Nicely made, sharp lens.

Quirky to use, can be hard to load film properly.

Notes on successfully loading 35mm film into the 0-Series Leica Camera
The Leica O-Series camera is a reissue of the first serially produced prototype 35mm camera originally made in a small batch. Many aspects of its design are ahead of its time, 1923, and elegant in function however loading film can be a bit of a challenge. Here are my notes that if appended to the instructions that came with the camera may make the loading process less frustrating.
Warning do not force anything while loading or rewinding the film this may result is a torn film sprocket and a small piece of the sprocket coming lose inside the camera causing it to jamb the camera at a later date;
From disuse the rewind lever may be very stiff as although the camera I had was new it has been sitting around for over ten years and the lubricants were stiff. Also the shutter release may seem a little rough this will smooth out after exercising the camera a little;
• Read the instructions and understand how and when in the camera winding cycle to change shutter speeds;
• Set the rewind lever to "Z,' the timed shutter setting, and cycle the camera several time at all shutter speeds before loading a first roll of film;
• Recut the leader on a fresh roll of film so the tang is as long as the camera is wide. Use care to make the tang at least as thick as the one precut on the film. Make sure the recut tang has no rough edges and the end of its cut line runs between not through a film sprocket hole;
• Remove the spool from the camera. The spool force fits and has an alignment pin that may interfere with easily removing the spool. Hold the advance knob in place and work the spool to disengage the pin. You may find that the spool is still rather difficult to remove. In this case remove the spool and slightly wet your finger with some vatable oil, wipe your finger dry and then touch it to the spool end hole that engages the camera mechanism. If your finger is wet with oil you are using too much and may introduce contamination in the camera. The miniscule amount of oil will allow the spool to slide in and out of the camera easily.
• Attach the film tang to the take-up spool as shown in the instructions that came with the camera and wind the tang back into the film can to the point where the take-up spool and film can line up with their respective loading positions in the camera base
• Slide the spool and film can in. Do not fully bottom them out in their positions just yet.
• The film may hang up on the internals of the camera's film slot not allowing full insertion of the can and the spool simultaneously. Wiggle and play with the can, take-up spool, rewind knob and film advance knob if necessary to allow both the can and spool to slide in together.
• The take-up spool may not slide in more than half way. In such case slowly cycle/advance the camera until the spool's drive pin moves to a position allowing the spool to slip in further.
• Observing with a small flashlight gently slide the take-up spool in position just far enough that teeth of the film advance drive gear fully engages the sprocket holes of the film. Not inserting the reel far enough or too far will preclude the gear engagement.
• Cycle and advance the film one frame to see that the gear film interface is moving correctly
• Close the camera, wind the rewind knob in the direction of the arrow until it stops and the advance the film two frames causing the properly loaded film to rotate the rewind knob in the direction opposite of the arrow
• Determine how many frames of film were wasted in extending the film tang and threading the camera add "1" to this number and set the film counter to that value. In most cases it will be 5 or 6.
• Be sure to rewind the film when the counter indicates you are on the last exposure specified on the film package. Continuing on to the hard stop past the last frame available on the film mid-advance cycle will jamb the mechanism not allowing for the release of the film to rewind it back into the can.

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Lica M2, Leica M6ttl

Excellent contrasty and sharp lens. Attention to detail and excellent finish. Built like a tank and once you understand the operation, one appreciates the development of the 35mm design as this is considered the first in a new line of sucessful full frame 35mm cameras. Also it comes with beautifully crafted and protective leather case and red Leica box.

No interchangable lens.
Cap must be inplace when winding to next frame (not self capping shutter).
Can only adjust shutter speed at a half wind on position.

I had wanted to purchase this camera for a long time (years). I teach design in the MIT of Korea, the Korean Institute for Science and Technology (KAIST) and have always admired this Lieca camera as being a revolutionaly design. The camera does take getting used to as others have said. I will not cover the reasons except that the cap must be inplace before winding to the next frame. What I want to comment on is the excellent optics of the reformulated lens on this camera. I find the lens very contrasty and sharp. Of course there is no rengefinder such as on the IIIf or M series but when you focus correctly, this lens really performs. I usually use the Tmax films that have very fine grain and scan the negatives. I was really surprised at the sharp images produced. I consider this very important. Also since this camera is very mechanical, it slows down the photo precess and forces one to compose carefully, I also really like the viewfinder. The image is well illustrated and very close to the final picture. Leica is a common camera here in Korea and the leica club has over 7000 members that concentrate on Street photography. I find this camera fine for that style.

