Perfect write up, however every time i think about getting an M-A i cant help but remembering the MP, which comes with a meter. but again, i just love how minimal the M-A is!!

As much as a mechanical gem the M-A might be, going without a meter or relying on Sunny 16 seem retrograde steps I don’t care to take. Have an M6 and wish the next digital M can be as small or as fun to use.

Goed article, heb ervan genoten!! Groet Ruud.

In reply to Colin Johnson.

What I meant to say is that if you learn to use one typ of film, for example Kodak Portra, or Kodak TRI-X or ILFORD FP4+ all with a wide exposure latitude, you can achieve lots of different results by just using different developers and developing warmer or colder, gently or rough agitation etc. etc. In my opinion getting to know a typ of film and it’s up and downsides with all sorts of developers is worth more than just buying different types of film every time.

I rather learn the ins and outs of one film, than use multiple sorts of film.

Jip

I develop my own black and white film in a lab facility and also make prints in the dark room.

I’m not sure I understand your comment about the way you develop. We have zero knowledge of how the film comes out until it is in the final water bath stage and then there is nothing we can do about it. Yes, we could adjust timings of agitation, the developer used and it’s concentration and how long it sits in the developing fluid, but this is more a general rule for the type of film and whether it was pushed or pulled. It would take a lot of work recording settings and the M-A doesn’t even have a meter, so I’m not following.

With film cameras, the camera doesn’t matter, but the choice of film and lens does. All things being equal in body, lens and light, the choice of film makes the biggest difference in the final output…

Nice article – well done. Just one thing, the M-A manual states that intermediate values may not be used.

In reply to Pierre.

Hey Pierre,

I was mostly talking about black and white film when I was talking about the film being less important than the way you develop.

You claim that the choice of how you develop film is more important than the film. What are your choices for developing Portra?

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Mooi en interessant artikel ! Kleurenfilms ontwikkelen C41 doe ik 2x per week in een doorloopmachine,dus neem even contact op.

Nice article and nice pictures! Basically, the m-a shares the same characteristics as the m4-p film camera introduced in the early eighties before the m6 in 1984. the only difference i can think of is that the M-A’s view finder is probably flare resistant like the modern MP unlike the M4-P.

Beautiful and a great review – thank you! …….And in 25 or so years I hope to pass on my M6 for the next user, ‘cos it’ll still be working then and the meter can give me a feel for exposure rather than guesswork and the film (coming out of my freezer if necessary) will still forgive a bit of over or under exposure!
As for their new products Leica can’t deliver so that’s not great service really (as per the London dealers anyway!)

Nice camera, but too expensive (me)… ilove my m2s, simple, fast, and the brassing ohh :)

it might well work in a hundred years time, but will there be any film to put in it?