Leica M7 0.72 35mm Rangefinder Camera body black with 0.72 viewfinder magnification u.s.a. #10503

by Leica

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0000BZM10
• Item model number: 10503
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,227 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: August 5, 2003

Product Description

Absolute reliability in all situations, emergency operation without batteries, the use of the very best materials, great value retention, longevity, high-precision optical and mechanical components make the Leica M7 a step above the rest. Impressive innovations include: Make automatic exposures. As an alternative to the familiar manual exposure balance, which of course, continues to be available, the M7 features a comfortable stepless automatic shutter speed control with metered value storage at the shutter release button. Work more accurately. The legendary cloth focal plane shutter in all Leica M cameras was thoroughly redesigned to control exposure times electronically, virtually inaudibly. Stay informed at all times. A system that is very unusual in rangefinder camera displays: a total of 33 different readings is shown in the viewfinder, an area of less than two square millimeters, enlarged 15 times for optimal information. Start immediately. An on/off switch is positioned ergonomically right next to the release button. In the on position, it turns the electronics of the M7 on. In the off position, it blocks the shutter release button. Flash at ultrahigh exposure times. In addition to the regular 1/50 second sync speed, the M7 in conjunction with special Metz flash units can now flash at sync speeds up to 1/1000 second. In this mode, the settings of the exposure and the flash are made manually. Use flash creatively. In conjunction with a specially equipped flash unit, the M7 can also be triggered by the second shutter curtain. The advantage is a natural pictorial rendition, for instance, with long exposures and fill-in flash. Prevent faulty exposures. There are two options of setting the film speed: manual and automatic (with DX coding). This eliminates faulty exposures that result from setting wrong ASA film speeds. An override feature of +/-2 f/stops is available for exposure corrections in the automatic exposure mode.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Leica's 35mm Rangefinder Camera for the 21st Century, December 23, 2004

By 

John Kwok (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Leica M7 0.72 35mm Rangefinder Camera body black with 0.72 viewfinder magnification u.s.a. #10503 (Electronics)

Leica waited a long time before releasing this camera two years ago; the M7 is its most feature-laden rangefinder camera to date. I believe that it is the best Leica M rangefinder ever made (with my apologies to Leica M3, M2, and M4 purists) since it features an electronically-controlled shutter (the most accurate for a M rangefinder camera), aperture-priority automation which are features long-overdue on a Leica M series rangefinder. The shutter is the quietest I've heard on a Leica M rangefinder. Unfortunately, the Leica M7, unlike the Leica MP, its all-mechanical brethren, is virtually dead except for two shutter speeds when your batteries die out. And yet despite this inconvenience, the Leica M7 is still the best handling Leica M rangefinder camera I've come across. This black chrome edition of the Leica M7 is the one preferred by professional and advanced amateur photographers interested in not advertizing their camera as they photograph their subjects.

Is the Leica M7 a 35mm camera for everyone? Of course the answer is no, since a rangefinder camera, unlike a single lens reflex (SLR) camera, has a very limited range of lenses. It is superb with wide angle and normal lenses since it is often easier to focus with a rangefinder than a SLR, and can be as fast, if not faster, than the latest autofocus SLRs. The Leica truly excels as the ideal tool for discrete documentary photography, producing what the late Henri Cartier-Bresson referred to as the "decisive moment" photograph. So if you care deeply about making great documentary photography images, then perhaps either the Leica M7 or MP should be your camera.