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I love my M-A


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White and black :wub:

 

Very light with the Summicron V I (8 element), and no lightmeter ;) minus 39 gramme of VCmeter II

 

Arnaud

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Probably a dumb question, but I never had this issue with my M3.  I shot a roll Saturday and had a hard time rewinding the film.  On frame 36 (before the advance lever stopped indicating the end of a roll) I flipped the rewind switch and began rewinding the film.  The rewind seemed to hang and then stopped completely - totally jammed.  Never had this with my M3 though I certainly had some that were 'stiff.'  Tonight, I put the camera in a changing bag with a reel and a tank, thinking that I'd open the back and manually pull the film off the take-up spool.  Once I got it free and pulled the film canister out of the bag, it turns out that the leader was caught on the take-up spool, preventing the leader from being fully rewound into the canister. 

 

Now my question - the rewind knob is stuck in the up position.  Rewind lever is 'up.'  Tried inserting film, closing up the back...etc.  Thoughts? 

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  • 4 weeks later...

I find myself drawn to the M-A more than to my other cameras (MPs). Ever since I use the M-A I depend much less to the built in light meter in the MP so much so that I only peek at the meter once or twice in a day. No battery to be concern off, no meter worry about, the M-A really does distill picture taking experience to the bare essential. That's probably why I kept putting down my MP at the last minute and picked up the M-A. Somehow I feel liberated and enjoy taking pictures with the M-A more than my other cameras. There's probably other factor too, such as the body of the camera and the shutter release. What about your experiences?

Edited by ekindangen
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  • 3 weeks later...

I find myself drawn to the M-A more than to my other cameras (MPs). Ever since I use the M-A I depend much less to the built in light meter in the MP so much so that I only peek at the meter once or twice in a day. No battery to be concern off, no meter worry about, the M-A really does distill picture taking experience to the bare essential. That's probably why I kept putting down my MP at the last minute and picked up the M-A. Somehow I feel liberated and enjoy taking pictures with the M-A more than my other cameras. There's probably other factor too, such as the body of the camera and the shutter release. What about your experiences?

I'm with you on this. It seems odd but it is a really good feeling.

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My M6 right now is with Youxin Ye, waiting for the necessary parts from Leica to convert the finder to MP specs, which will eliminate all finder flare problems. With the quick loading system, beautiful metering implementation, quick rewind crank and 75mm framelines for my 75mm f2 APO Summicron ASPH, the M6 to me is about as perfect a practical implementation of the mechanical film M body as it gets.

 

Until then, I'm "getting by" with the M262, LOL...

Edited by Gregm61
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Probably a dumb question, but I never had this issue with my M3.  I shot a roll Saturday and had a hard time rewinding the film.  On frame 36 (before the advance lever stopped indicating the end of a roll) I flipped the rewind switch and began rewinding the film.  The rewind seemed to hang and then stopped completely - totally jammed.  Never had this with my M3 though I certainly had some that were 'stiff.'  Tonight, I put the camera in a changing bag with a reel and a tank, thinking that I'd open the back and manually pull the film off the take-up spool.  Once I got it free and pulled the film canister out of the bag, it turns out that the leader was caught on the take-up spool, preventing the leader from being fully rewound into the canister. 

 

Now my question - the rewind knob is stuck in the up position.  Rewind lever is 'up.'  Tried inserting film, closing up the back...etc.  Thoughts? 

So your are saying that the leader of the film was wound into the take up butterfly quick load so tightly that it wouldn't come free? Or was the quick load butterfly jammed so that it no longer turned? Seems that the film advance and film rewind mechanism may be hung up in some way.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I find myself drawn to the M-A more than to my other cameras (MPs). Ever since I use the M-A I depend much less to the built in light meter in the MP so much so that I only peek at the meter once or twice in a day. No battery to be concern off, no meter worry about, the M-A really does distill picture taking experience to the bare essential. That's probably why I kept putting down my MP at the last minute and picked up the M-A. Somehow I feel liberated and enjoy taking pictures with the M-A more than my other cameras. There's probably other factor too, such as the body of the camera and the shutter release. What about your experiences?

 

In 6 months with the M-A, I've learned more about photography than I had in several decades, and I've enjoyed it more than any other camera I've owned. I have a much better awareness of light because I'm forced to consider it much more consciously and deliberately when shooting. It's a wonderful camera, solid, reliable, and feels like it will outlast me by a long time. When I got it, I was ready to step away from the constant digital upgrade cycles and the marketing hype of consumer electronic cameras and turned instead to the most traditional 35 mm film camera that is in production today. I'm delighted I did. It has completely reinvigorated my interest in photography.

Edited by AAK
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  • 4 weeks later...

I'll be joining your ranks soon. I was in the market for another MP but I happened to come across an M-A that was only lightly used and comes in the box. Price-wise it was about the price for a decent used MP so I figured it was a good buy! Looking forward to shooting with my pair of cameras. Forever.

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  • 2 weeks later...

That looks awesome Abram. Enjoy.

Thank you good sir, I am definitely enjoying it so far. I've got a steadily growing collection of rolls I need to process between the M-A and the MP just from the last few weeks haha. 

 

There's some quality to Leicas that, for me, make me want to pick them up and shoot, constantly.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...

A shot from yesterday out of the M-A using the wonderful Elmar M 50/3.5 lens. I love this camera!

 

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I wish people would stop showing shots with this lens, I am getting very tempted!!!!  :-)

 

BTW just went through two weeks of hiking with the M-A through the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and Zion National Park. The camera was bounced, sweated on (it got to 100 degrees F), and plenty of dust, and ..... came through like a champ, no surprise .... waiting for the film to come back and I will post a few.

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I love hearing that folks are out there actually USING this beautiful camera. I rotate mine with my MP, but it's almost always loaded, and almost always has my 35 Summicron attached. 

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  • 4 months later...

I had an M3 with Leicameter. Whilst it was a good idea, the camera just feels and handles so much better without it. It's a bit of a carbuncle on an otherwise perfect design. IMHO of course. 

 

Just imagine if they could make an M-A with a built in meter. Oh hang on……..

They did and do. It's called the Leica MP.

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