Leica R5

Variants & identification

1. Lens cams. The R5 couples to the third, stepped cam, the R-cam, and nothing else. It takes and meters at full aperture with 3-cam lenses (Leicaflex cams plus the R-cam), R-only lenses and ROM lenses, which keep the R-cam; it predates the ROM contacts and does not read them. 1-cam and 2-cam Leicaflex lenses have no R-cam, and the R5's own manual says they "should not be inserted in the Leica R 5; it could damage the camera body", and that they can be fitted with the cam at any time. English Wikipedia's article on the bayonet says such lenses can be used on R bodies with stop-down metering. Leica's R9 instructions say the cam must be fitted before use on any R camera from the R3; the manual's warning is the safer reading, so have the lens converted or check that it carries the R-cam before mounting it.
2. Leica M lenses that fit the Visoflex can be used on the R5 through the appropriate adapter (R5 manual), and lenses with no automatic diaphragm, such as the long Telyts from 400mm and the Focusing Bellows-R, meter at working aperture in the a, A and m modes.
3. Production is an estimate whichever source is used: about 34,000, 30,000 black and 4,000 chrome (Apotelyt); about 33,656, counting each mixed block as shared equally, the 1900001 block included and the 1777501 block left out (the Leica Wiki); 26,785 numbers in blocks that hold only R5s (Gandy's list). Every R5-capable number in Gandy's list, mixed blocks included and the 1900001 block left out, comes to 42,300. Leica order numbers are 10060 chrome and 10061 black.
4. No launch list price is recorded here. Mail-order advertisements in Popular Photography of November 1993, two years after the last R5 block, list the R5 body at US$1,199, US$1,249.69 and US$1,349, New York dealer prices before any sales tax. Cambridge Camera Exchange, at US$1,349, priced the R6 at US$1,495 and the R-E at US$999; the dealer at US$1,249.69 priced the R-E at US$949.69.
5. James Tocchio (Casual Photophile) calls the shutter Copal-designed; camera-wiki gives a Seiko shutter for the R4 on which the R5 is built. None of the other sources names the maker of the R5's own shutter.
6. The R-E of 1990 is a cut-down R5, as the R4s was a cut-down R4: aperture priority and manual only, no program or shutter priority, keeping TTL flash, and assembled in Solms (camera-wiki; Leica Wiki). The R6 of 1987–88 uses the same chassis with a mechanical shutter and manual exposure only, and the R7 of 1992 adds a microprocessor to the R5's shutter and modes.
7. Leica Customer Care no longer services R-system cameras; Apotelyt reports that Leica refers owners to Paepke-Fototechnik in Düsseldorf.

• Black, Leitz Portugal: Apotelyt says the R5 was made first in Portugal, "Leitz"-branded, and from 1988 in Solms, "Leica"-branded; camera-wiki says it was made in Portugal for most of its production. English Wikipedia's R4–R7 article does not say where the R5 was made: it puts the R-E's final assembly in Solms and every R body after it there too.
• Black, Solms: Camera-wiki calls this final assembly in Germany, and the R-E of the same years was assembled in Solms from sub-assemblies still made in Portugal. Apotelyt gives the German-made range only as 1762451–1765750 and 1768001–1770485, and says nothing about the mixed blocks that followed.
• Chrome (silver anodised): The first two chrome blocks were assigned in 1987, before the move to Solms, and the two shared with the R6 in 1989 and 1990, after it; none of the sources says where the chrome bodies of each period were assembled. Camera-wiki dates the chrome R5 to 1988, the year after its 1987 launch date for the black; Gandy's first chrome block is of March 1987. Apotelyt notes that black bodies are more prone than chrome to blistering of the finish over impurities in the zinc top casting.
• ELCOVISION 10 conversion: A black R5 modified for the ELCOVISION 10 "photometric measuring system", in the auction house's words. Leitz Auction 23, lot 335, sold no. 1765323 of 1988 with Summicron-R no. 3511111, Elmarit-R no. 3500893, the data back, instructions and an outfit case for €1,440 including buyer's premium (estimate €1,500–1,800); Auction 8, lot 192, sold no. 1901072 of 1991, described as a "very late R5", with Summicron-R no. 3536232, for €1,080 including premium (estimate €1,700–1,900). The two catalogues give the same number for the 24mm lens. Neither says who carried out the modification.

Specifications

Format

24×36mm on 35mm film

Finder

fixed pentaprism, high eyepoint, built-in dioptre correction from +2 to −2 and an eyepiece blind; five interchangeable focusing screens (R5 manual) · 0.8× magnification · 92% coverage

Shutter

electronically controlled vertical-travel metal-blade focal plane · 15s–1/2000 stepless in the automatic modes; 1/2–1/2000 in full steps when set by hand; B; X (1/100) and an orange 100 setting both mechanical, the 100 for use when the batteries are exhausted (R5 manual) · flash sync 1/100 (X); hot shoe and a PC socket on the prism housing. With SCA 300 or 500 flash units and their adapters the camera switches itself to X and meters the flash through the lens · self-timer

Film advance

single-stroke lever, 130° throw; contacts and coupling in the base for the Motor-Winder R and Motor-Drive R

Back

hinged, with a cartridge window; replaceable by the DB 2 data back

Meter

Silicon photodiode in the base of the mirror box, read off a semi-transparent main mirror. Two patterns: selective, a 7mm circle in the centre of the screen, and centre-weighted averaging, chosen with the mode. Range EV 3–20 selective and EV 1–20 averaging at ISO 100 with an f/1.4 lens; ISO 12–3200; ±2 EV override in third stops (R5 manual). TTL flash metering off the film during exposure, from a second photodiode beside the first, always full field (camera-wiki; English Wikipedia). Five modes on one selector: P (variable program, averaging), T (shutter priority, averaging), A (aperture priority, averaging), a (aperture priority, selective, with memory hold) and m (manual, selective). Two silver-oxide cells of the SR44 type or one lithium cell; there is no on/off switch, the meter wakes on the release (R5 manual; Apotelyt).

Motor drive

Leica Winder R4, Leica Motor Drive R4, Leica Motor-Winder R, Leica Motor-Drive R — The winder gives 2 frames a second; the motor drive 4 or 2 a second and single frames (R5 manual). Camera-wiki says any winder or motor drive of the R4–R7 series fits any body of the series. The hand-grip changed from a mechanical to an electrical connection, grips and drives of the two kinds are not cross-compatible, and the R7's deeper base needs its own taller grip.

Weight

625 g

Dimensions

138.5 × 89.1 × 62.2 (width × height × depth, without lens; R5 manual). Apotelyt prints 88.1mm for the height mm

Country

Portugal (Leitz Portugal, Vila Nova de Famalicão) until late 1988; final assembly in Solms, Germany, from then on

Accessories

Motor-Winder R and Motor-Drive R, with their hand-grips · DB 2 data back · SCA 300 and SCA 500 dedicated flash units with the SCA 351, 350 or 550 adapters · Five interchangeable focusing screens

0.8× at 0 dioptres with a 50mm lens and a 23×34.6mm image, 92% of the frame (R5 manual). Apotelyt says the magnification is slightly lower than the R4's and the eyepoint slightly higher. LED displays sit outside the image: the meter's shutter speed scale on the right, mode and override symbols lower left, with the set aperture and speed mirrored in below (R5 manual; Tocchio); the display is backlit (camera-wiki).

Figures we worked out rather than found: No R body was made in Canada: camera-wiki places R3–R7 manufacture at Wetzlar (the first R3s), Vila Nova de Famalicão in Portugal and Solms, and English Wikipedia puts final assembly of the R-E and every later R body in Solms · The 26,785 and 42,300 totals are this page's sums of Gandy's block ranges, using the real size of each range rather than the counts he prints · That the R5 has no ROM contacts and ignores the ROM strip is inferred from its 1986 date and from the R8 being the first body with ROM support; no R5 document mentions ROM

What reviewers say

• James Tocchio, Casual Photophile (blog) — Against the Minolta XD-11 he has also used, the R5 is far sturdier, with denser plates, surer controls and covering that lasts, and adds program mode and spot metering; he praises the exposure-compensation control and the big finder, wishes for a nicer advance and depth-of-field lever, and recommends it to anyone happy with a battery-dependent automatic SLR, pointing those who want a mechanical camera to the R6. single source, unconfirmed

History

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

Live listings

• Leica R5 Black — HK$2,800.00 · LSKamera
• USATO Leica R5 — €350.00 · Sabatini Fotografia

Listings updated 2026-11-09. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.