Leica M7

Leica · Leica M mount · 24×36mm on 35mm film, loaded through the base · 2002

Also known as: Leica M7 · Leica M7 0.58 · Leica M7 titanium · ライカM7

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
0.72× finder	Leica M	2002–2018	—	The standard version
0.85× finder	Leica M	2002–2018	—	No separate figure published
0.58× finder	Leica M	2002–2018	—	No separate figure published
With the MP viewfinder	Leica M	2007–2018	—	No figure published
Titanium, 50 Years of the M	Leica M	2004–2004	—	1,000 cameras
50th anniversary of Midland	Leica M	2002–2018	—	50 cameras

Flash sync is 1/50 s, a limit the M7 shares with every film M and one that costs it the ambient-light latitude a leaf shutter would give (35mmc).
In Bulb the finder counts the exposure in seconds up to 999 — about sixteen minutes — then blanks the display to save the cell. The shutter stays open indefinitely after that; current is needed only to close it (Ken Rockwell).
DX coding is read over ISO 25 to 5,000. Ken Rockwell records that the original electrical DX contacts were replaced in later production by an optical infra-red LED reader, and the rangefinder improved at the same time — an independent account of the mid-run change this entry otherwise has only from the forum research the Leica Wiki cites.
The 0.58× finder (Will asked, 2026-09-10): it shows 28/90, 35 and 50/75 and drops the 135 frame; Japanese dealers (Sunrise Camera) recommend it outright for 28 and 35 users, Used Camera Tracker calls it and the 0.85 'noticeably scarcer than the 0.72 and tend to cost more', and the general advice that it suits glasses wearers comes with the caveat, from an M7 owner who is one, that whether you see the wide frames depends on the glasses and where your eye sits, not on the number alone. No review written from behind a 0.58 M7 was found: Osborne's is a 0.85, Pauley's and Rockwell's the 0.72.

How to tell them apart (expand)

An A setting on the shutter dial — aperture priority, the first on any M
Shutter speeds displayed as LED numerals in the finder
DX film-speed reading, which no earlier M has
1/60 and 1/125 marked in a different colour: the only two speeds that work without a battery

0.72× finder:

Order numbers 10503 black chrome, 10504 silver chrome

0.85× finder:

Order number 10505, black chrome

0.58× finder:

Order number 10560, silver chrome

With the MP viewfinder:

From serial 2885000, the MP's flare-resistant finder is fitted; DX contacts follow somewhat later

Titanium, 50 Years of the M:

Titanium finish, anniversary marking

50th anniversary of Midland:

Marked for fifty years of Leitz in Midland, Ontario

With the MP viewfinder: The change comes from forum research the Leica Wiki cites rather than from a Leica announcement, so the serial should be treated as approximate.
50th anniversary of Midland: A German-built camera commemorating the Canadian factory that kept the M alive in the 1970s and 80s.

Serial-range notes

2777001–2782000: 2001, first batches, black and silver (2777001 a single-number batch, then 4,999). Leica Wiki M7 batch table (archived 2024-05-28).
2782021–2787000: 2002, black (10503) and silver (10504), 4,980 bodies. Leica Wiki M7 batch table (archived 2024-05-28).
2849751–2854750: 2002, black and silver, 5,000 bodies. Leica Wiki M7 batch table (archived 2024-05-28).
2884101–2889100: 2002, black, silver and black paint (BK), 5,000 bodies; the MP-type finder is reported from about 2885000 in this batch. Leica Wiki M7 batch table (archived 2024-05-28).
2942201–2947200: 2003, black, 5,000 bodies. Leica Wiki M7 batch table (archived 2024-05-28).
2999998–3000000: 2003, three bodies. Leica Wiki M7 batch table (archived 2024-05-28).
3000001–3001000: 2003, Titanium '50 Jahre M' with some black, 1,000 bodies. Leica Wiki M7 batch table (archived 2024-05-28).
3009101–3010100: 2004, à la carte (10560), 1,000 bodies. Leica Wiki M7 batch table (archived 2024-05-28).
3121956–3122006: 2006, CPA Edition, 51 bodies. Leica Wiki M7 batch table (archived 2024-05-28).
from 3999567: 2007 onward, black; the table records no end, and no later batch is published. Leica Wiki M7 batch table (archived 2024-05-28).

Specifications

Format: 24×36mm on 35mm film, loaded through the base
Finder: Combined viewfinder and coupled rangefinder with LED exposure display and shutter-speed readout · 0.72× magnification · 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 75mm, 90mm, 135mm framelines · automatic, in pairs — 35/135, 50/75, 28/90 · automatic parallax correction
Shutter: focal plane, rubberised cloth, electronically timed · 32s – 1/1000 in automatic; 1/60 and 1/125 mechanical, working with a dead battery
Meter: Centre-weighted TTL metering off the shutter curtain, driving aperture-priority automation with exposure lock; TTL flash; two triangular LEDs and a central circle show the correction needed, and flash to warn that the reading is outside the metering range.
Country: Germany
Original price: No launch-year price has been found. Ken Rockwell's dated US prices give $4,600 new in January 2009, $5,000 in 2011 and again in April 2014, and $4,400 in December 2015.

Figures we worked out rather than found: Two mechanical speeds out of about twenty — the M7 is 90% dependent on its battery

Where sources disagree

Last year of production

Current, on the Leica Wiki's page as written
2018, when Leica discontinued it

Better supported: 2018

The Leica Wiki page has not been updated since production ended; its production era line still reads 2002–Current. This entry records 2018 and flags the source's staleness rather than repeating it.

What reviewers say

Ken Rockwell (blog) — He shoots it for its size, silence and optics, but names the slightly defective rangefinder design and the flaky DX-coding readout of early samples as the camera's worst faults, both since corrected by Leica.
David Pauley – 35mmc (blog) — Aperture priority and the centre-weighted meter gave him accurate exposures across colour, slide and black-and-white film and made flash easy, but he returned the camera inside the trial month because its pictures were no better than what his M3 had been giving him for far less money.

History

The M7 is the M that finally accepted a battery. Its shutter is electronically timed, which buys aperture-priority automation, exposure lock, shutter speeds displayed in the finder as numerals, and DX reading of the film cartridge — none of which any earlier M offers. Leica kept 1/60 and 1/125 mechanical and marked them in a different colour, so a dead cell leaves you with two speeds rather than a paperweight, but the honest description is that this camera does not work without power.

That was the split. Leica introduced the MP the following year for photographers who wanted the opposite, and from 2003 the M line ran as two cameras: one that helps and one that refuses to. Both were sold new for fifteen years.

Three finder magnifications carried over from the M6 TTL — 0.58×, 0.72× and 0.85× — and the M7 quietly improved in the middle of its run: from around serial 2885000 it received the MP’s flare-resistant rangefinder, and DX contacts changed somewhat later. Both of those come from forum research the Leica Wiki cites rather than from any Leica announcement, so the serial is a guide rather than a boundary.

Among the special editions, one is worth pausing on. Fifty cameras marked the fiftieth anniversary of Leitz in Midland, Ontario — a German-built, battery-dependent automatic Leica commemorating the Canadian factory that had kept the entirely mechanical M alive through the years when Wetzlar had stopped building it.

One correction to the source. The Leica Wiki’s production era still reads “2002-Current”; Leica discontinued the M7 in 2018. The page simply has not been updated, which is worth knowing about a wiki that is otherwise the best record this system has.

Expand Collapse

This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Photographs

Leica M7, chrome — Rama, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0 fr)

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $5,500 across 13 fixed-price listings on 2026-10-19 (middle half $4,600–$5,900). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 9 days: up 15% from $4,800.

By day

Date	Median	Middle half	Listings
2026-10-19	$5,500	$4,600–$5,900	13
2026-10-18	$5,500	$4,600–$5,900	13
2026-10-17	$5,500	$4,600–$5,900	13
2026-10-16	$5,500	$4,600–$7,000	13
2026-10-15	$5,500	$4,600–$7,000	13
2026-09-21	$4,800	$4,600–$7,000	10
2026-09-18	$4,600	$100–$7,500	17
2026-09-11	$4,800	$3,800–$7,000	16
2026-09-06	$4,800	$3,800–$7,000	16

