Is the Leica R a "real Leica" and more questions

RezaLoghme · May 5, 2025

RezaLoghme said:
ADDENDUM: I find the Leica R7 totally cool and, yes, in a few years down the line people will regret not having bought one (Rolleiflex GX/2.8F anyone, if you remember?). R7 is black, has the cool half-way contemporary Leica look (if only the leatherette had a finer grain) and is cheap as chips, compared to their other models (M etc). With a proper 50mm lens, we are still talking sub-1000 EUR/US$ here, maybe some CLA, and off you go. SO TEMPTING.

If had had not sworn not to buy any more gear, a R7 would be on the list. In black.
Maybe buying that Brian Long book helps?

Radost · May 5, 2025

RezaLoghme said:
I own one, how / why should it avoid it?
And if the shutter (or rather: mirror) becomes "sticky", I will have it repaired, or buy another body.

The repair is costly. If you buy another body it will have a sticky mirror as well. It is a real shame the germans messed up the nice minolta design.

RezaLoghme · May 6, 2025

Radost said:
The repair is costly. If you buy another body it will have a sticky mirror as well. It is a real shame the germans messed up the nice minolta design.

So what should I do now in your opinion

Radost · May 6, 2025

RezaLoghme said:
So what should I do now in your opinion

Avoid R4-R7
I have R4 R4S 2 R5 r7. R7 from Leica store in germany. All having the same issues.
I shoot SL and R3
R3 is the fastest SLR i have ever used.

RezaLoghme · May 6, 2025

How can I "avoid" them if I own them already

250swb · May 7, 2025

Any of the R bodies make fine cameras and are cheap enough to buy a replacement if something needs repairing. What is wrong is thinking a few posts on photo forums about 'sticky mirrors' represents the views and experiences of all those people without a sticky mirror. As ever you only hear from the disgruntled on the internet, nobody ever posts 'working well, nothing to report, sorry to waste your time'.

RezaLoghme · May 7, 2025

Well, mine are working well, nothing to report.

koraks · May 7, 2025

Radost said:
the germans messed up

That's a very unfortunate way to formulate your gripes with a technical issue. Please don't do that.

BrianShaw · May 7, 2025

RezaLoghme said:
Well, mine are working well, nothing to report.

This is good to know. Hopefully it stays that way and it very well may. There’s often a certain consternation that occurs when something statistical like reliability/availability (or opinion) is stated in absolute terms.

RezaLoghme · May 7, 2025

If i had not self-imposed a GAS embargo I might be tempted by both an R3 and R8!

Radost · May 7, 2025

koraks said:
That's a very unfortunate way to formulate your gripes with a technical issue. Please don't do that.

I Am sorry.
The Leica engineers messed up.
This is not an insulated "one generation of cameras" issue. This has been an issue for 16 years and 7 generations of cameras production. I was told by Leica Germany unless you keept shooting your camera all of them develop this issue.
And the complicated design makes it extremely difficult to fix.

I own 5 cameras that have that isssue. Sometimes the mirror does not even fall down.
I would love to be able to shoot my R7.

Radost · May 7, 2025

BrianShaw said:
This is good to know. Hopefully it stays that way and it very well may. There’s often a certain consternation that occurs when something statistical like reliability/availability (or opinion) is stated in absolute terms.

Nothing absolute about a design defect "again kept for 16 years and 7 generations of cameras.
Also general bad reliability of r3-r5 cameras is well known.

Radost · May 7, 2025

For the record Leica says that the issue has been corrected in R8-R9

Radost · May 7, 2025

For the record apart from the mirror dampening issue they are amazing cameras. I am a sucker for 1980-90 Leica R black paint.

beemermark · May 7, 2025

Radost said:
R6 has the same sticky shutter issues as other R4-R7 cameras
Avoid them unless you know how to fix them or are willing to spend money to repair.
I even got an R7 from Leica store in Germany that had the sticky shutter delay issue.

The early R3 had electronic problems (I had 3). Bought an SL2 and used it for a couple of decades and about 4 years ago bought an R7. Love it. Dropped it last winter and while no visible damage it wasn’t working. DAG fixed it and did a CLA for $180 with a quick turnaround.

Early post I did have Minolta and tried a couple of the 24mm lenses. Compared to my 1st gen 24 R lens, the Leica lens has more “pop”.

RezaLoghme · May 8, 2025

BrianShaw said:
This is good to know. Hopefully it stays that way and it very well may. There’s often a certain consternation that occurs when something statistical like reliability/availability (or opinion) is stated in absolute terms.

I really started to love the R series and yes, R8 is a surprisingly cool camera.

250swb · May 8, 2025

Radost said:
I Am sorry.
The Leica engineers messed up.
This is not an insulated "one generation of cameras" issue. This has been an issue for 16 years and 7 generations of cameras production. I was told by Leica Germany unless you keept shooting your camera all of them develop this issue.
And the complicated design makes it extremely difficult to fix.

I own 5 cameras that have that isssue. Sometimes the mirror does not even fall down.
I would love to be able to shoot my R7.

