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So far my M6 experience


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I purchased in January my first Leica camera after using M mount lenses with adapter for several years on my mirrorless camera. Since I am more leaning towards B&W photography, I wanted to try a Leica rangefinder camera. I pretty quickly decided to go for a film-based M camera since I still have my own darkroom and can develop my own B&W film. I further narrowed down my choices by deciding for an in-camera light meter. Full manual was fine for me, and a camera which does not rely to work with a battery plus the well established reputation of the series made me choose the M6 (the non TTL model since I don't do a lot of flash photography). I purchased an used black M6 in very good shape manufactured in 1995 with 0.72x viewfinder.

 

Since then I have used this camera very often - upfront I really like to work with it. There are some pros and cons which I thought are worthwhile to share from my experience.

 

 

PROS

 

+ Great to see more than just the 100% view in the viewfinder. I find it easier to compose with the M6 than with any of my (D)SLRs or mirrorless cameras mostly due to seeing around and outside the framelines.

 

+ Focusing: Coming from (D)SLR and mirrorless, I needed first to get used to focus on the small focus rectangle in the middle of the frame - of course I overlooked it a few times in the beginning and forgot to focus accurately, but lesson learned! I am using my M6 mostly between 21 and 50 mm focal length - the focusing is very precise and indeed faster compared to using the same M lenses on my mirrorless Sony A7R body where it takes me longer to focus with the magnification tool in EVF.

 

+ Use of color filters for B&W photography: something which really annoyed me with SLRs and mirrorless cameras that I had to look through the lens with a dark yellow or red filter attached or remove the filter first, compose, and then re-attach the filter. With the rangefinder camera, it doesn't make a difference, I only see the difference in the exposure value. The viewfinder stays clear as always. For B&W film photography, this is a huge advantage!

 

+ Overall camera size: The M6 with M lenses is a very inconspicuous looking setup. During my shootings with this camera, only very few people asked me about the camera but more in the context of shooting film. The camera blends well in and does make it look like a P&S camera.

 

+ Built style of the M6: It is extremely well built. I like the full metal body with limited amount of plastic parts. Well balanced weight-wise with my M lenses, too.

 

+ Very silent shutter: at least compared to all of my other cameras which all have a mechanical shutter. Adds nicely to the silent and inconspicuous work possible with this camera.

 

+ External viewfinder: some might rather add this point into the cons section, but I see it as a positive for me so far. I am often using my 21 mm lens on the M6, so I bought the newer Voigtlander 21/25 external viewfinder. It is very bright, allows quite accurate composition. I even use the 21/25 external viewfinder with my CV 12/5.6 lens - using the hard borders of the viewfinder instead of the 21 mm frame lines, gives by accident exactly the view of the 12 mm lens. I got very quickly used to focus and expose through the regular camera viewfinder and then compose by looking through the external viewfinder. In dim light, the bright 21/25 viewfinder is really an advantage.

 

+ Film frame exposures: Since everything is done manually, I was always able to get 38-39 frames with a commercial 36 exposure film. Not bad!

 

+ No battery changes: sure, at some point the batteries also need to be changed to allow the light meter to function, but compared to my other digital cameras this is nothing. No need to be afraid to have Li batteries drained quickly in the cold etc.....you simply shoot and shoot with the M6.

 

 

 

CONS (not only M6 related but also M rangefinder in general):

 

- Comparing the film roll insertion with my older Canon FTb SLR, it still takes me longer to do this with the M6. I find the tricky part is to get the film straight laid out from left to right after it is inserted. The manual states that the user shouldn't be too picky about this, so I once added the film more quickly without doing those precautions. After I developed the film, the first three frames had a slight diagonally angled bent because the film wasn't winded straight between cassette and roller. Nevertheless, the film was moved correctly, so the rolling mechanics worked reliably as promised. But I still find the film change harder to do with the M6 compared to my film SLR cameras - especially in the field. I might simply need more time to get fully used to this.

 

- I am often rolling my own film from a 100 feet roll which means that I have to precut the corner of the film to make it work with the roller mechanism. Here the M6 is a bit picky I found - if I cut the edge too much or too less, the camera didn't wind the film correctly from the beginning. After some try and error I found now the "best" size for the film cutout, now it works smoothly.