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

Leica M7 Rangefinder - Telemeter - Rar! — €1,499.00 · eBay
Leica M7 schwarz - Analog Kamera Gehäuse 0,72 - 10504 - Ankauf & Verkauf — €2,599.00 · eBay
Used Leica M7 0.72 Black Rangefinder Camera Body 10503 — £2,587.95 · eBay
Leica M7 0.72 Camera Body Only — £2,653.60 · eBay
LEICA M7 0,72 schwarz OVP - ROTER PUNKT KAMERA An+Verkauf — €3,450.00 · eBay NEW
Leica 10503 - Leica M7 0.72 Kamera Mit OVP — €3,499.00 · eBay
Leica M7 0.72 (Gehäuse) Neuwertig! FOTO JESCHNER An & Verkauf KASSEL — €3,499.00 · eBay
Leica M7 Test Camera The Netherlands Body - zeer goed — €3,499.00 · eBay
Leica M7 0.72 schwarz 10503 M-Kamera analog Kleinbild vom Fachhändler (T0278) — €3,509.00 · eBay
【 N MINT 】 Leica M7 0.72 Rangefinder 35mm Film Camera Japan Model from Japan JPN — $4,079.99 · eBay
Leica 10503 - Leica M7 Body Kit Black Rangefinder Kamera "1a Zustand" - BOX — €3,799.00 · eBay
Leica M7 0.72 Black 35mm Film Rangefinder Camera Body, Excellent Working Order — A$6,600.00 · eBay
Leica M7 0.72 Film Rangefinder Camera Body Only Excellent Condition - Recent CLA — £3,372.70 · eBay
Leica M7 Betriebsk 0.72 Black Film Rangefinder Film Camera Betriebskamera #2885670 — HK$33,800.00 · Meteor (HK) Ltd (Meteor · Leica)
Leica M7 0.72 35mm Rangefinder Film Camera #66170 T — $4,500.00 · eBay NEW
【 TOP MINT in Box 】 Leica M7 0.72 JAPAN Model Rangefinder Film Camera From JAPAN — $4,599.99 · eBay
Leica M7 0.72 Black Film Rangefinder Camera #12133 — $4,609.00 · eBay
Leica M7 0.72 Black Film Rangefinder Camera #12138 — $4,609.00 · eBay
Leica M7 (0.85) 10505 black - with full CLA / 35747,1 — €4,200.00 · eBay
Leica M7 (0.85) 10505 black - with full CLA / 35747,1 — €4,200.00 · eBay

Show 22 more listings

Overhauled [N MINT] Leica M7 0.58 Black Camera From JAPAN — $4,799.99 · eBay
Leica M7 0.72 (Gehäuse) Silber (Unbenutzt!) FOTO JESCHNER An & Verkauf KASSEL — €4,999.00 · eBay
⏯ [Almost Unused in Box] Leica M7 0.85 Black 35mm Rangefinder Film Camera Japan — $5,499.99 · eBay
Black 【 TOP MINT in Box 】 Leica M7 0.72 Rangefinder 35mm Film Camera From Japan — $5,500.00 · eBay
Leica M7 0.58 Black | Near Mint | Fully Functional — $5,559.00 · eBay
Leica M7 0.72 Black — $5,911.83 · eBay
Leica M7 0.58 (Gehäuse) Wie Neu! FOTO JESCHNER An & Verkauf KASSEL — €5,499.00 · eBay
LEICA M7 0.72 MODIFIED to A LA CARTE STYLE SILVER CHROME (BODY) — $7,000.00 · eBay
Leica M7 à la carte "Racing Green" Nr.2851036 Baujahr 2002 mit 0.58 Sucher !! — €6,998.00 · eBay
Leica M7 - Shueido Repaint / 0.72 — SN 2782780 — HK$68,800.00 · Fotopia Gallery & Camera Equipment
Leica M7 0.58 Black Paint (Service 17.04.2023) *Neuwertig* FOTO-GÖRLITZ — €10,000.00 · eBay
Leica M7 0.72 Black Paint (Service 14.02.2023) *Neuwertig* FOTO-GÖRLITZ — €10,000.00 · eBay
Leica M7 Set - Titanium / 50 Jahre Leica M System / with 50mm F1.4 ASPH — SN 3000099 — HK$148,000.00 · Fotopia Gallery & Camera Equipment
Leica M7 Titanium Edition 50 Years Leica M w. Summilux 1.4/50 ASPH. boxed 1057 — €19,500.00 · eBay
Leica M7 Set - Titanium / 50 Jahre Leica M System / with 50mm F1.4 ASPH, 10570 — $21,720.00 · eBay
Leica M7 Set - Titanium / 50 Jahre Leica M System / with 50mm F1.4 ASPH — SN 3000510 — HK$198,000.00 · Fotopia Gallery & Camera Equipment
Leica M7 10570 "50 Years of Leica M System" Titan set / 35793,4 — €24,500.00 · eBay NEW
Leica M7 10570 "50 Years of Leica M System" Titan set / 35793,4 — €24,500.00 · eBay NEW
Leitz Leica M7 Titan Set With Summilux-M 1.4/50Mm Asph. — £23,692.01 · eBay
LEICA M7 TITANIUM SET "50 JAHRE LEICA M SYSTEM" + BOX 10570 #5846 — $32,500.00 · eBay
Leica M7 à la carte Black Paint Messsucherkamera Gehäuse Filmkamera RARE N1009 — €45,058.36 · eBay
Leica M7 0.72 ブラック — from ¥710,000 · Yahoo! Auctions Japan · auction 2027-09-21

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Listings updated 2026-10-19. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.