I love my… I love my M-A

[Doc Henry]

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Thnx for all your feedback. Tomorrow i will visit a store that has a black one second hand (october 2014).......... Do i need one? No, got 3x M7's, 1x M2, 1x M4. Only use 2 of my M7's. Is it tempting to buy the M-A? Yes......

 

To be continued!

 

Impressive equipment Paul , bravo 

Film is not dead !

Best

Henry

[Paul Verrips]

 

Well today i visited www.schouten-select.com for the black M-A (2014). On my way to the appointment i decided that, if i would fall in love, i still have to sleep about buying this camera. But when it was unboxed......... I forgot my promise to myself. Beautiful camera so after a conversation from about 1 hour, i left Schouten-select.com with the M-A

 

For now a iphone picture, later i will post some better shots.

 

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[01af]

Shooting with a Leica M-A—or any meterless camera—will make you a different photographer. Not necessarily better ... but different. After I started using mine, I slowly altered the way I use my digital M (M (Typ 240) before, now M10): I set aperture and speed to what I think was right and, without paying attention to the meter display, shoot away. In most cases, exposure is spot-on ... or off by 1/2 stop tops. It's a very liberating way of shooting which you'll never arrive at while using your M7.

 

Of course, you might as well use your M2 or M4 for that experience, so no need to purchase an M-A. But it can't hurt, and the M-A has the best viewfinder—modern design and coatings and all six framelines. Moreover, it has the rugged and elegant film transport lever and rewind knob of the M2 as well as the film-loading system and the frame counter of the M4, so it combines the best from those predecessors—and then adds some.

[Paul Verrips]

Shooting with a Leica M-A—or any meterless camera—will make you a different photographer. Not necessarily better ... but different. After I started using mine, I slowly altered the way I use my digital M (M (Typ 240) before, now M10): I set aperture and speed to what I think was right and, without paying attention to the meter display, shoot away. In most cases, exposure is spot-on ... or off by 1/2 stop tops. It's a very liberating way of shooting which you'll never arrive at while using your M7.

 

Of course, you might as well use your M2 or M4 for that experience, so no need to purchase an M-A. But it can't hurt, and the M-A has the best viewfinder—modern design and coatings and all six framelines. Moreover, it has the rugged and elegant film transport lever and rewind knob of the M2 as well as the film-loading system and the frame counter of the M4, so it combines the best from those predecessors—and then adds some.

 

I started with my M7 on A, after that is started working on M, using the camera's meter. After reading a long time about sunny 16 I changed my style to the sunny 16 witch i love to work with, it feels liberating. I also learned a lot about metering just using & checking my Sekonic L-398A on a daily base, also without a camera, just to learn.

 

Now without a meter some light situations may be thougher, but it's the next step in my photography process.

 

This M-A, it's really a beautiful camera.

[lb1800]

Black M-As are great - so anonymous. I think they look better in real life than on photos (where their lack of engraving means they don't shine). In real life they're beautifully plain. 

 

I use sunny 16 too. I use Portra 160 film and f5.6 as my reference aperture so that I know that a sunny day requires 1/1000th and a bright, cloudy day a 1/125th.

 

I have a second scale in my head for indoors, using f2 as my reference aperture so that I know a gloomy room is 1/30th and a bright room 1/60th or 1/125th. 

 

It's not perfect but - as Larry David would say - it's pretty (pretty, pretty) good.

 

Also, I have an app on my phone for checking occasionally.

 

Enjoy your new toy.

[Paul Verrips]

What does M-A stands for? 

In a press release i found this quote: 

 

"With the Leica M-System, Leica Camera AG, Wetzlar, is one of the few manufacturers still producing both analogue and digital cameras. In this, the company can draw from decades of experience in the construction of the finest precision-engineered cameras. Now – 60 years after the first Leica M rangefinder camera, the M3, left the factory to significantly change the world of photography – we have chosen the occasion of this anniversary to present a new analogue model: the Leica M-A."

 

Does the A stands for Anniversary?

[01af]

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Meßsucher analog.

