I once saw on an online post something along the lines of “you don’t buy a Leica with your head, you buy a Leica with your heart”. I think that this is for most people very true because let’s admit it, for the price that you pay for just a new Leica body, you can get a professional body and lens from another manufacturer that is technically more capable in terms of specs.
Buying a new Leica FILM camera is an even more insane notion today for some very obvious reasons, but there are still three Leica film cameras that are in production today. These cameras are the Leica M-A, MP and of course the M7. Each of the three options currently retail for $4550, body only. Again, completely insane especially considering that they are all film cameras with, relative for the price, little features.
So why would you buy a new film Leica or better yet, why did I buy a new Leica M7? Hopefully, by the end of this blog, both you and I will be able to justify the purchase, just a bit.
Considering that there are two other options from Leica, why did I buy the M7? To me, the M-A is pretty much a modern take on the M3, fully mechanical, no batteries required. This is great but there is no light meter. The MP is essentially an M6 at the end of the day when it comes to features. Sure it is “mechanical perfection”, but I’d rather get an M6 at half the price (which I did).
So, I’m left with the M7. To me, the M7 is the only camera in the Leica M film line that really stands out. It is the only film M camera that has any form of automatic exposure. For the sake of keeping things simple, let’s just say that the M7 has an aperture priority mode. Is this necessary? Of course not! I rarely ever use anything but the manual mode in any of my cameras because that’s just a habit that I’ve gotten into over the years. Auto exposure modes can be confining but if I’m going to be spending the same amount of money on a camera that can auto expose and one that can’t, I’m going to go with the one that can just to get a little bit more for my money.
With the M7 you also get up to 1/1000th second flash synch speeds when using Leica Metz flashes and an updated viewfinder. The M7 viewfinder displays your shutter speed, film speed, exposure mode, and flash readiness. The viewfinder information brightness is also automatically adjusted to match the ambient light conditions.
The M7 can now automatically recognize the film speed, through DX film coding, and provides aperture priority autoexposure.
The M7 runs on two (batteries) but when those run out, you can still manually fire at 1/60th and 1/125th of a second.
That being said, because it is more electronically driven, the M7 is theoretically more prone to malfunctions. I’m not worried about this right now, but a few years down the line, this may be a problem. Especially if Leica decides to stop manufacturing the M7 or repairing it.
Before deciding on the M7, I was actually going between it, the Contax G2 and the Konica Hexar RF. I like the Contax because it is the most advance rangefinder. If I’m not mistaken, it’s the only interchangeable lens rangefinder that has autofocus. I like the Hexar because when all things are considered, it is essentially a cheaper M7 but with better features, even though it was introduced years before the M7. I personally feel that the Hexar is the closest in comparison to the M7, but unfortunately, it’s not an M7. It’s not a Leica and if you remember, you don’t buy a Leica with your head.
Both the G2 and Hexar has automatic winding functions and more importantly to me, they have a maximum shutter speed of 1/4000th of a second. That’s two stops more than the M7. This is very appealing because on a bright sunny day, using ISO 100 film, we’re talking about a difference of using f/5.6 and f/2.8. The difference in depth of field could make or break a photo. If you want to use a fast lens on the M7, you’re going to either have to wait until there is less light or use an ND filter. Either way, it’s more complicated than it should be.
One thing that I’m enjoying quite a bit on this M7 is the cloth shutter. IT IS QUIET. The M7 has possibly the quietest shutter I've ever heard. If you watch the above video, there are some sound clips of the shutter. There is just a quiet little click to indicate the firing of the shutter and I love that. Very inconspicuous.
This may be trivial but I like that this camera actually has an on/off button, revolutionary right? Wheres on the M6 to turn the camera/metering off, you have to change the shutter to bulb mode. I have admit that I’ve forgotten about this feature before and just leave the M6 on. With the M7, it’s exactly the same on/off mechanism as the F3, except that when the red dot is showing, the camera is actually off, not on. When the camera is off, the electronics gets turned off and the camera mechanically blocks the shutter release to prevent accidental exposures.
It’s interesting to note that when the camera is in manual mode, you can fire the shutter immediately upon turning the camera on. If you’re in aperture priority, you actually have to wait approximately 2 seconds, or until the film speed display in the viewfinder goes out, before you can take a picture. This is a weird setting and can really slow you down sometimes.
I find the ISO dial on the camera back door to be interesting. It’s a two in one dial. The dial doubles as both the film speed selector and the exposure compensation. If you want the camera to automatically set film speed, as in it reads the DX coding on the film catridge, you set it to DX mode. If you want to set a custom film speed, as in you bulk rolled, the cartridge doesn’t have DX coding, or you want to push or pull the film, just turn the dial to the desired film speed. The setting that you want is the one opposite to the white dot of the exposure compensation dial.
One thing that’s always bothered me about using Leicas is just how you hold them. If you’re shooting in landscape, everything is for the most part fine. The problem is in portrait orientation. Depending on how you hold the camera, the viewfinder is blocked and you can't see anything. I show in the above video how I would normally hold the camera and the problem with using rangefinders. The picture to the right is from the M7 manual and shows how you should hold the camera in portrait orientation. This seems extremely awkward as you wouldn't really be able to adjust anything on the lens if you hold it that way.
At the end of the day, the M7 is an amazing camera, but is it worth the $4550 price tag? Honestly, it’s not. This body will give you the same result as really any other film camera as they all really do the same thing. Sure some cameras may have more features than others, but at the end of the day, they’re just tools. A used $100 camera will do the same thing as this new $4550 camera. If you want a Leica for the lenses, why not just buy the lens and adapt it to a cheaper or more capable camera? The Hexar uses the same M mount.
Logically speaking, we don’t buy Leicas because they are the greatest cameras in the world. We buy Leicas for the heritage, the history, for the sense of owning a Leica and that’s ok. If you’re happy with a Leica and it gets you out shooting, then that’s all that really matters.
If you want the M7 or any other Leica and you have the funds for it, then buy the Leica. Filing the Leica void with another camera isn’t going to do anything but leave you with regrets.
If you're interested in this camera, please consider purchasing it by using the provided links.
Leica M7
Amazon - http://amzn.to/2skSTog
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