On 8/6/05, Cotty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > It should also be noted that the CL (or indeed the CL/E which is > effectively the same thing) has a built in light-meter - something that > you would pay very dearly for in a Leica. In fact is it just the M4P and > the M6/M7/MP that have built in meters? Could be important.
In fact, the CL was the first ever Leica rangefinder to have ttl light metering. It has a rather ingenious cell on a little swingarm which sits in front of the focal plane shutter. It swings out of the way just prior to the moment of exposure. This arrangement, clever though it was, was a weak spot in early runs of the camera, as the thin wires (they had to be thin so as not to introduce friction into the swinging action) broke easily, and were a bear to repair, and of course nowadays with no parts available except from donor cameras, it's a tough repair. They say that most of the bodies with the weak meter wires died quickly (or at least their meters did), so if you have one with a meter that still works, there's no evidence that it shouldn't last for a while. I think 1976 was the last year of production, so they're 30 year old cameras at this point - I still can't understand people wondering about their durability given that there seems to be so many still kicking around (always at least two or three up on eBay at any given time) - but as I said in an earlier post, I acknowledge that they're not as solid feeling as a "real" German-made Leica (either M-series or older screwmount), and they may not last as long as those legendary cameras. The good part: since the shutter is 100% mechanical, if the meter goes, you just use it as a meterless camera. BTW, Cotty, the Leica CL (in Japan they were badged as "Leitz-Minolta CL" - same camera) are not at all the same as the Minolta CLE. Cosmetically they're almost identical (although the CLE is a teensy bit bigger), but inside they're different beasts. Part of the agreement with Minolta manufacturing the CL was that Minolta could use the M-mount for they're own line of rangefinders and Rokkor lenses. The CLE has a completely electronic shutter (I think without batteries it defaults to flash-sync only). No batteries means no shutter (other than flash-sync). Almost all of the CLE's are dead now due to electronics/shutter failure, and those that are still around are dying quickly. I've read that they're a very poor buy on the used market as their life-expectancy at this point is about nil. cheers, frank -- "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson
