INTRODUCTION

The Minolta CL is a 35mm film rangefinder made in Japan by Minolta between 1971 and 1976.

It is the most compact rangefinder that has a Leica M mount.

BEST SUITED FOR:

Events

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Fun!

Street

Travel

PERSONAL NOTES

The Minolta CL is almost the same camera as the Leica CL. There are only a few differences, like the film counter window.

Leica masters mechanics and optics, but always had more difficulties in electronics. That's one of the reasons why they did a partnership with Minolta in the 70s, so they could get on board with all other companies making modern cameras with integrated electronics, but it seems that Minolta learned more from Leica than the opposite.

The Minolta CL is the most compact rangefinder that has the Leica M mount. It also has a light meter, which is quite pleasant when you are used to other full manual Leica. Unlike it's cousin the Minolta CLE on the Leica M7, it does not have the aperture priority mode, but the shutter still works if you run out of batteries.

Bottom line, I like the Minolta CL, but I prefer the CLE because it has the aperture priority mode.

CONCLUSION

For the price, the Minolta CL is a better deal than the Leica CL. If you do not need to use fast aperture lenses, then this M mount camera might be ideal for you. I personally have a Voigtlander 35mm f3.5 Color Skopar on mine and I love it. I would suggest the Minolta CLE instead because it has aperture priority in a not very bigger package.

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