Leica M7 reviews

[johnnygoesdigital]

This seems like a great camera and can be used with no batteries, albeit at 1/60th and 1/125th. But the idea of using AE and just messing with the focus might be useful in many situations. However, I've read that many M7's have odd DX coding contacts or flashing viewfinders, and in some cases faulty film speed settings. Is this a reliable camera now that's it's been available for some time? If any M7 users could share their honest experience, it would be useful for many. Thanks.

 

[jlm]

i am on my second one and have had no issues; i wanted the aperture priority. i have not had a problem with the DX contacts. sold the first one to get the M8.

I am also offering my current black M7 for sale (replaced by the MM!) it has the .85 finder, which is more useful with longer lenses

 

[wjlapier]

I'm a happy owner of the M7, but it's a newer ala carte version. I believe it's the early one's that had the DX contact issues, and I think Leica fixed that for free.

 

[johnnygoesdigital]

Yeah, that's what I read too. I'm curious when (serial numbers), did they start to fix the dx issues. I guess the flashing prompt in the viewfinder had something to do with film speed settings.

 

[segedi]

Like wjlapier, I have an a la carte version with .85 vf. It's a really great camera and my batteries tend to last a long time too. The AE is very nice for street photogrpahy and I don't find I have to use the exposure compensation at all.

 

[Kokoshawnuff]

I don't know the serial numbers, but the VF (formerly prone to flare) was upgraded to the MP style by late 2003. The old DX upgraded to the optical DX in late 2006.

I don't know if the available serial numbers are precise enough to give you a specific range, but even if they aren't, telling the difference is easy enough and most sellers worth buying from would know the differences and be up front about it.

 

[MCTuomey]

The flashing dot in the VF occurs when you decide to set the iso speed differently than the DX coding (box speed). I don't believe the M7's VF was upgraded to the MP in later production runs, but that the early M7's had a VF sealing problem that was fixed very early on. I know one of my M7's had the fix of the VF done post-sale by Leica.

AE is to taste, and I found the M7's AE metering pretty good, as long as I used AE lock for backlit subjects, high % sky, stage lighting, etc.

Great camera imho, sold only to move to digital capture.

 

[Kokoshawnuff]

I don't believe the M7's VF was upgraded to the MP in later production runs, but that the early M7's had a VF sealing problem that was fixed very early on.

The early M7s had the same VFs as the M6 and M6ttl (which are famously prone to flare), when the MP was introduced in 2003 it came with a redesigned finder which was implemented in the subsequently produced M7s. Whether the redesign was a seal or something more, the common colloquilism (even at Leica) is the "MP Viewfinder". Since late 2003 every new production M7 and MP have shared a VF that is designed in the same way

 

[segedi]

I had an early version MP, one of the first batch and it's VF wasn't sealed well and allowed dust to migrate in. This was fixed in later MPs and I assume also in the later M7s.