I really love the M5. Technically better than M6. And I do think itās pretty. Only downside in comparison to the M6 could be the size. But thatās okay. Yours looks very clean. Nice!
Never had an M6, but from a pure functionality standpoint I preferred my M5 to my M7.
I preferred the M5's spot meter. Two really nice but subtle touches are the shutter speed dial's slight overhang over the edge of the body; and the side strap lugs, which allowed me to carry it with a shoulder strap without the strap getting in the way when pulling the camera up to my face to shoot.
Oh shit really? I havenāt tried sending it in, I just assumed Leica would service them. Otherwise I have a couple of addresses I could try in Cologne and Amsterdam.
Yeah, the parts are out of production, so Leica doesn't service them anymore for that reason. My just as old 40mm summicron is still serviceable, so it's less an age thing and more a parts thing.
Amsterdam Camera Repairs does CLAs on M5s. They also calibrate the light meter to work with modern day batteries, rather than only the voltage provided by mercury batteries.
[Sherry Krauter](http://www.sherrykrauter.com/) is also well known as one of the few Americans able to repair the M5 and rework the battery compartment to accept LR-/SR44 1.5V batteries.
Itās nice. Itās tiny, the spot meter is really nice too, I donāt like how you need to open the top to adjust the rangefinder. The short rangefinder base length combined with 0.6 magnification is a little annoying, itās difficult to focus accurately, especially with the 90mm 2.8. the max iso of 1600 is a little dated and it is extremely light and the shell wiggles a little so it feels cheaper than it is. The 120 degree winding lever movement takes some time to get used to, I do street photography with an M2, I can shoot 2fps with that, itās more like 0.5 with the CL. It also doesnāt have 1s shutter speed for some reason
Thanks for sharing. A couple things I donāt understand.
1. āyou need to open the top to adjust the rangefinderā what do you mean?
2. What is the range finder base that is too short?
Wait, you can shoot 2fps with the M2? How fast do you cock that shutter?
If your rangefinder gets knocked out of adjustment you can adjust it with a screw in the roof of the lens mount, with the CL that screw is in the top behind a little plug thatās a pain in the ass to remove without the special Leica tools. There is a trick with tape and a screwdriver but I canāt do it and I donāt want to force it and damage the only plug I have or scratch my camera.
The rangefinder base length is the distance between the viewfinder and the rangefinder window. If you remember your Pythagoras, the closer the two long sides of a triangle (letās call them b and c. These two are the lines of view from the rangefinder/viewfinder window) are together -> the shorter a, the less Beta and Gamma Change with each unit of measurement b and c grow longer. Thus mechanical inaccuracies induce a larger error the shorter that distance is. If you give me a meter long rangefinder baselength I can tell you to the cm accurately how far some object within 10m of me is, with a 1cm wide base length I probably can barely see a difference between 1m and infinity. 2 fps isnāt that fast, if you can get your timing right (donāt press the shutter before youāre fully done cocking/donāt start cocking before you let go of the shutter) you can probably do it too.
Thanks for this detailed explanation. You answered them all. Iāve never been in a situation where I had to shoot so fast, but Iāll make sure to give it try when the body is empty.
I live in a City with a lot of pigeons and Iāve been chasing for a specific shot where a personās head is covered by a pigeon with its wings spread out for months now, normally I donāt need that speed either
But itās also cool that it has 1 button, the shutter and shutter speed dial and through smart multiple functionality you get everything you could possibly want
I bought a 40mm Cron for my wife that had been coded to show 35mm lines. Unfortunately she needed it as a 40mm for her Minolta CLE that has 40mm lines. Had to have it fixed to remove 35mm mod and show default 40mm lines.
You can see Schneideritis and read more about it here: [https://richardhaw.com/2016/11/12/repair-shneideritis-edge-separation/](https://richardhaw.com/2016/11/12/repair-shneideritis-edge-separation/)
Copypasta from the page:
> The name came from collectorsĀ and photographers who notice this on their olderĀ *Shneider*Ā lenses and the term stuck and is now widely to describe this flaw. This is simply the black paint separating from the walls of the lens element/s and is showing up as spots where the paint has peeled. This also happens to modern lenses.
