If this month wasn’t already filled with great new analogue goodies, the new Fuji Instax, a new B&W film from CineStill and now Leica pledging their love for film with the Leica M-A (Type 127), a new fully mechanical rangefinder, stripping it right back to the basics!
The Leica M-A is almost identical to the still available Leica MP but it doesn’t have exposure metering, batteries or any electronics at all. If that wasn’t enough ‘t each new M-A will come loaded with Kodak Tri-X 400 black-and-white film, which is also celebrating its 60th anniversary this year at the same time the first M-series Camera came out .
The M-A has a classic-looking metal body and, as with most of Leica’s rangefinders, comes in black or silver chrome models. They’ve kept this model very simplistic even leaving out the distinctive Leica red dot on the camera, and the M-A looking slimmer than Leica’s digital counterparts. The only factors you have control over are focal length, shutter speed (via an on-camera dial) and aperture (from your lens). You can also use a level to change the framing lines to suit three different pairs of lenses: 28mm/90mm, 35/135mm, and 50/75mm.
The Leica M-A isn’t completely new: A stainless steel version of the Leica M-A was part of the Leica M Edition 100 introduced during the inauguration of the new Leica HQ in spring.
The Leica M-A will be available in black or silver chrome from authorised Leica dealers starting October 2014. The price in Germany is €3,850 , with international prices being announced later on in the year.
Technical data LEICA M-A (Type 127)
| Camera type | Leica M-A (type 127) compact, 35 mm rangefinder system camera with a mechanically controlled shutter |
| Lens mount | Leica M-Bayonet |
| Lens system | Leica M-Lenses,16–135 mm |
| Exposure control | Manual setting of shutter speed and aperture with values from an external exposure meter or by estimation |
| Flash exposure control | |
| Flash connection | Hot shoe – accessory shoe with centre contact |
| Synchronisation | On first shutter curtain |
| Flash exposure control | Computer control by the flash unit or guide number calculation and manual setting of the required aperture value |
| Viewfinder | |
| Viewfinder principle | Large, bright, combined bright-line viewfinder with automatic parallax compensation |
| Eyepiece | Adjusted to –0.5 dioptres; correction lenses available for –3 to +3 dioptres |
| Image field framing | By projection of pairs of bright-line frames for 28 and 90 mm, 35 and 135 mm, 50 and 75 mm lenses; automatic display of corresponding frames when lenses are locked into the bayonet mount |
| Frame selector | Lever enabling alternative frame pairs to be displayed in the viewfinder without changing lenses (e.g. for framing comparisons) |
| Parallax compensation | The horizontal and vertical differences between the viewfinder and lens axes are automatically compensated for in relation to the focusing distance |
| Concordance of viewfinder and film image | The bright-line frame size corresponds to an image size of approx. 23 × 35 mm at the minimum focusing distance for all focal lengths; focused at infinity, and depending on the focal length, approx. 9% (28 mm) to 23% (135 mm) more will be captured on the film than is shown in the corresponding bright-line frame |
| Magnification | 0.72× (for all lenses) |
| Long-base rangefinder | Coincident and superimposed image rangefinder, shown as a bright field at the centre of the viewfinder image |
| Effective rangefinder base | 49.9 mm (mechanical rangefinder base 69.25 mm × viewfinder magnification 0.72×) |
| Shutter and shutter release | |
| Shutter | Horizontal rubberised-cloth focal plane shutter; extremely low noise; mechanically controlled |
| Shutter speeds | From 1 s to 1/1000 s in one-stop increments, B for exposure times of arbitrary length |
| Shutter release | Standard internal thread for remote-release cables |
| Film loading, advance and rewinding | |
| Loading | Manual loading after removal of the base and opening the rear flap |
| Film advance | Manually, with rapid wind lever or Leicavit M; motorised, with Leica Motor-M, Leica Winder-M, Leica Winder M4-P or Leica Winder M4-2 (from article number 10 350) |
| Rewinding | Manual, pull-out rewind knob after disconnecting the advance mechanism with the R-lever on the front of the camera |
| Frame counter | On camera top plate; automatically reset when camera baseplate removed |
| Camera body | |
| Material | One-piece full-metal body with rear flap; top deck and baseplate in brass with black or silver chrome finish |
| Tripod bush | Thread A 1/4, DIN 4503 (1/4?) |
| Rear flap/features | Reminder dial for film sensitivity |
| Dimensions | Approx. 138 × 38 × 77 (length × depth × height, in mm) |
| Weight | Approx. 578 g |
| Package includes | Body cap and carrying strap |
Information: Leica Forum
