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.

Introduced in 1987 the R5 offered variable program mode and, more importantly, automatic TTL flash exposure measurement for the first time in a Leica camera along with control improvements of the R4s.

Flash metering required a second light receptor in the base and measured full field only off the film itself during exposure.

Other improvements included a faster shutter speed of 1/2000 s (compared to 1/1000 s on the R4) and a true high-eyepoint viewfinder with diopter correction.

The R-E was, like the earlier R4s, a lower cost reduced feature version with final assembly in Solms, Germany.

Aimed at professional photographers and significantly more expensive than the R5, the R6 depended on batteries only for two functions: exposure metering and the electronic self-timer, everything else could be used without power.