Customer Service

Excellent here in Korea

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Leica Standard Cameras such as the 1c or 1f. More recent cameras such as the Voigtlander Bessa-L.

True to the class, very elegant camera and superb finnish.

Not an all around camera, outdated markings for f-stop and shutter.

I’ve been looking for something really unique in my camera collection, and I came upon this camera on the Leica site. Upon playing with it in the local camera store, I decided to purchase it from BH (there are reasons why I would not buy from my local camera store, which most of them are due to services). I have owned this camera for quiet some time now, and I am quiet pleased with it. For sure it is not a camera for those who are looking for the utmost convenience. In fact, for the ill-patience, they may even start to swear when they keep ‘missing the moment’ with this camera. Never the less, the finish of the camera is just plain elegance. The f-stops are not to the current standard settings, but it is still manageable. The re-capping after each exposure may slow down the shoot, but it makes the photographer think about more of what he is doing and what the final result may be. If someone if looking for an all around camera, I would not suggest this to him. But if he was looking for a camera that can truly last in the collection, or is he was a fine artist, this camera is the one to own. Me, myself, I love this camera and I use it very often, no matter how often I’m told about the obscurity of it.

Customer Service

Fast e-mail reply from customer service, which they congradulate you for purchasing the camera first before answering your question.

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Incredible build quality, far superior to either my M6 or M7. Terrific lens. Makes the photographer really "think" before hitting the shutter release. Speaking of shutter release, velvetty smooth.

Very much a "niche" camera. Film loading is incredibly frustrating. NOT the camera for casual shooting, think of it as more art than function.

Looking for something truly unusual for my 40th birthday I decided to buy myself this exquisite piece of "retro" hardware. Put simply, it is one of the best purchases I have made in many years. To be clear, this is no daily shooter. It is incredibly archaic and painstaking to use, not something you want to bet a "critical moment" shot on. If you forget to put the lens cap on before advancing the film, sorry, your shot is blown. Quirky and difficult to use, this is not for the family outing. What it is for, however, is for those days when you want to head out on your own to explore and set up a unique and special shot. This camera is so manual it MAKES you take the time to think about the shot, the composition, the lighting...every aspect of the picture taking process. I have quite a few manual cameras but never has my thought process been so great going into a shot. I just finished my first roll with this incredibly built replica and I made the types of mistakes that cost me some shots. Only 9 of 24 were usable, but I was thrilled with the results none the less. I know that the failure rate will drop to nearly none as I familiarize myself with the quirky behavior of this early 20th century camera as I experience photography "the way it used to be". If you can find one at a lower price point, as I did, I highly recommend the camera to someone who wants a "different" photographic experience than they may be used to. Using this camera is truly alot of fun.

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Leica M5, M6, M7.

It is definitely retro. very high quality finish and nothing chinzy about it. The case and box it comes with are also of very high quality. I have a regular Black M-6 TTL but the Black Paint finish on this is much nicer.

Not a particularly easy to use if you don''t read the instructions very carefully the first time. View finder is easy to smudge in setting it upright. I have shot one roll of film and I wasn''t that impressed with the results but then again, I didn''t expect it to be great. I believe that my unfamiliarity with not using an exposure meter and guessing had something to do with it but exposure wasn''t that much of an issue. I believe that I will get better result as I shoot more rolls of film. As a camera, the results were nothing special but then again it might have been in the 1920''s.

I bought the O series because it was selling at a 50% discount to the list price, was a limited production of 4,000 units and had a lucky serial number. I don''t really have any intention to use it that often, other than to test it out a couple of times, I intend to hold this as an interesting investment and give it to my children one day. Quite frankly, I am surprised that it was selling at such a big discount considering the number of Leica collectors out there. It may have to do with the fact that it is not an exact reproduction and that there are some updates to it inorder for it to be easier to use.

Customer Service

I don''t think I will ever use it, considering that this is a cheap investment.

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