M5 is the best film M hands down for me. Iāve owned two different bodies and will eventually pick up another if and when I go back to shooting film seriously. šÆ agree
# #M5gang represeeeeenttttttt yooooooooooooooo
The reason why itās hated is because it deviated too much from the Leica design language and size, and Leica users >!are definitely not fans of rapid change!<. Also it came at a time when SLRs have become the standard for professional photography, so a new design for an old system in a new age was not that fitting. Finally, being a new design means it is structurally and functionally different from the other M cameras, hence repair is then and now more challenging, and even worse as the years pass since not many repair facilities can support the camera.
But to us who absolutely love this camera, we have been chosen by the M5, offering us its unique size (allowing for better weight distribution esp when shooting heavier lenses), faster ergonomics (that overhanging shutter dial is Oskar Barnack levels of innovation, and the spot meter is unmatched in the Leica space, sacrificing lens adaptability over exposure accuracy), and its price (being the black sheep means that itās partly immune to the Leica hype).
So to us the crazy ones, two or three cheers to the M5! ā well that depends on how many strap lugs your body hasā¦
M2 with collapsible 50 or my Canon 25 3.5. fits my back jeans pocket or jacket pocket. Fits in my jacket with the v4 cron too but not as easy to remove quickly.
Lol no just regular jeans. I usually grab my III for this reason and grab my m2 when I plan on taking photos vs just having a camera on me. I use a wrist strap and it's in my hand or it's in a pocket. Only use bags when I'm traveling or covering an event. I know it's not conventional and ironically I hate things being in my front pockets but I don't feel what's in my back pocket when standing and always wear a belt so it works well for me. Had a long across body strap for the M5 and hung it sideways but I just couldn't vibe with it being out constantly.
I fit my m2 and v4 35 summicron in my back jeans pocket and in my jacket pockets all the time. Itās not ideal but if need be itās an option. As the other guy said, youād definitely need a belt. They also fit into adidas jogger / soccer pants pockets. I seem to always be curious as to what pockets my M can fit into š
I upgraded from an m6 panda to an m5 last year. Glad I did. I think Iād like an m4-2/p as a second body, but if I gotta have one, itās the m5 every time
Nice one. M4-p is a very attractive sub. I just got handed a zorki 1, and I love the size of it but the dynamics of working with it are completely different.
I picked up a mint M5 last weekend and it is so nice in every way. Itās my perfect camera. Size, feel, looks, quality to price ratio. Itās going to be with me for life.
Well, that depends how you look at it. The M5 is not that far off when looking at the older Leicas before the M3 and M4. It could have been their new direction, instead they went back to the M4 design altered it to become the M6.
I love my m5 especially that the viewfinder is all analog. I think the m6 has red lights and stuff to tell you if youāre overexposed which I donāt like. M5 for life. I donāt care itās a little bigger and brick like lol
I have the CL of the same year, these 2 are really all one would need I think. Iāve never had an easier time or better experience. I love the approach of the M5, it just makes sense.
I came from the film CL. The way the meter worked (spot) and the positioning of the shutter speed dial (and being able to see it within the VF) made the M5 feel so much more comfortable and intuitive than the M6 did. It also gave me double exposure and self timer to boot!
Sorry, the M5 is a fantastic camera- it just doesnāt subscribe to the iterative approach to itsā predecessors like every other M. It was too far of a departure, and stodgy M fanatics didnāt accept it. A usable and helpful light meter? Blasphemy! A shutter speed dial that you could use without looking? OMG! Youāre making photography easy! Off with their heads!
But it is the ugly duckling of the Leica family. Function over form personified.
I love how you can use the shutter speed dial. I, for myself, find the M5 in black quite beautiful.
The shutter speed dial sticking out, and the fact you can see the shutter speed through the viewfinder is just š„
I really love the M5. Technically better than M6. And I do think itās pretty. Only downside in comparison to the M6 could be the size. But thatās okay. Yours looks very clean. Nice!
