Leica M7 - the last film Leica rangefinder

Leica M7

by Karen Nakamura

Overview and Personal Comments

I was awarded a small grant to do some photography in Japan during the summer of 2003. As I would be travelling by train and foot, I decided to step down to a smaller system than my EOS-3 SLR camera and lenses. While I love the EOS-3, it is incredibly heavy. I had been thinking of getting a smaller/lighter camera, and I took the opportunity to use a rangefinder in my professional work and not just for fun. Because this was serious work, I decided to switch from my 1950s screw mount Canon P to a more contemporary Leica M-bayonet system with built-in metering. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.

I bought a new M7 at a good price through my asian connections.* This page was my way of thinking out loud about which system to get and I hope it proves useful to other folks trying to decide on which modern rangefinder (an oxymoron?) to get. For more classic Leicas, check out my Leica III, M2, M3, and MD pages. The Konica Hexar RF is a good alternative, contemporary Leica clone.

* If you're an academic (photgraphy student orfaculty who teaches photography) in the U.S., the cheapest way to get a Leica is through the academic discount at Freestyle Camera. Ask for their educator catalogue, their online system does not have the academic prices. Thanks to Scott Young for letting me know that the policy is pretty restrictive about who is eligible.
If you're a regular person, my favorite Leica dealers in the U.S. are Acme Foto and Photo Village. They are extremely high quality dealers, accustomed to one-on-one service, with excellent prices to boot. The advantage of buying a Leica from a U.S. dealer is the excellent Passport warrantee service. If you wish to buy one in Asia, I can recommend Joseph Yao in Hong Kong. He has the lowest prices and the best service.

Street Photography

The M7 with Leica Summicron 50mm f/2 or Summicron 35mm f/2 is tiny, inobstrusive, and very quick to focus and shoot. It's an excellent walk-about camera. One of the primary reasons I got the M7 was for its proven toughness in the field. The Summicrons are the highest rated 35mm and 50mm lenses available in the world in both sharpness and resolution. They form the basis of my walk-around kit. With one lens on the camera and the other in my pocket, I can shoot all day without tiring, unlike my EOS kit where the lenses are twice or three times as large and just as heavy. Even though I have a Canon 10D digital system, I use my Leica M7 in the field because of the size/weight/durability issue. I can go on a 2 week field expedition with my Leica and 30 rolls of film without having to worry about recharging batteries, dumping memory cards, cleaning sensors, or other digital concerns. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.

Auto Exposure Through-The-Lens Metering (AE-TTL)
The M7's aperture priority auto-exposure through-the-lens metering (TTL) works like a dream. The camera meters off a 12mm white spot on the first shutter curtain (you can see it if you take the lens off while the shutter is cocked). This yield an effective 13% spot-meter, which is larger than the usual 4% spot-metering in SLRs. You can think of it as in-between a center-weighted and a spot-meter. In any case, it works very well with practice. I don't miss matrix-metering when using my M7, it's that good. But I'm used to center/spot metering, if you're not, then it may take a little practice to learn how to meter and recompose or apply exposure compensation properly. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.

Auto-exposure: Set the shutter speed dial to AUTO (there is a firm detent there so that you can do this by blind touch). Activate the meter by tapping the shutter release button lightly while the camera is cocked. The camera meters through the lens and will display the shutter speed in a red 4-digital LED on the bottom of the viewfinder. At first, I thought the LED would be distracting but it varies its brightness depending on ambient light and works well. As you adjust the aperture, the shutter speed will change to compensate. Although the LED only reads in half-stops (for example 1/60.. 1/90.. 1/125.. 1/180), while you are in AE-mode the actual shutter speed is stepless between all speeds.

You can dial in exposure compensation for back-lighted subjects using the rear dial by holding in the lock button on the right while dialing from between -2 to +2 of exposure compensation in 1/3 stops. I find, however, that it's much easier to simply point the camera into a neutral gray area in the scene, push in the shutter-button half-way to activate the AE-Lock feature and recompose.

