Hello, I hope you can help me! I recently inherited my father's Leicaflex SL. So recently that I haven't even had time to read all the instruction book. There is someone interested in buying it and I realize I don't have enough info to make an educated decision and that is why I am appealing to you. He bought it on a trip to Germany May 1970, its serial # is 1256670, comes with a Summicron 50mm lense & a Elmarit 135mm lense. Has a large case (room for the camera, big lense & a flash). The flash is a Rollei. Dad also has listed 2 UVA filters on his inventory list of what he paid customs. It needs a cleaning, he hadn't used it for years, but I have it first hand, of course, that everything was in top working condition, and I know he wouldn't have had it any other way! I guess I need to know if you think it is worth keeping as I would like to use it, or sell it & but a new one. Do you think the old ones are better than the new ones?What would something (if there is anything) comparable cost new? And does it have any value in its current condition? I am really confused and since time is a big factor here I have to speed up my education as fast as I can. Thank you, Joan

-- JOAN WERTZ (joanw33@hotmail.com), April 09, 2000

Answers

The Leicaflex SL is a very good manual exposure camera. You do not need to be in a rush to sell as they sell very easily on eBay. Search the completed auctions to find a rough idea of what current prices are. The camera's modern equivalent would be the Leica R6.2 and you can find prices on various camera store websites and photo magazine ads (Shutterbug, Popular Photograghy, etc). The best thing you could do is buy film, take a basic photo course (if you feel you need one) and use the camera! The Leica Historical Society of America has a list of repair resources on their website: http://www.lhsa.org/ . As it is a mechanical camera it does require periodic CLAs and, most importantly, regular working of the slow speeds. Any local photo repairperson can advise you on the accuracy of the speeds but I would recommend only experienced Leica rpsn actually work on it. The camera unfortunately takes the now outlawed mercury 1.35v 625 battery. You can have the camera converted to 1.5v batteries or use the new 1.3v zinc-air replacements. As this battery only powers the meter it is not that important. The camera is not brand new and I have heard of a few with pentaprisms with deteriorating silvering. The viewfinder image is increasingly yellow and dim as this occurs. The pentaprism can be resilvered or replaced. Good luck. A blah blah blah to make sure all of the above gets in!

-- John Collier (jbcollier@home.com), April 10, 2000.

Joan

The SL is a very fine camera - probably the finest Leica ever made (together with the original Leicaflex and the SL2). The 50mm Summicron is a very fine performer. The Elmarit is essentially still made today and is a fine portrait lens. If you are interested in photography at all I would keep them as they just do not make cameras like this today - it fits virtually all current Leica-R lenses, which are (arguably) the finest set of reflex 35mm lenses, optically speaking, in existance.

The SL was popular and a lot of them were made, also the reflexes are not nearly so much in demand by collectors as the rangefinder Leicas. As result the SL is not worth a great deal by Leica standards - I suggest $300-400. The Summicron is worth about $250+ I would say as again they are reasonably common. The Elmarit is also probably about the same, may be a bit more. The current camera model equivalent is the R6.2 which is $1400 or so second hand. The only real disadvantage of the SL is that its meter is not very sensitive in low light. The next model the SL2 reectified this and this one is very sought after costing about the same at the R6.2.

You have a marvellous camera with a screen that is still better than the R6.2 in terms of brightness in my opinion. Is it 'better' than the R6.2 - not really as the R6 has a more useful meter, but I still have my SL and use it as a second camera all the time. After all a camera is 'just' a box to hold a lens so the Leicaflex is a beautiful box that will last for years with no attention. It does lack all the electronic everything that most modern cameras have, but in my case this increases its value to a keen phptographer. If you are interested in photography I would keep and treasure it. If not, try and get it to a good home. You need to speak to a knowleadgable photographer who knows something about cameras, otherwise there will be balnk incomprehension from the average Canon/Nikon etc owner.

-- Robin Smith (rsmith@springer-ny.com), April 12, 2000.

Joan

The SL is a very fine camera - probably the finest Leica ever made (together with the original Leicaflex and the SL2). The 50mm Summicron is a very fine performer. The Elmarit is essentially still made today and is a fine portrait lens. If you are interested in photography at all I would keep them as they just do not make cameras like this today - it fits virtually all current Leica-R lenses, which are (arguably) the finest set of reflex 35mm lenses, optically speaking, in existance.

The SL was popular and a lot of them were made, also the reflexes are not nearly so much in demand by collectors as the rangefinder Leicas. As result the SL is not worth a great deal by Leica standards - I suggest $300-400. The Summicron is worth about $250+ I would say as again they are reasonably common. The Elmarit is also probably about the same, maybe a bit more. The current camera model equivalent is the R6.2 which is $1400 or so second hand. The only real disadvantage of the SL is that its meter is not very sensitive in low light. The next model, the SL2, rectified this and this one is very sought after costing about the same at the R6.2.

You have a marvellous camera with a screen that is still better than the R6.2 in terms of brightness in my opinion. Is it 'better' than the R6.2 - not really as the R6 has a more useful meter, but I still have my SL and use it as a second camera all the time. After all a camera is 'just' a box to hold a lens so the Leicaflex is a beautiful box that will last for years with no attention. It does lack all the electronic everything that most modern cameras have, but in my case this increases its value to a keen phptographer. If you are interested in photography I would keep and treasure it. If not, try and get it to a good home. You need to speak to a knowleadgable photographer who knows something about cameras, otherwise there will be blank incomprehension from the average Canon/Nikon etc owner.

-- Robin Smith (rsmith@springer-ny.com), April 12, 2000.

By all means, keep it. I own four SLs and can say that they are built like a tank but with the precision of a fine watch. To add to what has already been said, the SL has a spot meter and will also meter between speeds. In other words, you can shoot between the speeds listed on the shutter speed dial(well, most of them). This camera also has a dampened mirror to reduce mirror shake.

-- Steve Rasmussen (srasmuss@flash.net), April 22, 2000.