Leica CL Glamour Photos

Finally got to handle a CL in a shop today, and stuck a Voigtlander 1.4/40 on it. Nice small piece of kit, as the Brits say, and felt extremely solid. Would have been easy to believe it was mostly metal rather than plastic, with no flex. By contrast my Bessa-T feels like it's more loosely put together, in a way. But, I left the store without it. A nice camera that makes a number of compromises in a very decent way.
 
I’ve been tempted over the years by the CL. Certainly the small size and the framelines for 40mm are plusses. In the end, I bought a new Bessa R2A just when Voigtlander discontinued the model. It’s not that much larger than the CL, either in weight or dimensions, and has the advantage of a very bright VF, modern electronics and a pretty accurate meter. It feels solid… not Leica M solid but not flimsy either. Got a Zhou case for it, so I’m now set. With the Minolta Rokkor 40mm f2.0 CLE version (which I bought from Back Alley years ago), the R2A is pretty compact piece of kit. Not as small as the CL, but still pretty compact. It’s been a good camera and is holding up well. Last year, however, I got a barely used digital CL, which I absolutely love, but that’s a subject for a different thread.
 
I did notice the CL is slightly quieter than the Bessa shutter, less of a high/harsh sound and a little briefer. It's not a quiet shutter per se, but on the street with the Bessa-T I feel like the noise of that shutter draws unnecessary attention sometimes.
 
Bingley said:
I’ve been tempted over the years by the CL. Certainly the small size and the framelines for 40mm are plusses. In the end, I bought a new Bessa R2A just when Voigtlander discontinued the model. It’s not that much larger than the CL, either in weight or dimensions, and has the advantage of a very bright VF, modern electronics and a pretty accurate meter. It feels solid… not Leica M solid but not flimsy either. Got a Zhou case for it, so I’m now set. With the Minolta Rokkor 40mm f2.0 CLE version (which I bought from Back Alley years ago), the R2A is pretty compact piece of kit. Not as small as the CL, but still pretty compact. It’s been a good camera and is holding up well. Last year, however, I got a barely used digital CL, which I absolutely love, but that’s a subject for a different thread.
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the CL is very different than the Bessa....you can start with the spot meter.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEUBZ4YKOsB/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=embed_video_watch_again
 
Considering that current Ebay prices for the Bessa 2A are in the $1300-1800 USD, i'll stick with my 50 anniversary CL (w working meter for sub $500). I can see comparing the CL and CLE....but the Bessa cameras are certainly more in the M size range.
 
Nice! I'm a big fan of CLs. I looked at one yesterday and it was cosmetically pretty much perfect, nearly no signs of use, but I couldn't get the meter to respond. The battery check did respond, so it isn't a simple corroded wiring problem/bad solder joint, I have fixed a few of those.

@Deardorff38 how do you like the 40/2.8?
 
splitimageview said:
Nice! I'm a big fan of CLs. I looked at one yesterday and it was cosmetically pretty much perfect, nearly no signs of use, but I couldn't get the meter to respond. The battery check did respond, so it isn't a simple corroded wiring problem/bad solder joint, I have fixed a few of those.

@Deardorff38 how do you like the 40/2.8?
Click to expand...
The 40mm 2.8 Heliar was a really nice lens. I got a lot of good images with it. With this new (non 50yr one) I'm using the 40 Summicron & sold the Heliar.
BTW, DAG replaced the meter cell on my former 50yr CL....
 
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