and much cheaper. It has a bright, big, very sharp viewfinder with parallax-corrected framelines, a bright,
crisp rangefinder spot permitting both split-image and merge focusing, a true spot meter with a needle
indicator, a quiet, reliable, all-mechanical cloth shutter, simple "no battery-no problem" operation, and
looks that are almost as clean as those on the M4. The shorter-baselength rangefinder and
not-quite-as-armor-plated construction that differentiate it from the M5 turned out not to be enough to
push enough people to the more expensive camera. It has been calculated that during its short production
run, the Leica CL outsold all other M's by more than 2:1.
"Don't Say You Weren't Warned." Summicron-C 40/2.0 on Fujichrome Provia 400F.
Where does it stand?
Leicas then and now really only have one problem. Price. Just about any old used Leica M body in nice
condition today will cost you a grand or so, give or take a couple of hundred. Leica-branded lenses tend to
be even more crazily expensive -- a grand will buy you a basic 50, but if you want anything more exotic --
brighter, longer, wider -- figure on paying even more. This is a shame, really, since rangefinder cameras
and lenses are pretty simple beasts compared to the auto-everything Wunderkameras that are the default
today. By nature, a rangefinder camera ought be the compact, discreet, and low-cost alternative to an SLR
for those who can live with its limitations, not something to put in a display case or go bankrupt buying.
Fortunately, other manufacturers have picked up the slack when Leica decided that it was a better
business idea to sell crocodile-skin-clad, gold-plated, Oscar Barnack-signature engraved boxes to
collectors than to make the best possible cameras at the best possible price point for the largest possible
number of people. By now, there are a quite a few reasonably inexpensive cameras with M bayonet or
M39 mounts available, both used and new. Especially ever since Cosina resuscitated the Voigtländer
Leica CL-The Volkskamera
2
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