 

The German word for 'anniversary' (which is Jubiläum) doesn't start with an A.

 

 

 

By the way, my M-A's nickname is Emma.

 

 

.

Edited August 25, 2017 by 01af

[a.noctilux]

I have searched the "A" meaning for long (since I've bought one in 2014 , see post #40) but never have satisfied answer .

 

I can only bet:

- A as first Analog after Digital M, so the next analog M one would be M-B

 

- or Anniversary of the first M (3), but which anniversary

 

- not to count the "typ 127" for M-A, that is really odd

Edited August 25, 2017 by a.noctilux

[NB23]

MP= M Professional

 

MA= M Amateur

[Paul Verrips]

MP= M Professional

 

MA= M Amateur

 everything is a matter of taste & preference. I love the MP (don't have one) and i love the M-A. 

[Paul Verrips]

I think i found it.

In LFI MAGAZINE 07/2014 page 49 (introduction of the MA & M-P) i found this text: 'A' is for 'analogue' obviously, but also for 'autonomous'

[Paul Verrips]

As promised, here some better quality photo's from my new M-A (2014).

 

 

Edited August 29, 2017 by Paul Verrips

[michaelwj]

One thing I only just noticed is the the ISO dial on the M-A, while looking cool, no longer has the colour/b&w/tungsten decal in the middle like the M4. It's just one big ISO range. 

 

So I will put this to the group, which do you prefer? The M4 style (type and speed) or the M-A style (only speed)?

 

As a mostly b&w, part time colour film shooter, I like the reminder of what type of film I have loaded, not just the speed of the film. M4 style for me.

[Guest )-(]

It does have a red/black triangle choice, for colour/b&w I assume.

I don't really use the dial, just cardboard in the flash socket and a phone app 'Film Rolls' that I use to record every roll of film and update with development notes etc.

I'd prefer to say I used a moleskin notebook but it'd just be another thing to carry.

[Paul Verrips]

It does have a red/black triangle choice, for colour/b&w I assume.

I don't really use the dial, just cardboard in the flash socket and a phone app 'Film Rolls' that I use to record every roll of film and update with development notes etc.

I'd prefer to say I used a moleskin notebook but it'd just be another thing to carry.

From the manual page 40:

 

The indicator is intended as an aid to memory. It can be used to

set the fi lm sensitivity to a value in the range ISO 6 to 6400. (ISO

is the international designation for fi lm speeds)

To do this, press the non-locking

1. disc, and

2. turn it so that one of the two triangles - black for B/W films or

red for color films - is pointing to the desired value.

 

I also prefer to use a moleskin notebook an i use "twin check number stickers". One sticker on the filmleader (the part that is not cut off before developing) and 1 in my notebook with the note of camera, filmtype, date, subject. I only make notes about shutter/aperture by exception/testing.

Edited August 30, 2017 by Paul Verrips

[Paul Verrips]

Manual page 47:

• Before attaching the flash, the camera and the flash unit must

be turned off.

 

Someone in Wetzlar copied & paste text from the M7 of MP 

[ShivaYash]

Hello all, I just got the M-A after much toying with the idea. My chrome M-A looks different, there is no serial number on the hotshoe, instead its on the top plate. Does this mean its an older or newer variant?

 

With thanks,

[01af]

My chrome M-A looks different, there is no serial number on the hotshoe, instead it's on the top plate. Does this mean its an older or newer variant?

That's how the chrome ones are and always were.

[a.noctilux]

Number is always there, even "BP MP" or "BC M4" classic by themselves

 

May it be "4915xxx" on your M-A ?

 

 

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[01af]

Number is always there, even "BP MP" or "BC M4" classic ...

Yes. But not on the black-chrome Leica M-A. Unlike the silver-chrome M-A, the black one has no inscriptions on the top plate at all–no "Leica" script, no "LEICA CAMERA WETZLAR GERMANY", and no serial number. Instead, it's got the serial number engraved on the accessory shoe.

 

That's one of the (minor) differences between black and silver M-A. Another is the design of the head of the rewind-unlock lever.

Edited September 1, 2017 by 01af