Manual-Metering:
To activate manual metering (which is exactly the same as the metering found in the M6 and M6TTL), turn the shutter dial off of AUTO to any speed. Set your aperture and look through the viewfinder. Instead of the red 4 digital LED will be one of three symbols: a right pointing triangle, a center-circle, or a left-pointing triangle. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.

You adjust either the shutter speed or aperture, turning in the direction of the triangles, until only the center-circle is displayed, which is the correct exposure. If a circle+triangle is displayed, you are about 1/2 stop over or under exposed. If just a triangle is displayed, you are more than 1 stop over or under exposed.

It sounds complicated but works quickly in practice.

Care and Feeding
The two CR1/3N batteries will last about 50-60 rolls. They are hard to find in remote areas, so carry a few spares. I keep my spares in an empty film canister. In a pinch, you can use four LR44 or SR44 batteries instead. These are commonly available anywhere, but they are harder to load and won't last nearly as long.

Keep your viewfinder and focusing window clean. I keep a soft optical cloth in my bag for this purpose. Early and mid-edition M7s aren't fully sealed and the viewfinder eyepiece window gets lint inside of it easily. Leica will clean it for you as part of their regular CLA and seal it afterwards. I'm going to have this done next time it's in for a checkup. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.

Loading film in the bottom loading M7 isn't nearly as difficult as people make it out to be. There are a couple of tips that I've found to work for me:

1. Rewind the spent film. Take out your new film out of the canister and put it somewhere easily accessible.
2. Hold the camera by the lens barrel with your index and thumb of your left hand.* This gives a good secure one-handed grip. Take the bottom of the camera off. I hold the camera bottom between the pinky and ring finger of my left hand. This allows my right hand to be free to manipulate the film. Some people hold the camera bottom in the left armpit, others bite it. I've found the pinky/ring finger wedge to be the easiest and most secure.
   * If you are left handed, hold the camera in your right hand, etc. The most important thing is to have your dominant hand free to do steps 3-6.
3. Take out the spent film. The canister can be hard to get out sometimes. A slight tap with your right hand will often eject it. Pop the old film in your camera bag and take out the new film.
4. Pull the film leader out a little bit, usually so it's about 8-10cm long. You'll get used to just how much to pull it out. You want it just long enough so that the tip fits into the right hand "tulip" take-up spool, not any longer or shorter.
5. Flip up the rear camera back and put in the film. The important thing is to make sure the film cartridge is all the way in, the film is firmly between the top and bottom film rails and not caught up, the film sprockets appear to be engaged, and the top of the film leader is properly in the take-up "tulip" on the right side. This sounds complicated but again it is easy to get used to.
6. Don't wind the film while the camera is open.* Close the rear back and then put the bottom on. Set the camera speed to 1/1000 and fire three blank shots. At the same time, look at the rewind knob. It should be rotating a bit by the third dry blank shot. If not, wind it slowly to see if there is the proper amount of friction. If it doesn't seem like the film has caught, then you need to open the camera up and check to see what has happened.
   * Leica M2, M3, and M4 cameras are often easier to load if you fire a few shots while the back is open. This is one difference in the quick-loading system introduced with the M6 and M7 where not winding until the back is on the camera is better.
7. Before taking your first real shot, turn the camera off and on again. The camera will blink in the LED display what the ISO of the film is, read off the DX barcode on the cartridge. Because of oil or dirt on the cartridge or sensor, it's sometimes wrong (about 1 in 100 rolls). In those cases, I find it easier to manually dial in the ISO rather than reloading the film.

This sounds like a lot of steps, but in reality it's not that hard. I've reloaded my Leica while on horseback, in bouncing trucks, and so forth. The most important thing is to not drop the camera bottom down a ravine or drain pipe!

