I saw a CL on consignment with 40mm Leitz Wetzlar, for $800. The meter seems intermittent. Assuming the dealer has it repaired first, does this sound like an OK deal on an OK camera? I might like it when I don't feel like carrying my M2 or M6. Does it sound like the meter will be an ongoing problem?

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@juno.com), December 05, 2000

Answers

Meters on any CL will always be an ongoing problem. Otherwise, they're wonderful.

-- Bill Mitchell (bmitch@home.com), December 05, 2000.

I looked at 4 or 5 CL's and all of them had wierd things going on with the meter. I bought one that just had the meter "repaired" and was under warranty--it worked for less than one roll of film. They tried to fix it again, and when I got the camera back it was reading 4 stops over expose. I got my money back, gave up on the CL, and bought a Minolta CLE for a few hundred dollars more. It is a much better camera all around than the CL, and takes the readily available 76 cells instead of the mercury cells of the CL. I have used the CLE a lot for the past 2 years and have had great results with it. It is now my favorite light weight, take everywhere camera. The AE exposures come in handy when shooting fast, and the meter is very accurate. It is a great camera to pop a 24 or 28mm lens on also, as the finder is .58 magnification and you don't need a shoe mount finder for these wides as with the CL.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), December 05, 2000.

I was contemplating the CL too, but I keep reading all these problems with the meter and accuracy of slow shutter speeds from the Web, so I thought better of it and got a less stylish but more practical CLE instead. The meter of the CLE is very accurate, and it gets fooled only when there's a strong backlight, but there's no uncommon for any reflected light meter.

-- Hoyin Lee (leehoyin@hutchcity.com), December 06, 2000.

Bob

I sent my CL back to Leica and it has a new cell and works just fine. There seems to me little point in getting an old one "repaired" if it is not working properly unless it is sent back to Leica, in that usually this means it goes to regular repairman who just recalibrates the meter and gives it back to you. Like the M5 the CdS cell gives out eventually and you just need a new one. Then it seems to work fine. The old mercury cell needs to be replaced too as these are difficult to find. I use the CRIS converter which uses L76/S76 standard cells. The meter is not very sensitive, but I meter down to 1/2 sec and f2 with ISO100 film. It is not as accurate as an M6 or R6 meter, but it works fine once you get the hang of it. In low light conditions just make sure you meter at full aperture.

I love my CL, it is just what I want for a small carry-everywhere camera - I have the 40mm Rokkor. The real plus of the CL is its small size - the CLE is much bigger and you already have a real M so I am not sure what the rationale of having a CLE in addition would be. Of course the r/f base is small so it is difficult to focus occasionally - but this is a very small camera! CLs seem to command a high price though, and quite why I do not know as many (as you have probably noticed) seem to dislike the camera. It is easy to end up paying a great deal for a CL especially if you send it back to Leica for full service.

Still so far, it is doing what I want perfectly - nowadays I am leaving my R6 behind! In my opinion it is best to stick with the 40/50/90 combination with this camera though, anything else and you are back to getting a large system camera with all the fuss which defeats its purpose. I think the CL is expensive though, but I cannot really find a viable alternative for what I want.

-- Robin Smith (rsmith@springer-ny.com), December 06, 2000.

I would also suggest you get the Rokkor for it - it is cheaper and just as good.

-- Robin Smith (rsmith@springer-ny.com), December 06, 2000.

I've seen user-cosmetics CL bodies for just over $400, especially those marked "Leitz-Minolta" rather than Leica, if you really want a CL. I had one to try out for a while, and it didn't seem all that much smaller or lighter than an M6, at least not so much as to mitigate its shortcomings, especially the rangefinder's short effective baselength. If you want a *really* small, carry-everywhere camera with a superb 40mm lens, check out a Rollei 35S with the 40/2.8 Sonnar HFT. It's a scale focuser (no rangefinder) but 1/3 the size of a CL. The meter is also CdS and powered by a Mercury battery, but "conversion" to MS76 Silver Oxide is easy.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), December 06, 2000.

In '93 or '94, I picked up a reasonably clean user Leitz-Minolta CL with the 40mm Rokkor in a camera shop in Savannah, Georgia, for $375. The meter was not working properly, so I sent it to DAG, and then had to send it back again within a very short time for the same thing. It was fine after that. I liked the camera, but sold it because when I held it to my eye in normal picture-taking position, my middle finger rested on the lens release button and accidentally released the lens once or twice. It never actually fell off the camera, but I knew it was only a matter of time. Anyway, I enjoyed getting to know the camera, and ultimately made a little money on the deal. I wouldn't buy another CL, but I would buy a CLE if I happened upon one at a good price.

