pico Posted January 8, 2016 Share #41 Posted January 8, 2016 Advertisement (gone after registration) Sometimes the virtue of old things/material comes back in modern design. I went back to a steel frame (modern design) bicycle that weighs just under 18lb - around 8Kg (it's a fixie with proper brakes front and rear) and the steel frame ride is so much better than CF on rough roads. My bicycle: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=280842481938692&l=d576108ac3 I envy you for being able to use those bars. I added flat bars. BTW, I had a wake-up call on an old Raleigh a relative left me. The frame broke! Rust had invaded the inside of the tubes. Sheesh! The thing was only 50 years old! I'll never buy a Raleigh again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted January 8, 2016 Posted January 8, 2016 Hi pico, Take a look here Why not the whole M body in aluminium?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
jmahto Posted January 8, 2016 Share #42 Posted January 8, 2016 I envy you for being able to use those bars. I added flat bars. BTW, I had a wake-up call on an old Raleigh a relative left me. The frame broke! Rust had invaded the inside of the tubes. Sheesh! The thing was only 50 years old! I'll never buy a Raleigh again. Yes. Rust is a problem. My frame is sprayed inside the tube to prevent rust. It also has drain holes in the bottom bracket if water seeps in. BTW, I like the sit and beg bars as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted January 8, 2016 Share #43 Posted January 8, 2016 We aren't going back to the Zinc topplate of the M6 I hope! I lost confidence in my M when I stepped over to the M6 coming from M4 IIRC many M4s had a zinc top plate as well... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wattsy Posted January 8, 2016 Share #44 Posted January 8, 2016 IIRC many M4s had a zinc top plate as well... I don't think so. Zinc top plate appeared in later versions of the M4-P, M6 and most M6TTLs. All other M film cameras have a brass top plate. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted January 8, 2016 Share #45 Posted January 8, 2016 Well, M4-P then. In any case, I have a late M6 classic and I can say nothing against it, it is a fine camera. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Ricoh Posted January 8, 2016 Share #46 Posted January 8, 2016 slightly or greatly off topic, did any M6 Leicas have top and bottom brass plates? I keep considering a film Leica, but a) it must be brass, an b must have a light meter - through the lens. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted January 9, 2016 Share #47 Posted January 9, 2016 Advertisement (gone after registration) No regular brass top plate M6 cameras. Except for the Millennium Black Paint. In 2002 there was a small last series of brass top plate M6TTL cameras, with the M7 top plate. The bottom plate is always brass. Information No.: 61/2002 An alle Vertretungen / To all agencies "Die letzten 999 M6" / The last 999 M6 Jean-Jacques Viau / Product Manager Business Unit Systems / Tel. # 418 / Fax # 360 / Dear colleagues, We now would like to make things official: from the end of December [2002] on, we will stop delivering the LEICA M6 TTL! From January 2003, 1st on, the products with the order number 10436, 10466, 10474 and 10475 will not be available anymore. We will than be able to concentrate the capacity that we have on the very successful M7 cameras in order to best serve the orders that we have.. We would like to pay homage to the M6 myth by making a special series of the very last M6, which will leave Solms." Die letzten 999 M6" is a limited series of 999 M6 TTL bearing a special print "LEICA M6 1984 - 2002". The cameras will have a special serial number of the form 001/999. They will be delivered in a luxury wooden box with a black silk inlay and packaged in the new silver cardboard packaging. Each camera will come with a hand-signed certificate of both Mr. Cohn and Mr. Coenen. The following version are available: - 10542 M6 TTL "Die letzten 999 M6" black 0,58 - 10543 M6 TTL "Die letzten 999 M6" chrome 0,58 - 10544 M6 TTL "Die letzten 999 M6" black 0,85 - 10545 M6 TTL "Die letzten 999 M6" chrome 0,85 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Livingston Posted January 9, 2016 Share #48 Posted January 9, 2016 Wasn't there a special edition Leica M6 Millennium TTL made as a limited edition of 2000 black paint - with brass top and bottom plates. Something to do with LHSA Supposedly an M6 with TTL metering etc...but as close to a black M4 as possible in terms I'd appearance. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted January 9, 2016 Share #49 Posted January 9, 2016 See my post, the number was indeed 2000. It is hard to keep track of all the special editions of the M6, though. Sometimes one could think that the regular cameras are less common than the specials... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Livingston Posted January 9, 2016 Share #50 Posted January 9, 2016 Looks like I was writing my post as you were posting yours... That will teach me to watch TV and read the forum at the same time...I was answering one of your posts that now seems to have disappeared...where you were saying there wasn't a brass M6 AFIK... I was sure it was the one above mine... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 9, 2016 Share #51 Posted January 9, 2016 Since a wooden Leica was shown as the camera of the future on the last Photokina at Cologne, I would like to order a Leica with the grain of the Swiss stone pine (Pinus cembra). Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/255353-why-not-the-whole-m-body-in-aluminium/?do=findComment&comment=2965129'>More sharing options...