So reliability increases the less GAS you have, all you need to do is stick to using one, or maybe two cameras. Isn't that the case with almost any other camera? Put a working Compur shutter in a cupboard for a year and it can stick next time you want to use it, leave batteries in an unused camera and they can leak, grease dries out, mirror foam degrades, light seals turn to jelly, Nikon rubber turns to glue, a lens gets no UV light so fungus starts to grow. There is an easy lesson to learn and it has nothing to do with the reliability of Leica R series cameras, it's to do with the owner.

RezaLoghme · May 8, 2025

For my R6 I paid "top dollar" and bought it from Leica Classic, with 12 months warranty. If there is an issue with the camera, I will take it back to them and have it sorted.

Life is too short to fiddle with toys which should bring pleasure. Unless fiddling with toys brings you pleasure. You can see that sometimes in photo forums. People are fiddling with this folder and that box camera and this Cosina or Praktiker 1970s SLR, fretting about changing this and repairing that.

FWIW Leica Classic has a good handful of R bodies on their website, in case anyone is interested, including several R4 and R5 that cost less than Apple earplugs that most people consider being "Disposable". Just buy a body, a nice lens and off you go!

As an afterthought:

When reading discussions on photo forums, I'm always struck by the contrast in how people talk about spending money. On the one hand, it's perfectly normal to see photographers casually debating whether a new M-mount lens with APO or updated coatings is worth dropping four figures—often to replace something only marginally “worse.”

But shift the conversation to R-series cameras and lenses—often optically identical to their M counterparts from the same era—and suddenly a few hundred euros are considered “expensive” or not worth it.

It’s curious how perceived value shifts so drastically based on mount and hype, even when the glass is essentially the same.

RezaLoghme · May 8, 2025

On a more light-hearted note: Every Leica fan should really own an R kit at some point—just for the experience.
Start with an R3, the cast-iron workhorse built to square up to 1970s Nikons. Add an R5, the sensible middle child. Then maybe a R6, all manual and gloriously no-frills, or an R7, if you want a taste of that BMW E32-style digital readout drama. For the brave (or nostalgic), there’s always the R8—a Colani spaceship from the 1990s that feels like someone dared Leica to make a Minolta Maxxum on steroids.

Top it off with a Vario-Elmar zoom, just to break away from the prime-only orthodoxy of the M crowd. There’s something freeing about zooming when everyone else is “foot zooming.”

You can own a complete Leica R starter kit—body plus lens—for less than the price of a Billingham bag and a thumb rest for an M.

Think about that next time someone tells you R glass isn’t worth it. These were top-tier optics, often identical to their M counterparts, just housed in a system that had the misfortune of not being a rangefinder.

There’s real photographic joy to be found in those old R setups—and they cost less than most accessories.

1957ExaktaVarexIIa · May 8, 2025

Radost said:
I shoot SL [...]

Me too. Mine is from 1971. I love the mechanics and its reliability - and its heavy metal lenses.

RezaLoghme · May 8, 2025

1957ExaktaVarexIIa said:
Me too. Mine is from 1971. I love the mechanics and its reliability - and its heavy metal lenses.

Which lenses, are they different from the others?

blee1996 · May 8, 2025

I have both SL and R5. Although SL is beautiful to look through, I use R5 far more often since it is smaller, lighter and have Aperture Priority.

So far my R5 has hold up well. And the replacement cost is quite low, especially compared to the R-mount lenses. There is no reason to avoid electronic SLRs.

RezaLoghme · May 8, 2025

blee1996 said:
I have both SL and R5. Although SL is beautiful to look through, I use R5 far more often since it is smaller, lighter and have Aperture Priority.

So far my R5 has hold up well. And the replacement cost is quite low, especially compared to the R-mount lenses. There is no reason to avoid electronic SLRs.

Honestly, I’d prefer it if all those third-hand “sticky mirror” horror stories kept circulating—keeps the spotlight off the R series and the prices nice and low.
Let the myths live on… I’ll just be quietly shooting with my R6 and smiling.

1957ExaktaVarexIIa · May 8, 2025

I agree - and my main SLR cameras are electronic ones: several Contax RTS II bodies and besides them, two Canon New F-1.

However, even though I have no problems so far and I like those cameras a lot, I'm not sure how long in future their electronics will work, especially those of the RTS II. The Canon FD lenses will never be a replacement for my Zeiss lenses. Only the old Leitz lenses would be.
And I suppose my Leicaflex SL might still work someday when my RTS IIs and even the New F-1s will have stopped working.

RezaLoghme · May 9, 2025

Maybe it is helpful for one's peace of mind that many consumer products with electronics inside that are older than 40 years are going to expire in one way or another.

And: If an R body decides to expire, then it can still be used in manual mode, with guessing the exposure value or using an external meter. Some people pay a lot of money for the same privilege when using a modern-day M-A body.

And as mentioned before - replacing a defunct R4 or R5 costs as much as "upgrading" your Iphone every 2 years, or buying some plastic stuff made in China (headphones, etc).

Most of the R lenses are likely to outlive us anyway. Even my Japanese-DNA Vario Elmar-R 35-70, the bottom of the barrel Leica lens, does not show any signs of aging.

Is the Leica R a "real Leica" and more questions

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