The Leica MP is a 35 mm film camera manufactured by Leica Camera AG that was introduced in 2003. It is an all-mechanical

rangefinder A rangefinder (also rangefinding telemeter, depending on the context) is a device used to Length measurement, measure distances to remote objects. Originally optical devices used in surveying, they soon found applications in other fields, suc ...

focusing camera that follows in a long line of cameras since the

Leica M3 The Leica M3 is a 135 film, 35 mm rangefinder camera by Ernst Leitz GmbH (now Leica Camera, Leica Camera AG), introduced in 1954. It was a new starting point for Leitz, which until then had only produced screw-mount Leica cameras that were increm ...

was introduced in 1954. The camera uses the

Leica M-mount The Leica Camera, Leica M mount is a camera lens mount introduced in 1954 with the Leica M3, and a range of Camera lens, lenses. It has been used on all the Leica M-series cameras and certain accessories (e.g. Visoflex reflex viewing attachment) ...

, which accepts all Leica bayonet-mount lenses (21 mm through 135 mm) made since 1954. The 'MP' designation stands for "mechanical perfection."

Design

Unlike the preceding

Leica M7 The Leica M7 is a 35 mm rangefinder camera introduced by Leica AG in 2002 as a direct successor to the M6. The electronic Leica M7 is a departure from previous mechanical designs for the M series. Details The M7 introduced auto-exposure in ap ...

, the camera has adopted many retro design features from the earlier M3. These include a M3 type metal film advance lever, knob film rewind design and M3 type frameline adjust lever. The basic classic design remains unchanged and the design for loading film from the bottom has been retained. The camera comes in black paint or silver chrome finishes and could be further customised with Leica AG's ''à la carte'' program until July 7, 2019 whe
Leica officially discontinued the program

Leica MP special editions

The Leica MP, the same as the M6, also includes limited special editions.

Features

Features include an integrated silicon photodiode TTL lightmeter that works from EV-2 to EV20. Only the lightmeter requires batteries to operate; the rest of the camera is fully mechanical, unlike the M7, and will operate without electricity. The camera's viewfinder is available with different magnifications of 0.58x, 0.72x and 0.85x and is improved to reduce flaring with multicoated glass elements and a condenser lens. The camera is also compatible with Leica Motor-M, Winder-M, Winder 4-P and Winder 4-2 motorised film winders and the Leicavit manual winder. References

External links

Leica MP Technical Data
Leica Camera AG website, Leica MP

Leica M enthusiast forum
Leica rangefinder cameras MP {{photo-stub de:Leica MP