Interesting quirks

The M7 uses Leica's signature horizontal travelling cloth focal plane shutter. The shutter curtains travel at a relatively low speed, which results in the Leica's pitifully slow 1/50 second flash sync speed, unchanged from the 1930s. The cloth shutter is very susceptible to getting pinholes burned in it by an uncapped lens in bright sunlight. Despite all its failings, the Leica horizontal cloth shutter design has a couple of benefits:

• Very uncomplicated. It's easier to design a horizontal travelling shutter than a vertical one, as that is the direction in which the film runs and the wind lever is cocked. Compare this with the Contax rangefinder shutters, which use a complicated horizontal travelling design.
• Low tension. The coil springs which power the Leica shutter are not high-tensioned. This gives them longetivity. There are Leica IIIs from the 1940s still running around working just fine. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.
• The cloth shutter is amazingly quiet. It has a "shwoop" sound rather than the "clashatt" of a metal focal plane shutter. The M7 is electronically timed, which means you don't even hear the clockwork buzz that marked the slow-shutter speeds of earlier Leicas.
• Very resilient. Unlike the metal foil shutters of the Canon VI/P series, the Leica shutters don't mind if you stick your thumb in them by accident. The shutters don't like it, but they won't crinkle like the metal foil ones.
• Obsolescence-proof: The Leica design hasn't changed much in 75 years. You can still get parts for a Leica III or an M3 shutter. The M7 with its electromagnetic shutter is a big change, though.

The Leica M7 is very quiet (just a slight "shwoop" sound of the cloth shutter). The M6 TTL is similarly inobstrusive, but you can hear the gears whirring on slow-speed shutters. After buying the M7, I later bought a Leica CL (compact Leica-M) as my backup camera, although I later replaced it with the Leica M3 which is much more sturdy. Please see my Leica CL and Leica M3 pages for more information. I also have a Leica MD that I use on my very wide angle lenses.

Contemporary Re-designs: In recent years, Cosina and Konica have both come out with more modern M-mount rangefinders. In contrast with the ancient shutter on the M7, the Konica Hexar RF has a contemporary, vertical travel metal focal plane shutter. This allows a maximum speed of 1/4000 sec. and a flash sync of 1/125sec (compared to 1/1000 max and 1/50 flash sync of the Leica). The one "negative" of the Hexar is that it has motor drive built-in. This and the metal focal plane shutter makes it noisier than the Leica. And I found the viewfinder of the Hexar to be busy,with shutter speeds on the left with a little LED christmas-tree. The Hexar is $1000 with a standard 50mm lens and useless flash; which puts it at about 1/3 the price of a new Leica M7 + Summicron (~$3500). Unfortunately, the Hexar has apparently been discontinued and many are waiting to see what Konica-Minolta will come out, hopefully a digital version of the Minolta CLE. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.

Cosina-Voigtlander Bessa R-series: I ruled the Voigtlander Bessa R/R2/R3A series out almost immediately. The vertical metal bladed shutters are just as loud as on an SLR. The overall feel is much cheaper than any other other camera system, especially the wind lever, which is stiff. I enjoy the haptics of my cameras, and the Bessa just doesn't have it. Their lenses, on the other hand, are wonderful and represent an excellent price/performance value. You can almost buy a used Leica Summicron f/2 for the new price of Voigtlander's Nokton lenses (f/1.5, f/1.7), whether that sways you towards Leica or Voigtlander is up to you. For me, it swayed me towards Leica. More recently (2005.05), I bought a Zeiss Biogon 35mm f/2 which is a German-design manufactured by Cosina in Japan. It's proven to be an excellent companion to my M7 and I've been using it instead of the Summicron these days.

Epson R-D1 - a Digital Leica M? : I'm very tempted by the Epson R-D1 digital camera that came out in the Fall 2004. This is a rangefinder developed in conjunction with Cosina-Voigtlander and based on the Bessa R2A/R3A body. It has an M mount which means that you can continue to use all of your Leica mount lenses, with a 1.5x crop factor. Unfortunately, it was priced at $3000 and even though a year has passed, the price has remained stable. If it even drops to $1500, I will be the first to have my credit card out. There haven't been any rumours of a successor model yet (2005.05).