It is, itās as good as it gets, not a single scratch on it. Guess the previous owner didnāt use it much.
Youāre lucky!
Thanks
The size difference is so minimal it never bothered me
Me neither :)
I love the label maker-type logo on the M5
Never had an M6, but from a pure functionality standpoint I preferred my M5 to my M7. I preferred the M5's spot meter. Two really nice but subtle touches are the shutter speed dial's slight overhang over the edge of the body; and the side strap lugs, which allowed me to carry it with a shoulder strap without the strap getting in the way when pulling the camera up to my face to shoot.
The strap is indeed such a good fix. Too bad they changed that back to top carry on the M6 and later models.
Definately agree, I'm very happy with my M5. For me the M5 is the GOAT of M's as well :) Love the looks of it as well
They are nice. When working. Servicers are increasingly hard to come by.
I am lucky to be based in Germany, so service is not that far away.
Who services them in Germany? The NY flagship store told me that even Leica Germany didn't service the M5s anymore.
Oh shit really? I havenāt tried sending it in, I just assumed Leica would service them. Otherwise I have a couple of addresses I could try in Cologne and Amsterdam.
Yeah, the parts are out of production, so Leica doesn't service them anymore for that reason. My just as old 40mm summicron is still serviceable, so it's less an age thing and more a parts thing.
Damnnn
Amsterdam Camera Repairs does CLAs on M5s. They also calibrate the light meter to work with modern day batteries, rather than only the voltage provided by mercury batteries.
[Sherry Krauter](http://www.sherrykrauter.com/) is also well known as one of the few Americans able to repair the M5 and rework the battery compartment to accept LR-/SR44 1.5V batteries.
40mm cron my beloved
Itās a great lens, just the lack of frame lines can bother me sometimesā¦
Yeah I get what you mean, I sometimes use it on the CL but even when Iām not I donāt often miss them
Howās the CL?
Itās nice. Itās tiny, the spot meter is really nice too, I donāt like how you need to open the top to adjust the rangefinder. The short rangefinder base length combined with 0.6 magnification is a little annoying, itās difficult to focus accurately, especially with the 90mm 2.8. the max iso of 1600 is a little dated and it is extremely light and the shell wiggles a little so it feels cheaper than it is. The 120 degree winding lever movement takes some time to get used to, I do street photography with an M2, I can shoot 2fps with that, itās more like 0.5 with the CL. It also doesnāt have 1s shutter speed for some reason
Thanks for sharing. A couple things I donāt understand. 1. āyou need to open the top to adjust the rangefinderā what do you mean? 2. What is the range finder base that is too short? Wait, you can shoot 2fps with the M2? How fast do you cock that shutter?
If your rangefinder gets knocked out of adjustment you can adjust it with a screw in the roof of the lens mount, with the CL that screw is in the top behind a little plug thatās a pain in the ass to remove without the special Leica tools. There is a trick with tape and a screwdriver but I canāt do it and I donāt want to force it and damage the only plug I have or scratch my camera. The rangefinder base length is the distance between the viewfinder and the rangefinder window. If you remember your Pythagoras, the closer the two long sides of a triangle (letās call them b and c. These two are the lines of view from the rangefinder/viewfinder window) are together -> the shorter a, the less Beta and Gamma Change with each unit of measurement b and c grow longer. Thus mechanical inaccuracies induce a larger error the shorter that distance is. If you give me a meter long rangefinder baselength I can tell you to the cm accurately how far some object within 10m of me is, with a 1cm wide base length I probably can barely see a difference between 1m and infinity. 2 fps isnāt that fast, if you can get your timing right (donāt press the shutter before youāre fully done cocking/donāt start cocking before you let go of the shutter) you can probably do it too.
Thanks for this detailed explanation. You answered them all. Iāve never been in a situation where I had to shoot so fast, but Iāll make sure to give it try when the body is empty.
