What is the cheapest used Minolta CLE in the UK?

The cheapest used Minolta CLE currently listed is £567.70 at eBay, based on 4 listings compared across 1 UK retailers.

How many used Minolta CLE are for sale in the UK?

There are currently 4 used Minolta CLE listings available across 1 UK retailers on UsedLens, updated daily.

Used Minolta CLE for Sale — From £568

£567.70 Low price

£1461.95 High price

4 Listings

1 Retailers

1 New this week

2 Reduced

Great for: 35mm rangefinder photography street photography travel collecting Leica M lens users

Minolta's 1980 compact Leica M-mount rangefinder — developed after the Leica CL collaboration.

The Minolta CLE, released in 1980, is a compact Leica M-mount rangefinder Minolta developed after its Leica CL collaboration ended — and for over two decades it was technologically the most advanced M-mount body anyone made.

It offers aperture-priority autoexposure with off-the-film TTL metering — the first M-mount camera with either — plus TTL flash control, an electronically timed shutter to 1/1000, and a bright 0.58x finder with 28/40/90mm framelines matching its M-Rokkor 28mm f/2.8, 40mm f/2 and 90mm f/4 lenses, all in a body smaller and lighter than any Leica M of its day. Its quirk: the meter only works in AE mode, with no metered manual.

Its significance is considerable — it beat Leica to auto-exposure in M mount by over 20 years (until the M7), and it remains a coveted small platform for Leica glass, which explains UK asking prices of £1.1k-£1.3k for good bodies and strong premiums for kits with M-Rokkor lenses.

UK used-buying checks: the electronics are the whole story — the shutter is fully battery-dependent and the CLE's circuit boards are effectively unrepairable when they fail, so test with fresh SR44 cells that every speed fires and the finder LEDs respond; check the notorious shutter-release touch-switch responds consistently (a known flaky point); confirm rangefinder patch alignment vertically and at infinity; inspect 28mm framelines for haze; and note very few UK technicians will service a CLE, so a recent CLA receipt from a known specialist materially justifies a higher price. If offered with the M-Rokkor 40mm f/2, check its glass for the coating marks common on this lens.