From the Archives: Leitz rangefinder lenses from 1974

Kodachromeguy

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In my boxes of stuff, I found a Leica M5 brochure that I picked up in 1974 at the university book store. I was so intrigued by the M5, but a body and Summicron 50 lens at that time was, if I recall, about $1000. That amounted to about 2 years of tuition in-state (tuition, not including housing or food). I did own one for a short while in the 1980s. It is a beautiful example of industrial/mechanical design but found it too large; I did not want to take it on outings, despite the fantastic meter. Here is the cover and the page listing the lenses that were available in 1974. They do not show the Hologon, but that would not have worked on the M5 because of the light meter stick.













 

gone

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I agree, it was a very well designed camera, but too large for me, especially since my previous camera had been a Leica CL.
 
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