Click Bait

.. as in bells, whistles, clicks, ratchets. There’s something about vintage cameras that’s so inherently satisfying. And yes, the addiction is real. My collection groweth! This specimen is a unique collaboration between two camera giants: LEICA of Wetzlar Germany, and MINOLTA of Osaka Japan (unfortunately defunct by way of KONICA which sold it’s digital camera division to SONY)

In the early 1970’s Leica entered a collaboration / knowledge share with Minolta to develop a small rangefinder camera which became the Leica CL (Compact Leica). That camera sold so well that Leica killed it after three years (a cheap but good version of the vaunted M3? why wouldn’t it sell)

A decade later in the early 1980’s Minolta autonomously restarted that program (sans Leica), updated and developed the CLE (Compact Leica Electronic). It is leaps and bounds better than the CL in every facet (though un-Leica like with it’s non-mechanical, electronic shutter)

I’ve eyed one forever. They are rare and getting one in mint/pristine condition is like waiting to get money from the government. My patience was rewarded. A fully functioning, real peach of a find.

And to top it off, I purchased my first Voigtlander lens: A 40mm f/1.4 NOKTON CLASSIC in M mount. Summicrons and Summiluxes still cost your soul so I’ll have to wait another 100 years for one of those (Photos shot with an iPhone 14)