 

- A stupid error, but it still happened to me several times - leaving the lens cap on the lens and not realizing that it was still on. You get the idea if the light meter always shows an underexposure... ;). As (D)SLR/mirrorless user, I am so used to look through the lens directly.

 

- Using polarizer filter: Tricky but workable. I adjusted to imagine the desired effect with the polarizer filter by turning it into a position where the camera light meter shows a 1 stop underexposure (fully closed polarizer). Then the effect is strongest, by turning the filter a bit out of this position, I got the desired moderate polarizer effect in the photo.

 

- The rangefinder patch blank-out: In another post here I described my homemade solution to overcome this issue. I personally found it quite annoying when the focus rectangle suddenly shifted into a reddish color in the viewfinder and focusing was blanked out. You need to compose into another area and recompose, or roll the camera to make it work again.

 

- Fingerprints: again something simple but worthwhile mentioning. I normally grab the camera on the top when I take it out of my camera bag. On the M6, I often directly touch with my finger(s) the viewfinder window on the upper left camera side. The rangefinder view is very sensitive to smudge on this window. I got used to always carry a clean microfiber cloth with me to clean this window if needed.

 

- Dual/multiple exposure: I got it to work with the M6, but it is a fairly cumbersome procedure, and you will lose about two frames before and after the double exposure to allow for the correct film winding. And even then, it is sort of luck to overlay two frames fairly accurately onto each other. I only tested this once so far and maybe it is getting better by doing it more often.

 

I really enjoy my rangefinder experience so far! Down to the basics and makes me more to focus just on the compositional aspect. Would you agree - what was your experience with the M6 (and maybe other M cameras according to the context above)?

 

Martin

Edited by Martin B
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January to May: great learning curve, Martin!

Who says, only digital makes for fast progress :)

 

But you've been obviously using SLRs and P&S cams for quite sometime before.

Which ones if I may ask?

 

PS: every user of a digicam on a copystand instead of a scanner is a step towards the future. There are Apo-Rodagons and other highly specialized repro lenses and at the same time chips in digicams are more powerful and less costy year after year ( while they stay in the secure home/studio.)

At the same time taking photos on film makes for a great experience, also for the happy models (and for the buget of the photographers). The resulting photos will never be a matter of software-tweaks from digital cameras - that can not deliver "the look" but will always deliver distinctively classical pictures, as only film can do.

 

So it is a joy to see your results.

Edited by tri
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January to May: great learning curve, Martin!

Who says, only digital makes for fast progress :)

 

But you've been obviously using SLRs and P&S cams for quite sometime before.

Which ones if I may ask?

 

 

Thanks :)! Yes, I started with photography in 1985 (so yes, I am experienced but still learning!). My first SLR was a Pentax camera with M42 lens fit (I don't remember the model), then the Canon FTb and the EOS 500 (Rebel X). The only P&S camera which I used was my first digital camera in 2002, the Sony DSC-P5 (also still have this 3MP camera, its lens is superb). In digital I moved then from a Canon Rebel XT to the Canon 5D MkII, and switched to Sony mirrorless with the A7R two years ago. 

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PS: every user of a digicam on a copystand instead of a scanner is a step towards the future. There are Apo-Rodagons and other highly specialized repro lenses and at the same time chips in digicams are more powerful and less costy year after year ( while they stay in the secure home/studio.)

At the same time taking photos on film makes for a great experience, also for the happy models (and for the buget of the photographers). The resulting photos will never be a matter of software-tweaks from digital cameras - that can not deliver "the look" but will always deliver distinctively classical pictures, as only film can do.

 

So it is a joy to see your results.

 

Thanks again - one reason for me is the larger tonal latitude which you are getting with film. Expressed in the zone system, B&W film is defined in zones from 0 (darkest) to 11 (brightest) - practically more from 1 to 10 - whereas any kind of digital sensor only works well between 3 to 7 in comparison. Film follows a S-shape tonal latitude/DR curve whereas digital is strictly linear with cutoffs in the very dark and bright. Practically I see this difference because so far I never needed to bracket with B&W film for example. I can clearly tell especially from landscape photos with film in B&W.  

 

But we need to be careful when digitizing film negatives - even the tonal latitude in the negative is much better, we again apply a linear latitude on it by digitizing it (so a bit of post processing is needed to make up for it). Best is to directly print from the negative - best contrast and DR is maintained this way in B&W.