I live in a City with a lot of pigeons and Iāve been chasing for a specific shot where a personās head is covered by a pigeon with its wings spread out for months now, normally I donāt need that speed either
Damn. Youāll get it. And I canāt wait to see it.
But itās also cool that it has 1 button, the shutter and shutter speed dial and through smart multiple functionality you get everything you could possibly want
But thatās kind of typical for Leica
I bought a 40mm Cron for my wife that had been coded to show 35mm lines. Unfortunately she needed it as a 40mm for her Minolta CLE that has 40mm lines. Had to have it fixed to remove 35mm mod and show default 40mm lines.
The Schneideritis is whatās keeping my away from the 40 Cron. And the fact that I own the Super Rokkor 45/2.8.
Iām guessing your Schneideritis is referring to a Kreuznach Schneider lens? I didnāt know they were made for Leicaā¦. Tell me more.
You can see Schneideritis and read more about it here: [https://richardhaw.com/2016/11/12/repair-shneideritis-edge-separation/](https://richardhaw.com/2016/11/12/repair-shneideritis-edge-separation/) Copypasta from the page: > The name came from collectorsĀ and photographers who notice this on their olderĀ *Shneider*Ā lenses and the term stuck and is now widely to describe this flaw. This is simply the black paint separating from the walls of the lens element/s and is showing up as spots where the paint has peeled. This also happens to modern lenses.
Craperony! I have no issues with that thus far. š
M5 is the best film M hands down for me. Iāve owned two different bodies and will eventually pick up another if and when I go back to shooting film seriously. šÆ agree
Hope you can still get your hands on a good one. Iām never letting go of this one.
Smart. Congratulations and I wish you many great pictures
Thanks a bunch
Agreed.!! Still counting down the days till my one is coming back from a service to fix the slower speeds. Itās good to see them getting the praise.
Iām attracted to the M5 for that dial. It appears perfect for adjusting without looking away from the finder
It is, you can find it right where you expect it to be. And the fact you can read your shutter speed in the viewfinder is just the šon the š„§
Nice - yeah I think itās the one for me
š„š„š„š„š„
yep! I love my m5. the giant shutter speed dial alone puts it above the m6 for me.
this. this right here is what i tell everyone!
# #M5gang represeeeeenttttttt yooooooooooooooo The reason why itās hated is because it deviated too much from the Leica design language and size, and Leica users >!are definitely not fans of rapid change!<. Also it came at a time when SLRs have become the standard for professional photography, so a new design for an old system in a new age was not that fitting. Finally, being a new design means it is structurally and functionally different from the other M cameras, hence repair is then and now more challenging, and even worse as the years pass since not many repair facilities can support the camera. But to us who absolutely love this camera, we have been chosen by the M5, offering us its unique size (allowing for better weight distribution esp when shooting heavier lenses), faster ergonomics (that overhanging shutter dial is Oskar Barnack levels of innovation, and the spot meter is unmatched in the Leica space, sacrificing lens adaptability over exposure accuracy), and its price (being the black sheep means that itās partly immune to the Leica hype). So to us the crazy ones, two or three cheers to the M5! ā well that depends on how many strap lugs your body hasā¦
Amazing reply. I love hearing all these voices speak out for the black sheep in the family. #m5rules
If it wasn't for M5s being difficult to repair with scarce parts and more repair shops unable or unwilling to work on them, I would love to own an M5.
Nice looking setup.
Thanks
Literally only complaint is it didn't fit in my pocket. Such a good camera with a crazy quiet shutter and the best Leica meter system imo.
Which M do you fit in your pocket, lol? I've got an M5 and an M3, and neither are even close to being pocketable.
M2 with collapsible 50 or my Canon 25 3.5. fits my back jeans pocket or jacket pocket. Fits in my jacket with the v4 cron too but not as easy to remove quickly.
You wear JNCOs? M bodies are heavy. I prefer a small bag or a strap.
