POPULARITY CONTEST

There’s no question Leica has greatly diversified its camera portfolio over the last decade or so. At one time, if you wanted to buy a new Leica, you could choose from a 35mm rangefinder camera or… a 35mm rangefinder camera (particularly after the sad demise of the R mount 35mm SLR system).

Now you can still have a Leica 35mm rangefinder camera, but there’s also the mirrorless SL and TL systems – full-35mm or ‘APS-C’ size sensors respectively – a gaggle of digital Ms (including the B&W-only Monochrom), the fixed-lens Q with its electronic viewfinder, or the digital medium format D-SLRs, S and S-E.

Yet despite all this choice, there’s been pretty big hole in the line-up which has just been effectively plugged by the new CL. It’s a mirrorless ‘APS-C’ format camera as well, using the same L mount as theTL2, but it’s a very different beast to the oh-so-chic T series bodies… which is actually just the point.

There has, of course, been a Leica CL before – in 1973 to be precise – the product of a co-operation with Japanese camera-maker Minolta (which, incidentally, also produced the R3 35mm SLR). Like its contemporary namesake, the 35mm CL was designed to meet the demands of photographers who wanted to own a Leica, but couldn’t find anything which really suited them in the current range. Consequently, the original camera was more compact and affordable than the M4 (and certainly the short-lived M5) with the convenience of built-in TTL metering, but retained all the classic attributes of a Leica 35mm rangefinder camera. Needless to note, for a couple of years in the mid-70s it was Leica’s best-selling camera (and is still