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I have a 13356 Universal polarizer and have found it to be worth the cost.  They can be found in excellent condition for about half of the list price by checking KEH, B&H, the big auction site and ads on this forum.  The advantage is you can see the effect and dial in the amount of polarization you desire.  Plus it is just about one of the greatest Leica gizmos.  

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I have a 13356 Universal polarizer and have found it to be worth the cost.  They can be found in excellent condition for about half of the list price by checking KEH, B&H, the big auction site and ads on this forum.  The advantage is you can see the effect and dial in the amount of polarization you desire.  Plus it is just about one of the greatest Leica gizmos.  

 

Thanks for this useful hint! But I most often use a polarizer on my CV 21/1.8 lens which has a 58mm filter thread diameter. 

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If you look in this thread there is a lengthy discussion about loading the camera including a video or two.  The rangefinder patch flare is also a popular topic touching on a variety of fixes from DIY to professional upgrades.  It's been a while since I owned or used a M6 Classic but with the TTL the central dot, which indicates proper exposure, will blink if the lens cap is still on.  Enjoy the journey with your M6.

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I bought my M6 in1985, as a companion to the M4 I got in1968. I still ended up using the M4 more, and then a leaked battery and curtain brake issue, and I put it aside for years. I had it serviced about 5 years ago, which fixed the issues, and I again found I loved the way the meter worked. However, then I noticed the RF flare issue that I hadn't noticed when new. I didn't consider it a significant problem, but finally decided to have DAG upgrade the finder with flare fix and multicoated windows. (Although DAG indicated the multi coating wasn't significant, I figured I'd wonder about it if I didn't do it then.) 

End result: the finder is excellent - well worth the upgrade cost.

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  • 4 weeks later...

HI Martin, I recently bought an M6 too. I have leica's for a couple of years now because I wanted the highest quality (lenses) in the most compact shape: X1 and M9. Then when I decided to move to films and after trying some camera slr and range finders, I pick up a nice M6. As you I am very pleased with it but some things can be better:

- The blind patch issue: There, apart from upgrading, nothing better than trying to recompose the shot...

- I would add auto exposure. I find it really useful on the M9. I miss it sometimes on the M6 but I try guessing exposure before the shoot, setting aperture and speed in advance. Working with iso 100 or 400, I am starting to improve this.

 

For the moment I am really happy with the nice shutter sound and the magic of discovering the freshly developed rolls, hanging in the bathroom :-) So enjoy the gears but mainly the pictures you take with.

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HI Martin, I recently bought an M6 too. I have leica's for a couple of years now because I wanted the highest quality (lenses) in the most compact shape: X1 and M9. Then when I decided to move to films and after trying some camera slr and range finders, I pick up a nice M6. As you I am very pleased with it but some things can be better:

- The blind patch issue: There, apart from upgrading, nothing better than trying to recompose the shot...

- I would add auto exposure. I find it really useful on the M9. I miss it sometimes on the M6 but I try guessing exposure before the shoot, setting aperture and speed in advance. Working with iso 100 or 400, I am starting to improve this.

 

For the moment I am really happy with the nice shutter sound and the magic of discovering the freshly developed rolls, hanging in the bathroom :-) So enjoy the gears but mainly the pictures you take with.

 

Yes, I used my M6 quite a bit in the past few days and shot a few rolls of film which I need to develop later. The blind patch happens sporadically - rotating the camera and recomposing is the best solution. I am using auto exposure on all my digital cameras - facilitates things a bit. I am still sometimes rotating the exposure time reel on the M6 in the wrong direction when I want to adjust exposure time with the chosen aperture on the lens. Minor issues!

 

Shutter sound is the best of all my cameras which I currently own - very silent. I used it on a few event occasions, and none of the attendees hears the camera taking a shot. And the image quality is simply outstanding!

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I prefer the M4 and had the M6 classic (loved it, BTW, sold it and an M9 to finance buying a Q) ..... of all the things you noted on the cons the only one that won't go away as you get used to the camera is the flare. If I were to get an M6 again, I would have someone put in the newer MP (MA) viewfinder.... enjoy, great camera because the only limitation becomes you :-)

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