Beemermark
Veteran
IMHO -🙂 The M7. In 40+ years I've probably owned every (non-collectible) Leica made. Right now I'm down to three - M4, M7 & M9. Most of my film years were with the M4 or M2. Back in the day the M4 was considered the best Leica camera made. But the M2, a cheaper version, was also very nice. With the M4 and MR-4 meter you can pre-set the shutter speed, then point the camera (without raising it to your eye), read the meter, set the aperture, raise the camera and shoot. Very fast. The M5 was a huge marketing flop (for a reason) and almost killed the company. So the M4-2 was brought out with all it's cheaper construction issues (another flop) and then the much improved M4-P. So then the M6. I rushed to buy one. Fiddling with dials while trying to align little lights to +/- 1/3 (?) stop was not my idea of fast. Might as well use a hand held meter and my 4x5. The VF flare didn't improve my temperament any either. I went back to the M4. Anyway when the M7 came out I bought one. Liked it so much bought another one (which I later traded for a M8).
Not many people have mentioned the flare issue with the VF. Some early M7s had the problem but nowhere as bad the M6. I lived a week without batteries and meter; shooting at the two available shutter speeds on the M7 and did quite well. So dead batteries are not the end of the world.
And finally, buy the newest (age wise) camera you can. I vote for the M7, we should have a poll.
Not many people have mentioned the flare issue with the VF. Some early M7s had the problem but nowhere as bad the M6. I lived a week without batteries and meter; shooting at the two available shutter speeds on the M7 and did quite well. So dead batteries are not the end of the world.
And finally, buy the newest (age wise) camera you can. I vote for the M7, we should have a poll.
