Body Decisions

[ColColt]

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As much as I loved the Pentax 6x7 and made a partial living with it in the mid 90's, it was battery dependent so you carried a spare 6v battery when you were doing a wedding-great insurance. I still don't like battery dependent cameras, nonetheless. If it only powers a meter that's one thing but the entire camera is a no-no for me.

[sc_rufctr]

Just my opinion but I'd aim for an R6.2 because if you ever decide to get out of it you'd at least get your money back. I adore mine and it feels very "M" ish in use.

The R7 is a real work horse. If future resale doesn't matter, they present great value for money.

 

The older bodies are great but they're all getting long in the tooth. Do you want to be taking picture or paying for repairs?

 

Also, are you not tempted by a good R8 or R9? These really are amongst the best SLRs Leica ever made.

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[ColColt]

From all I've read, the R6 and R6.2 appears to be the better of the lot of the older bodies. The R8 and R9 doesn't appeal to me at all...no eye candy. Moreover, I don't care for all the electronics.

[wildlightphoto]

The R6 and R6.2 are very nice.  The electronics are limited to the light meter, the flash sync and the self timer.  A word of caution re: the smaller R bodies is the tripod mount.  It's attached directly to the camera's main casting and when stressed excessively will break the casting.  In contrast the tripod mount of the Leicaflexes is attached to a small sub-frame which acts as the weak link if stressed to the breaking point.  Replacing a Leicaflex sub-frame with a part from a donor camera is trivial for a qualified repair technician. Replacing the main casting of an R body involves a search of ebay or the forum classifieds for a replacement camera.

[cpclee]

The R6.2 was my primary camera for 10 years and boy did I love that camera.  There is nothing particularly remarkable about its design or concept; it's just a very solid, well built body.  It went in for service twice, once for a dead meter cell or something like that and the other time was when the film advance mechanism was stuck.  Like most fully mechanical cameras it's quite serviceable and when it breaks it's not catastrophic. 

 

I did also own an R9 during the last 2 of those years which I bought for use with the DMR.  I was initially not looking forward to it but it quickly changed my mind.  It is really well thought out in every detail and the build quality is a whole other level above any R bodies before it.  If I was get into the R system again today this would be the body I pick up.

[AB007]

I mostly use my Leicaflexes as compared to my R6.2 or R8. I understand your concern about the battery issue. I have been using Wein Cell batteries on my Leicaflexes. When I sent my SL MOT to DAG for CLA 3 years back, I didn't do the conversion to 1.5V. The Leicaflexes has a much better focusing screen. The R8's viewfinder is great too somehow I like the mechanical feel of the Leicaflexes. 

[jip]

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I love the R8, but ofcourse it's not mechanical...  

[finarphin]

I thought I'd take a chance and jump in to this thread, as a new user, since I'm also considering buying a Leica single lens reflex camera.  A film camera.  I've tried many different makes and models of camera -- and achieved better or poorer results with all of them -- but the one thing I'm interested in now is how it feels to use.  Of course that's very subjectve, but there are two parameters that stand out:

 

1.  Can I hold it in my left hand?

 

2.  Can I see THE WHOLE FRAME when I look through the viewfinder?  And perhaps I should add, does what I see through the viewfinder exactly match what the film is going to see?

 

Number two is the really important one.  I've actually never had an SLR camera where that was true, although once, at Crater Lake, some Japanese tourists asked me to take a picture of them with their camera, which was some kind of fancy-looking Nikon (film) camera -- must have been in the 1990s -- and it did show the whole frame.  My Miranda D shows almost all of it, enough so that I don't have to move my eyeball to check the corners.  I'm interested in better lenses, however.

 

So, does a Leica R6 show the whole frame?

 

Thank you.

Edited July 30, 2015 by finarphin

[tobey bilek]

In addition, the depth of field  preview gets really sticky and is a difficult fix.

 

 

 

They do not show full image size.   No sl or R cameras do.  R8 and 9 ??

Edited August 1, 2015 by jaapv

[LeicaBraz]

The R6/R6.2 viewfinder's area is 92 pct of frame size whilst that of the R8 is 93 pct.