Leica CL
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{{{image caption}}} Maker: Leitz Dates: 1973-1974 Variants: Leica CL, Leitz-Minolta CL Camera Type: 35mm rangefinder system Focusing: manual Viewfinder: Reverse Galiean (x.60) Rangefinder: coupled, combined (ERB = 18.9 mm) Lens mount: Leica M Shutter: focal plane Exposure meter: TTL, CdS cell, spot metering Exposure modes: manual ASA/ISO range: 25 to 1600 Shoe: fixed hot shoe Synchronized: X X sync speed: 1/60 TTL Flash: Minolta TTL Motor drive: none Battery: 1 x 1.35V (px625) Dimensions: unknown Weight: unknown Number produced: max 65,000 |
The Leica CL is a 35mm compact rangefinder camera made by Leitz with interchangeable lenses in the Leica M mount. It was developed in collaboration with Minolta and appeared in April 1973[1]. It was released in the Japanese market in November 1973 as the Leitz Minolta CL.[2]
Description
The Leica CL has a vertical-running focal plane shutter, with cloth curtains, giving 1/2 to 1/1000 speeds. There is a through-the-lens CdS exposure meter mounted on a pivoting arm just in front of the shutter, like the Leica M5. The exposure is manual and the shutter is mechanical. The shutter speeds are visible in the finder. The finder's framelines are for a 40mm, 50mm or 90mm lens. The 40mm frameline is always present and the 50mm or 90mm frame line is automatically selected upon mounting of the appropriate lens.
Today the CL is a superbly compact and quite cheap camera on which to mount M lenses, but it does not have a rangefinder as precise as that of any Leica M body. The rangefinder base of the CL is 31.5 mm and the viewfinder magnification is 0.60, leading to a small effective rangefinder base of 18.9 mm. This is too short for accurate focusing with lenses longer than 90mm and fast lenses used at full aperture. Some users report the camera is rather fragile, especially the rangefinder alignment and meter mechanism.
Lenses
The CL was sold with two lenses specially designed for it: the Leitz Summicron-C 40mm f:2 sold as the normal lens, and the Leitz Elmar-C 90mm f:4 tele lens. Both take the uncommon Series 5.5 filters. A Leitz Elmarit-C 40mm f:2.8 was also briefly produced but was not sold in numbers.
The lenses specially designed for the Leica CL can physically mount on a Leica M body, but Leica recommended not doing so because it would not give the best focusing precision, allegedly because the cam design of the C and M lenses is not the same. However, some people say that it is unimportant and that they can be used perfectly on an M.
When sold with a Leitz Minolta CL, the lenses were called Minolta M-Rokkor 40mm f:2 and 90mm f:4. It is said that they were made in Japan.[3] With the later Minolta CLE, Minolta would produce lenses of the same name but with a different coupling system, the same as the Leica M lenses. A new Minolta M-Rokkor 28mm f:2.8 lens was introduced. All these lenses can be mounted on the CL too. Rokkor-branded lenses for the CL and CLE take the more easily found 40.5mm filter size.
The CL can take nearly all the Leica M lenses, with the exception of some that protrude deep into the body and could hurt the meter arm. These include: 15mm/8 Hologon, 21mm/4 Super Angulon, 28mm/2.8 Elmarits before serial number 2314921 or 2314920 (sources differ). The eyed lenses, including the M3 wide-angle lenses, the 135mm/2.8 Elmarit, and the 50/2 Dual Range Summicron, cannot be mounted either because they are incompatible with the body shape.
Production
Sixty-five thousand serial numbers were allotted to the Leica CL. Some examples of the CL received special Leica 50 Jahre markings in 1975, for Leica's 50th anniversary. It is also said that 50 demonstration examples were made by Minolta. They are completely operational, with the top plate cut away to show the internal mechanism.[4]
Notes
Further reading
- Classic Camera, no. 1, January 1997. Milano: Editrice Progresso.
- Francesch, Dominique and Jean-Paul. Histoire de l'appareil photographique Minolta de 1929 à 1985. Paris: Dessain et Tolra, 1985. ISBN 2-249-27685-4.
- Kisselbach, Theo. Leica CL. Heering-Verlag, 1976. ISBN 3-7763-3360-X. In German; published one year later in English by Hove.
- Lewis, Gordon, ed. The History of the Japanese Camera. Rochester, N.Y.: George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography & Film, 1991. ISBN 0-935398-17-1 (paper), 0-935398-16-3 (hard). P. 141.
Links
In English:
- Leica CL at Cameraquest
- Leica CL instruction Manual at David Young's website
- Leica CL at Photoethnography by Karen Nakamura
- Leica CL in Pacific Rim's Photographica pages
- Leica CL pages at CRR (Camera Repairs and Restoration, Luton)
- Leica CL in the Screwmount Leica site by Chris Ozdoba
In French:
- Leica CL at summilux.net, with downloadable documents: user manual, brochure and leaflet about the M and CL lens compatibility
- Compatibility of the Leica M lenses with the Leica CL and Minolta CLE at D. Césari's photo site
- Post in the summilux.net forum with interesting comments about the optics of the CL and CLE