-- Dave Jenkins (djphoto@vol.com), December 06, 2000.

Factory trained CL repair person, also a wiz on anything else Leica but will not work on "R" cameras:

Golden Touch Quality Camera Repair

118 Purgatory Road, Campbell Hall NY 10916

Sherry Krauter

914.496.8834

914.496.3656 Fax

krauter@warwick.net

-- John Collier (jbcollier@home.com), December 07, 2000.

I have a Leitz Minolta CL kit for sale, if anyone is interested. Please see the "For Sale" section of this list for details.

-- Bob Jones (robljones@home.com), December 07, 2000.

Jay

Come on! The CL must weigh half as much as an M6 (a real M weighs a ton!) and it is a lot smaller. The Rollei 35S with the Sonnar in my opinion cannot be compared to the CL. No rangefinder, no parallax correction (which is a big deal I think), weird left hand wind, slow to set speeds and aperture settings (you have to depress the button and rotate the dial at the same time), flash shoe on the bottom. No interchangeable lenses. It is small and has its uses but it is not a camera to shoot any kind of fast moving subject.

-- Robin Smith (rsmith@springer-ny.com), December 07, 2000.

Even though manufactured by Minolta, the CL is a true Leica, in feel as well as design. The only major problem is the meter, which can be repaired/adjusted as needed (IF needed). It's a great little camera, and shouldn't be put down. The CLE, on the other hand, is a Minolta not a Leica. There is a difference.

-- Bill Mitchell (bmitch@home.com), December 08, 2000.

I will not use Sherry Krauter of Golden Touch. I go to camera shows and along with the repaired Leicas she sells at them, she displays and sells Nazi paraphrenalia, little German soldiers dressed in Nazi uniforms, and other material of this nature. In my opinion Leica fetishism and Nazi fetishism are close cousins, but this Sherry Krauter steps over the line. Do not support this miserable Nazi fan with your money or with your business. This is 100% true, this is not a crank post.

-- John Smith (smith@smith.com), February 19, 2001.

"Even though manufactured by Minolta, the CL is a true Leica, in feel as well as design. The only major problem is the meter, which can be repaired/adjusted as needed (IF needed). It's a great little camera, and shouldn't be put down. The CLE, on the other hand, is a Minolta not a Leica. There is a difference. "

There is a difference. The CLE has off-the-shutter-curtain metering which doesn't require a wierd little arm to swing out of the way when you fire it and hence can be used with all lenses, it has TTL flash metering, lenses with a normal leica RF cam, multi-coated lenses (the original CL lenses were not) and doesn't require the bottom to be taken off for loading. The only drawback is that it's unsupported at the moment by Minolta, although it is rumoured that they will be bringing it back. A beautiful little camera. The CL has none of these sensible features. In fact, if you factor in the TTL flash control, the CLE is more modern than the Hexar RF.

I had one briefly a couple of years ago and liked it a lot. The main problem for me was that the meter switched off when the camera was in manual exposure mode. For shooting black and white that wouldn't probably have been a problem, and there is an exposure compensation dial, which is how you end up using the camera.

In the end I got rid of it because it had a sticky shutter and was unsupported by Minolta, and also because in practice it isn't much smaller than an M6. When you have a lens mounted, it takes up about the same amount of space in a bag or round your neck. In the end, either you're carrying a camera or not. As someone else here said, the little Rollei 35's are very compact and excellent quality.

For use with a 28 mm lens, the CLE would be a terrific little camera as it has a very nice viewfinder in which the 28 framelines are fully visible even to me, and I find the 35 lines in the M6 at the limit of visibility.

Rob.

-- Robert Appleby (laintal@tin.it), February 20, 2001.

I've had a Leica CL for almost 3 years and find it a great camera. Small, discrete and takes amazing pictures. I use it for travel photography and photo journalism. It took a while to get used to the rangefinder (my first and only Leica)and spot meter, but it gives a photographer amazing control. My meter did go -- and sent it back to Leica. They put in a new cell and threw in a new top plate (which was quite dinged from all my travels.) So not a cheap venture, but I would always want to have a CL on my travels.

-- Christopher Wise (cwise@interport.net), March 03, 2001.