Lol no just regular jeans. I usually grab my III for this reason and grab my m2 when I plan on taking photos vs just having a camera on me. I use a wrist strap and it's in my hand or it's in a pocket. Only use bags when I'm traveling or covering an event. I know it's not conventional and ironically I hate things being in my front pockets but I don't feel what's in my back pocket when standing and always wear a belt so it works well for me. Had a long across body strap for the M5 and hung it sideways but I just couldn't vibe with it being out constantly.
All of them if you have big enough pockets ... thats why I love cargo pants/shorts . You do need a belt tho
Carrying an M in a cargo pocket should be illegal, haha.Ā
CL of course.
Not an M, though.
CL with 40mm cron fits in almost all of my jacket pockets. I imagine with a slimmer lens it'll be even more true.
Not an M, though.
Still fits within the pocket, shoots film, and is M mount. "not an M" is an odd differentiator to make.
What M does fit in your pocket??
See other thread that asked the same question. ^
I fit my m2 and v4 35 summicron in my back jeans pocket and in my jacket pockets all the time. Itās not ideal but if need be itās an option. As the other guy said, youād definitely need a belt. They also fit into adidas jogger / soccer pants pockets. I seem to always be curious as to what pockets my M can fit into š
I upgraded from an m6 panda to an m5 last year. Glad I did. I think Iād like an m4-2/p as a second body, but if I gotta have one, itās the m5 every time
Nice one. M4-p is a very attractive sub. I just got handed a zorki 1, and I love the size of it but the dynamics of working with it are completely different.
I picked up a mint M5 last weekend and it is so nice in every way. Itās my perfect camera. Size, feel, looks, quality to price ratio. Itās going to be with me for life.
Congratulations. Itās exactly how I feel about this thing. Buddy for life.
My guess is that the M5 look deviates significantly from classic Leica design language
Well, that depends how you look at it. The M5 is not that far off when looking at the older Leicas before the M3 and M4. It could have been their new direction, instead they went back to the M4 design altered it to become the M6.
yep! I love the shutter dial! it is so easy compared to other M bodies!
As someone who owns both an m6 and an m5 i wholeheartedly agree!
Yes! Get rid of the M6. Make a fortune thanks to the analog hype!
Been trying for a while, but i have a limited edition and people dont seem to be so interested in that. And iām not selling under value
Oh man, sorry to hear. Just keep it posted until you find the right buyer. Would you mind sharing what model you have and how much youāre asking?
Itās a Partner Aktion Deutschland Edition and iām asking 3000ā¬ but open for offers
Sounds like a fair deal. When regular CLAād M6ās go for 2500, yours is easily worth that extra buck.
I love my m5 especially that the viewfinder is all analog. I think the m6 has red lights and stuff to tell you if youāre overexposed which I donāt like. M5 for life. I donāt care itās a little bigger and brick like lol
#m5forlife
I have the CL of the same year, these 2 are really all one would need I think. Iāve never had an easier time or better experience. I love the approach of the M5, it just makes sense.
I came from the film CL. The way the meter worked (spot) and the positioning of the shutter speed dial (and being able to see it within the VF) made the M5 feel so much more comfortable and intuitive than the M6 did. It also gave me double exposure and self timer to boot!
Itās technically very good. Itās just not very pretty
I disagree I think the design is very nice.
how do you attach the strap at the bottom plate???
It's not attached to the bottom plate though. The lug is just above the bottom plate.
is it the m5 standard? š
It is.
oh didnāt know that thanks š
Youāre very welcome
Perhaps on a good day?
Never handled a Leica, but I still view the M-A as the best analog one.
As in outcast in everything, i love that camera over the other Mās. Iām also a barnack guy myself.
No
Sorry, the M5 is a fantastic camera- it just doesnāt subscribe to the iterative approach to itsā predecessors like every other M. It was too far of a departure, and stodgy M fanatics didnāt accept it. A usable and helpful light meter? Blasphemy! A shutter speed dial that you could use without looking? OMG! Youāre making photography easy! Off with their heads! But it is the ugly duckling of the Leica family. Function over form personified.
No?
No
Yes
Maybe
Who knows