes a lot of energy and concentration to get 15 shots. But the CL just melts into your hands and it's effortless!

Sometimes - just sometimes in special lighting circumstances - the viewfinder patch flares out. I'd almost forgotten that. But otherwise it's all so smooth.

Damn all the criticism - I love this camera! Dunno why I was ever considering selling it.

 

[Godfrey]

So here's a positive: this thread made me think of taking the CL out today. It's been a bit neglected recently, relegated to the back of the shelf by its newer neighbors in the camera cupboard. And I'm really glad I did! It's such an awesome little camera.

I was using the Mamiya 645 yesterday, and though I love the results from that kit, it's hard work to carry around all day and focus the 1.9 and generally it takes a lot of energy and concentration to get 15 shots. But the CL just melts into your hands and it's effortless!

Sometimes - just sometimes in special lighting circumstances - the viewfinder patch flares out. I'd almost forgotten that. But otherwise it's all so smooth.

Damn all the criticism - I love this camera! Dunno why I was ever considering selling it.

I'm with ya all the way. 🙂
Each of the cameras I have now is special in some way like this.

G

 

[outbr3akxal]

Parts for repair are difficult to find. If you can not afford an M6 why not an M2 or M3 and download a free lightmeter app to your smart phone?

Steve, i do use my sekonic lightmeter with my M2.

I'm just looking for one with an inbuilt meter 🙂 Thanks though for the suggestion.

Appreciate all your inputs on the matter.
Im trying to see if i can get a proper CL with meter working of course for a decent price. If it comes with the 40/2 lens even better. 🙂

 

[outbr3akxal]

A lil bit of update.

Had a couple of offers for the CL over here recently.
Gonna weigh up those offers and hopefully by the weekend its mine 🙂

What else should i check besides the meter,shutter?

Thanks again all. 🙂

 

[oldschool photo]

CL not for me..but love my bessa T

CL not for me..but love my bessa T

i recently bought both a CL and Bessa T. The CL is well made like a Rollei 35 in form. And the Bessa T is sleek and well thought out. I used a 37mm finder from my Yashica G wide/ tele set on the Bessa T. The Rokkor 40mm is awesome. The Bessa T just fits in hand better for me. No comparison. I kept hitting the lens lock button when I used the CL while the extra right side space on the Bessa prevents that. My results showed better focus accuracy with the Bessa T and metering was spot on. My only point really is sometimes you just have to handle both as comfort matters greatly and translates into better shots and more pleasant experience. The Bessa combo also is a distinctly different shooting experience than my SLR's and super light at 390 grams. It occupies a unique space in my lineup making it easy to know when to reach for it, so I anticipate it will make into the rotation more frequently.

 

[outbr3akxal]

Sooo... A lil update. 🙂

Managed to get one locally over the weekend.
Looking nice and pristine. No major dings or scratches. In fact i think i just saw one little scratch.
Shutter sounds okay on all the speeds. Shutter curtain looks intact.
Now the meter is definitely working. Needle bobs up and down. But with regards to accuracy it may be half a stop off. I compared it with my light meter.

Just loaded a roll of tri-X.
Hopefully i can have the pics by this weekend and then I'll see if i need to send it for a minor CLA.

Many thanks for all your inputs and help. 🙂

 

[Borge H]

I bought a Leica CL with a 40 mm Summicron, rubber sun-shade and a leather case some months ago, also have some M-Leicas (M2, M4-P, M6 and M9). They are different cameras, the M feels more robust.

But they are larger and heavier... I like the compact low-weight feel of Leica CL. I think this is the true Leica work-tool, a small compact camera with a very good lens.

At delivery the Leica CL meter did not work. The battery was dead. I bought some new alkaline 1.5 V batteries and tried it, still dead! The Leica was bought on an auction, so I had to fix it my-self or send it away to someone. I tried to remove oxide from the time knob and below the film advance lever with a few drops of electronic contact cleaning spray.

It worked!

Now the meter is working, I guess it has still some oxide somewhere in it, because when I turn the meter on by advancing the film and leaving the lever out it takes some time before it starts working.