Bill Livingston Posted January 9, 2016 Share #52 Posted January 9, 2016 THAT is just hideous... I'm sure I saw one somewhere... Red Dot? Leica Mayfair? Its the sort of thing you would buy so no one else has to see it...! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted January 9, 2016 Share #53 Posted January 9, 2016 Looks like I was writing my post as you were posting yours... That will teach me to watch TV and read the forum at the same time...I was answering one of your posts that now seems to have disappeared...where you were saying there wasn't a brass M6 AFIK... I was sure it was the one above mine... No, half my post got lost when posting (iPhone ), so I had to edit. I had to move over to my Macbook to add the quote anyway. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Livingston Posted January 9, 2016 Share #54 Posted January 9, 2016 Quite an edit! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tobey bilek Posted January 9, 2016 Share #55 Posted January 9, 2016 My lightweight telephone slides all over my desk. My 1960 phone required a block and tackle to move. I like things that stay where I put them, Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ayewing Posted January 9, 2016 Share #56 Posted January 9, 2016 My lightweight telephone slides all over my desk. My 1960 phone required a block and tackle to move. I like things that stay where I put them, But I doubt if you carried your 1960 phone in your pocket. I would quite ike the next M to weigh the same as my M2. Archie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hepcat Posted January 9, 2016 Share #57 Posted January 9, 2016 Personally, I like the heft of the brass appointed M bodies. From a practical view, a bit heavier a body dampens normal human tremor. Everyone who has a heartbeat has a tremor to some degree. Even at my age I cannot fathom someone thinking a brass topped Leica M is too heavy. In fact, I add weight using a Rapidwinder (for film) and a grip and RRS base for the M9. Regarding the impression of weight as crudely made things - agreed. My impression is the same, but not for little things like a Leica M. I finally got a CF tripod and it is fantastic, a great relief. For fun and punishment I also have an old Detroit Welding bicycle. It is as heavy as its name suggests. I can hardly believe I grew up using it! When I last bought a CF bicycle, the sales fellow looked a bit surprised, walked to the back muttering "So Grandpa wants a racing bike." Hey, I'm not trying to trim my times. I'm old and just don't want a heavier bike!. But the brass appointed Leica is my friend. I see similar kinds of discussions on bicycle and recumbent bicycle forums... how much weight can I save with brand X tires... I can shave 20 grams with an X wheelset... And when it all comes together, they've saved two pounds over a production bike for a weight of 18 lbs vs. 20 lbs or 21 lbs. And it's been my experience that most folks who do that could just not do twenty-ounce curls for a week, save the cash on the beer and not spend the extra money on the super-lightweight parts and still have a bigger weight savings. Now, personally, I like black painted brass. I like the feel of it much better than, for example, black chrome on the zinc top plate of my M4-P. But as a picture-taker, it makes no difference at all what the camera is made of, as long as it's durable, works, and doesn't cost a bloody fortune. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fdotr Posted January 10, 2016 Share #58 Posted January 10, 2016 Make it unpainted carbon fiber body. The body can then be balanced by varying different weight bottom plate. Use the lightest base plate with 28 elmarit and heaviest one with 280 f/4. Everybody wins (and drools). (edit: I like the base plate. Make the rectangular battery cylindrical and spool shaped, the way batteries are supposed to be shaped. See AA, AAA, C, D ) +1 or a carbon fibre body Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencoyote Posted January 10, 2016 Share #59 Posted January 10, 2016 I see similar kinds of discussions on bicycle and recumbent bicycle forums... how much weight can I save with brand X tires... I can shave 20 grams with an X wheelset... And when it all comes together, they've saved two pounds over a production bike for a weight of 18 lbs vs. 20 lbs or 21 lbs. And it's been my experience that most folks who do that could just not do twenty-ounce curls for a week, save the cash on the beer and not spend the extra money on the super-lightweight parts and still have a bigger weight savings. Now, personally, I like black painted brass. I like the feel of it much better than, for example, black chrome on the zinc top plate of my M4-P. But as a picture-taker, it makes no difference at all what the camera is made of, as long as it's durable, works, and doesn't cost a bloody fortune. Agreed and I've known many weight weenie cyclists. Some of them apparently enjoy picking bike parts more than riding their bikes. I frequently go running and always hike with M in my right hand for those occasional "OMG that is cool" shots and so losing some weight would be something that I would appreciate. I do really like the idea of being able to buy up for lightness. Very much like Shimano Ultegra is good enough for practically every cyclist and will last a long time while Dura-Ace will last even longer and it only weighs 2/3 as much. That way if lightness matters to you, you can get it. I don't like it as much when things go the other way an example being using Zinc instead of Brass for the M6. That erodes the sense of high quality construction. Brass for people who want the classic painted brass. Aluminum for the people who want a lighter camera and don't care about the classic look of brassing Titanium for the people who want a harder more durable material than Aluminum and want an even lighter camera. The M-P crowd. In short I think Leica got it kind of backwards: M Typ 262 - the purist's M should have a brass top plate. These are for people who buy silver or black chrome lenses. M Typ 240 - should have the Aluminum top plate by default but a version with brass should be available in a la carte. and then: M-P Typ 240 - should have a Titanium top plate along with the sapphire glass, larger buffer, frameline selector and faster processor. This is the working pro's camera. This is the camera for the people who don't consider brassing a status symbol but rather an unfortunate fact of life due to normal wear and tear for their chosen work tool and appreciate lightness because they are going to be carrying the damn thing around every waking hour every single day for the next 10 years. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pico Posted January 10, 2016 Share #60 Posted January 10, 2016 Sometimes when I look at all the finishes and al a carte for Leicas I feel it is like dressing paper dolls. . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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