No more pictures of the inside of my bag or dead batteries to accidental meter activation. That way they aren't in 'the other bag', when I need them. I keep a spare set of batteries taped to the neck strap of the camera. Currently I have passed the 60 mark with a new set of Duracell cells. I got about 20 rolls out of the no name set that came with the camera. Outside of the AE mode, the M7 behaves like a M6/M6TTl/MPīattery consumption is very good. After a short time you barely notice it and it is tiny, about the size of a '.' (period). The blinking dot in the viewfinder, which indicates that exposure compensation has been activated, does not bother me. TTL flash support is excellent and bullet proof. I really like the full size (M6TTL style) and freely rotating shutter speed dial. Not exactly an elegant solution, but it works.

My Rube Goldberg solution to the problem is to adjust the aperture of the lens, AFTER I lock the AE reading by holding down the shutter speed dial halfway. I really wish Leica had added a adjustment lever as found on the R8/9 or incorporated the compensation feature in to the shutter speed dial as was done with the Bessa or new Zeiss RF. Adjusting it for +/- compensation is a action which requires two hands and can not be done on the fly. If I have any complaint about the AE system it is the exposure compensation dial, which is built in to the ISO/ASA dial on the back door. All you have to concentrate on is focus, framing and timing. In conjunction with a Leicavit, Rapidwinder or Motor-M you can work extremely quickly. Even back light situations do not rattle the system, if you approach them intelligently.Īs a result of the AE, my hit rate in fast moving situations has gone up considerably. It is sometimes difficult to believe that a exposure system that consists of a single meter cell and a dab of white paint on the shutter curtain could be THIS accurate. But even when shooting fast and wild, the hit rate that the AE system delivers is extremely impressive. Usually I try to take a reading off of a face, concrete pavement, foliage etc, then recompose. It should also be noted that the M7 meter is slightly more sensitive than previous M models.Īs with all exposure systems of this type, you need to meter intelligently and decide what object in the scene will be exposed as medium gray.

Basically the M7 meter produces identical results as the system in the M6/M6TTL/MP, except of course the AE automates the adjustment of the the shutter speed dial. This review is based on my experience of shooting close to 100 rolls with my M7, over the course of a little more than a year, along side various other Leica M models.Īt first I was a little skeptical of the AE system, but after a few weeks of shooting and checking the M7 meter readings against my M6TTL and a handheld meter I was sold on it's excellence.

Used leica m7 0.587