I calibrated the meter with my Sekonic meter. It was way off, I had to adjust the film speed of the camera-meter to 25 ASA before it showed correct results for Tri-X at 400 ISO (ASA). But that is no problems for me, I usually use Tri-X.

I found instructions on the internet how to adjust internally in the camera the meter, but before I do that I will try to get rid of some more oxide by using the camera more often! I guess it has not been used in years!

How are your Leica CL meters working? Does it sometimes take time for them before you can make a reading? Are the way off, like mine? Have you adjusted the meter with the screws in the camera your-self?

 

[incommensurable]

One thing not to underestimate is its design - I really like that the shuttle dial is on the front, protruding slightly at the top I can easily change shutter speeds by feel with one finger, without having to change my grip

 

[Godfrey]

Congratulations on finding a nice CL! Enjoy it!

I bought the one I have now a couple of years ago from another RFF subscriber in The Netherlands. It had recently been serviced from what he told me. Feels and works like it ... it's flawless and works beautifully.

The PX625A batteries throw the meter accuracy off ... Luckily I still have a few original PX625 mercury cells (long in refrigerated storage, they don't go bad) and I have a CRIS MR-9 adapter for silver cells. The latter does a better job than recalibrating the meter for an alkaline battery.

I usually leave the M-Rokkor 40mm lens on mine, but have done some shooting with both the 90mm and a Color Skopar 21mm f/4. The Color Skopars work well on some digital cameras, but they really work best on film:

Leica CL + Color-Skopar 21mm f/4 + Ilford XP2 Super​

Shooting through the window at the cafe, I always chuckle at the ghost image of the coffee mug in the center of the frame on this one.

Hmm. You're motivating me to loading the CL and keeping it with me this week.
🙂

G

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

congrats on your CL.

I have a love-hate relationship with the CL,
and i have bought and sold so many of them
that i lost count.... (6 - 7 over the years).

Here is a recent picture with the 40f2 rokkor

 

[rfaspen]

I like my CL too. I feel bad about taking the Ms out so often and leaving the CL behind. But when I do, I'm glad I did.

Borge H, My meter kind of works too. Its responsive, but not accurate. Its not just a matter of offsetting with a higher/lower ISO either. A little frustrating because the meter is definitely not dead, but not right and not consistently off. Not that it makes a big difference in the end. A lot of CL owners have dead meters and continue to be happy. I don't know if I'll bother with the adjustment via screws in the film chamber. Seems like a lot of fiddling and my problem might be a simple fix elsewhere in the system. Then again, I just use the camera...

 

[Borge H]

Rfaspen, have you tried electronic contact spray? Just a few drops below the the knob and the wind lever? It worked for me.

I noticed yesterday that if I put the time selector knob on B after each picture, like I do on the M6 to turn the meter off, the meter starts directly next time I turn my CL on and change time.

Strange. It must be some oxide problem in the camera. Oxide in electric circuits usually give these strange behaviour.

Tomorrow I will develop two Trix-X films shot in the Leica CL with D-76. I will now for the first time try Ilford wash method. I have a plastic water can with 20 liter, which is at room temperature (20 C deg.) now. Until now I have washed in running cold water for about 1 hour.

 

[SonC]

There are a couple of things that are mildly irritating to me about the CL: the fact the back needs to be taken off to change the metering battery (so it can't be done mid-roll)

This was not nearly the issue with a mercury battery that it is now because of the longevity of those cells.

 

[srmulcahy]

Rfaspen, have you tried electronic contact spray? Just a few drops below the the knob and the wind lever? It worked for me.

Borge, I assume you have to remove the top plate to do this, correct? My meter has started to work intermittently and the battery check shows the battery to be good. I suspect what you've mentioned is my problem.

 

[rfaspen]

OK, I'm curious about the electronic contact spray. Was that with the top cover plate off? Looking at my CL, I'm not entirely sure how to go about that.

 

[mani]

This was not nearly the issue with a mercury battery that it is now because of the longevity of those cells.

Ah I didn't know this! That makes sense.
In any case, I'm more than happy to use an external meter - I've got in the habit with almost all my cameras now.

