Leica R4–R7
Leica SLR cameras.
Leica R4, R5, R6, R7 were 35 mm SLR cameras manufactured by Leica between 1980 and 1997 and belonged to the manual focusing R-System, which was offered from 1976 to 2009.
Following the success of the Leica R3 the company, in continuing cooperation with Minolta, produced the R4–R7 series all based on the same chassis.
History
R4 / R4s /R4sp
The Leica R4 was made from 1980 to 1986.
Based on Minolta XD-7 (sold as XD in Japan and XD-11 in the USA) but with Leica developed exposure metering, mirror box, and newly designed body, the R4 followed the trend setting Olympus OM-1 and was much smaller and lighter than all earlier Leica SLR cameras. Like previous models the R4 offered selective metering and viewfinder information was comprehensive showing metering / exposure mode, shutter and aperture settings, exposure level, and flash ready.
The R4S (S stood for Simplified) and the R4SP (SP stood for Simplifed Professional) were simplified versions of the R4.
Five exposure / metering modes were available:
Manual exposure / selective metering
Aperture priority semi automatic exposure / selective metering with exposure lock
Aperture priority semi automatic exposure / integrated (centre weighted) metering
Shutter priority semi automatic exposure / integrated (centre weighted) metering
Program automatic exposure / integrated (centre weighted) metering
A rotary dial selected the mode, changing between integrated & selective metering was effected by a small lens moving in front of the meter cell which was mounted in the camera base like previous models, but moved forward and angled towards the film plane. This was to allow the same cell to measure both selective and full field for which the secondary mirror was larger than earlier cameras. Selective metering measured from the central focussing area only, a circle about 7 mm of the viewfinder image.
Offered from 1983 the R4s was a lower cost model with reduced features lacking shutter priority and program modes, however incorporating some improvements to the controls.
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