Available online from Jacobs Digital
Pared down to the absolute essentials, the Leica MP is intuitive in operation but leaves all the crucial decisions and settings to the photographer. It is the classic, purely mechanical alternative to the Leica M7, a camera that offers added comfort and speed with its electronic shutter and aperture-priority metering system.
The development of the Leica MP incorporates over 50 years of experience. It is the quintessential mechanical range/viewfinder camera. It is an experience you will sense as soon as you hold this masterpiece in your hands.
The Leica MP is ever reliable. It relies solely on the skill of the photographer, and can be operated without batteries. The robust body can withstand the harshest conditions. And its controls are all metal.
Leica M bayonet mount.
Viewfinder principle: Large, bright line frame viewfinder with automatic parallax compensation. Viewfinder optical system with reduced stray light sensitivity and optimum visibility of all bright line frames.
Eyepiece: Calibrated to –0.5 dpt. Correction lenses from –3 to +3 diopter available. Bright line frames activated in pairs: for 28 and 90 mm, 35 and 135 mm or 50 and 75 mm. Automatically displayed when the lens is mounted. The preview selector can be used to display each of the pairs of frames. Alternative bright line frame configurations are available as part of the Leica a la carte range.
Parallax compensation: The horizontal and vertical difference between the viewfinder and
the lens is automatically compensated in line with the current distance setting, i.e. the bright line frame in the viewfinder automatically covers the section of the subject that will be captured by the lens.
Correlation between viewfinder and film images: At the shortest possible distance setting for each focal length, the bright line frame size corresponds to an image size of approx. 23 x 35 mm. When set to infinity, depending on the focal length between 9% (28mm) and 23% (135 mm) more is captured by the film than is shown in the corresponding bright line frame.
Magnification: 0.72x (for all lenses). Alternative viewfinder magnifications of 0.85x and 0.58x are available as part of the Leica a la carte range.
Wide-base rangefinder: Split and superposed-image ranger finder displayed as a bright field in the centre of the viewfinder image. Effective measuring basis 49.9 mm (mechanical measuring basis 69.25 mm x viewfinder magnification 0.72x). For the alternative viewfinder magnifications of 0.85x and 0.58x available as part of the Leica a la carte range, it is 58.9 mm (mechanical measuring basis 69.25 mm x viewfinder magnification 0.85x) and 40.2 mm (mechanical mea-suring basis 69.25 mm x viewfinder magnification 0.58x) respectively.
Exposure metering: Exposure metering through the lens (TTL), selectively with working aperture.
Metering principle: The light reflected by a metering spot in the centre of the first shutter curtain. The metering spot has a diameter of 12 mm and thus corresponds to approx. 13% of the full film format or approx. 2/3 of the short side of the applicable bright line frame in the viewfinder.
Metering range: (for ISO 100/21°) From 0.03 to 125000 cd/m2 at room temperature, normal humidity and f/1.0. For ISO 100/21° this corresponds to EV-2 to 20 or f/1 and 4s (B setting) to f/32 and 1/1000s.
Flashing of the left-hand triangular LED in the viewfinder indicates that the brightness reflected is below the metering range. Metering cell: Silicon photodiode with focusing lens to the top left behind the bayonet.
Exposure control: Manual shutter speed and aperture setting and adjustment using LED light balance.
Film speed range: Manual setting from ISO 6/9 to ISO 6400/39°.
Shutter: Rubberised cloth focal plane shutter with horizontal movement; extremely quiet.
Mechanically controlled.
Shutter speeds: From 1s to 1/1000s in whole increments. B for very long exposures of any duration, (1/50s) for flash synchronisation.