Incidentally I'm so glad I stumbled on this thread a couple weeks ago - for some crazy reason I'd been thinking of maybe selling the CL, but this made me pick it up and go out with it - and realize all over again how awesome it is, especially with the Summicron 40 attached. Simply LOVE the look from that lens: the field-of-view, the sharpness and extraordinary contrast wide open, the lovely out-of-focus rendering - love everything about it. And then that tiny and almost modest 'snick' sound when the shutter fires! Ahhh!

 

[Borge H]

OK, I'm curious about the electronic contact spray. Was that with the top cover plate off? Looking at my CL, I'm not entirely sure how to go about that.

OK. I have to mention that I am also electric engineer. Contact oxide is common in electric circuits, especially at low voltage and with materials that oxide. The oxide creates an insulating layer which stops the current or make it take an other way.

What I did with my Leica CL was that I removed the old dead batteries and cleaned the battery contacts mechanically, carefully, with a small screwdriver. I also sprayed a few drops contact spray and held the camera up-side down to make it sip into the camera. Excess fluid I wiped away. My spray can (we call them here 5-56) also has a small plastic tube to concentrate the fluid, which I used in this process. I finally replaced the batteries with fresh alkaline.

The camera was still dead.

I then carefully sprayed some drops below the advance lever, as it turns on the meter with a switch inside. I also sprayed some drops between the time knob and the front of the camera. I wiped excess fluid away and exercised the camera; advanced the film, rotated time knob and released it. I exercised the camera a few minutes to make the movements and solving fluid wear the oxide away.

I then checked the finder and the meter worked!

But the calibration is way off, I am not sure if it is the higher voltage of the alkaline cells or because the sensor has aged. But I could calibrate it by changing the film speed so that the aperture and time matches my Sekonic meter. I had to reduce the film speed very much. But then the meter was very accurate and spot on!

The meter can be calibrated by removing a cover in the film chamber, according to some sources on the internet. The procedure seems complicated, so I am not sure if I will try it. There also is some instructions with pictures how to remove the cover on the internet, but I advice against it. I tried to repair my Leica-meter MR for my M2 several years ago, but I still have it in small parts...

I developed two Tri-X films in D-76 1:1 9,45 min. Here is one of the photos. The lens is Summicron 40, they said it has some haze, but I do not notice it. The cow and calf is mine and are not Holstein breed, the are of a small local breed without horns. We call them mountain cows. I like cows also...

 

[Ron (Netherlands)]

If you like long walks and biking, take the lighter CL and not the more heavy M6. I take it many times with me on a bike with a nice ashp 35mm summicron, or a - also lightweight - 35mm summaron. Gives splendid pictures.

 

[rfaspen]

Thanks for the info Borge.

I don't know what exactly the problem is with my meter, but I can't get it to consistently match my handheld meter by raising/lowering the ISO setting. I can make it match for a given speed/aperture pair, but then its quickly different from "true" as I change speed or aperture (or both). I tried to find the magic setting of ISO or whatever, but no luck. My sensor has a clear cover, but maybe age is making it behave incorrectly.

I used to get frustrated with this, but I've given up and just use my mental meter or a handheld. I do think it would make my CL a more compact package if I didn't have to carry a meter too. For this reason, when I'm using a film other than 100, or light is challenging, I tend to grab an M6 or a Bessa instead of the CL. If I have to carry a meter, the M2, M3, or a barnack seem to be my selection (not sure why I do that). Thus, my recent dedication of the CL as a wide (I have the 21 on it) always with ISO 100 film. I think it's more likely to get used in that configuration. We'll see. It has always found use as a "backup" to the M2 or M3.

 

[Brian Levy]

Why not send it to Sherry to be checked out? The CL meter is sensitive because it is a semi-spot, somewhat unique with built-in metering.

While pretty well used to it and how with little physical movement can result in pretty wide swings as I use hand held meters that each actually have about the same field of measurement, that of a 135mm lens so am used to the CL's meter. I do carry a small gray card in my shirt pocket and when the spot metering characteristic becomes a bit of a challenge, I simply pull the card and meter off it. It is also very handy when the camera is tripod mounted and set for the shot that happens with me a lot due to my shooting style.

For those that own the Weston Ranger or Metrastar, these measure the same field of vision as the CL.