Panasonic Lumix / Olympus Pen micro-four-thirds (MFT) as digital Leicas? New in 2010 was a series of "micro-four-thirds" (MFT) mount digital cameras. What's unique about the MFT mount is that there are adapters for almost any classic mount -- including Leica Screw Mount (LSM) and M-Mount. Many folks in the Leica Uses Group are now using their Panasonic Lumix (DMC-G10, G2, G1) and Olympus Pen digital cams as the bodies to their Leica lenses. These bodies are only around $500~1000, so they're a considerable bargain compared to the Leica M9 digital camera ($9000).

The stickers are on my camera are because I do most of work in East and Southeast Asia. It's often safer to not advertise to pickpockets your camera is German. With the old M3 case that I use, my M7 looks like an old-fashioned (thus un-fenceable) asian manual camera.

Accessories

The neat thing about the Leica system are the various Leica and aftermarket accessories. For example, here is the Abrahamsson Rapidwinder, which is an improved copy of the Leica MP Leicavit. You can see the Leica Tabletop Tripod above (or on my tripod page).

Technical Details

Short Baselength Cameras

My Leica Mount Lens Collection (15mm , 25mm, 28mm, 35mm, 40mm, 45 mm, 50mm, 52mm, 85mm, 90mm, 100mm, 135mm)

Leica Flashes

After some debate about which flash to get, I ended up getting the small Leica SF-20 because it has TTL flash metering. This is very handy for fill-in flash -- using the flash with just enough supplementary light to fill in details in the photograph without overpowering the scene and giving the deer-in-the-headlights look of many flash photographs. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.

This is how I use automatic ambient fill-in flash with the SF-20:

1. Mount the flash and turn it on.* Make sure the flash is in TTL mode and the camera is in AUTO exposure mode.
   * It's good practice to never mount a charged/on flash, you can burn out the circuits if the camera contacts are bad. With modern flashes/cameras this is less of a problem than in the past, but it pays to be safe than sorry.
2. Tap the shutter button of the M7 halfway to transmit the ISO data to the flash, it should show the film ISO on the back LCD.
3. On the back of the flash, adjust the flash exposure compensation to -1 to -2.
4. Look through the viewfinder of the camera. The metered shutter speed should be "50". Open up the aperture until the "50" starts flashing (this means there is too much ambient light) then back down one stop until it stops flashing. This means you now have the maximum possible ambient light. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.
5. Then shoot

You can actually balance ambient/flash to lower light levels if you switch to manual metering. Follow the instructions above but:

1. Change the shutter speed to 1/50th second or lower. By adjusting the shutter speed (always lower than 1/50) and aperture, adjust so that the central red dot in the meter display is lit. You are now correctly exposed
2. Shoot

You will quickly find the limitations of the 1/50th flash sync if you try daylight ambient fill-in flash. The solutions are to use a ND (neutral density filter) or use slower film (ISO50).

I'm a bit annoyed that despite it being a Leica flash, the SF-20 doesn't have HSS (high-speed synchronization) with the M7! In order to get HSS, you have to get the Metz flash units with the SCA3502 adaptor, by which time you might just want to tie a boat anchor to your "lightweight" "portable" Leica.

Leica SF-24D: The recently released SF-24D is identical to the SF-20 except that it has more manual aperture modes and exposure compensation is in 1/3 stop steps rather than 1/2 stops. It also has a tele focuser which gives it a slightly higher guide number (24 meters/ISO100) than the SF-20 (20 meters/ISO100) when used with longer lenses.

Alternatives: One althernative to the SF-20/24D is the Nikon SB-30. It is designed for digital cameras but works great with the Leica although it doesn't have TTL, just a thyristor auto.

The best featured flash for the M7 is the Metz 54MZ3 which will give you TTL and HSS. But... amazingly you can't have both at the same time! And to make things worse, you can't have auto-flash either. I'm not sure which idiot at Leica thought that one up. If you want to take daylight, auto-balanced fill flash photography, get a SLR (Canon EOS or Hasselblad).

Compact Flash Units

Large Boat Anchor Flashes