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Help! No one can fix my Leica M6 TTL light meter (not even Leica)


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Hi,

 

I would like to add one thing to also try which no one seems to mention anywhere on any searches of M6/M6 TTL meter issues. The meter requires the shutter to be in a cocked position and sometimes if wound too hard the meter will not work! 

That certainly was the case with my M6 and it was driving me crazy until it dawned on me and taking up the slack in the rewind crank and presto it worked! I can turn the meter "on" and "off" by applying a little pressure either to the wind on lever or the rewind crank.

 

I am not certain if this is standard with all M6s, and perhaps someone would like to try with theirs, however it is something definitely worth checking before sending away as it "fixed" my issue.

 

My CL is behaving a bit like this but I think it may be the MR-9 PX625 battery replacer. As well as fiddling around with the rewind crank and wind on crank, pressing the battery check button sometimes is bringing it to life. Also it was all rebuilt 18 months ago with particular emphasis on the metering by a very reputable Leica repairer, who found a number of dry solder joints, so rewired it all. I have had problems in the past with these regulated mercury battery replacers behaving erratically. 

 

Wilson

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  • 1 year later...

What I would do as last measure: take out the electronic print -or have it done- and send it to a print repair service. I have a good one in the Netherlands, but I am sure you can find one near to you. You have a good chance that they can refurbish the electronics, for a reasonable price too.

 

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6 minutes ago, jaapv said:

What I would do as last measure: take out the electronic print -or have it done- and send it to a print repair service. I have a good one in the Netherlands, but I am sure you can find one near to you. You have a good chance that they can refurbish the electronics, for a reasonable price too.

 

I am not sure If I understand what do you mean :-/

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Search for "electronics repair," not camera repair. Have a camera repair man take out the light meter electronics and have them repaired by an electronics specialist. These are a simple 1970ies design. It should not be difficult.

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Hello,

I had the same problem a long time ago ... In 2002 I bought a M6 TTL which broke down in 2004. Still under warranty I sent it to Solms where, after a long wait, they said me that it was not repairable!  To make me wait, they sent me an M7 proposing to keep it if I wanted, and as the MP was just released I prefer to get one for a few hundred euros in addition to the purchase price of my M6 TTL. Finally I made a good deal, I much prefer the MP!

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There seems to be a lot of paranoia about M6TTL meters. First, I have used mine constantly since 2001 with no trouble, Second, the camera will still be usable should the meter fail, and Third, as jaapv has pointed out, the meter is probably capable of being repaired even if not by Leica. 

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  • 3 months later...

I understand Alan Starkie of Cameraworks-UK.com was hoping to offer a repair service for M6 metering boards both Classic and TTL. I don't know what his current status on this is but it might be worth contacting him. When my M6TTL board died in the early 2000's, after a trip to the Caribbean, I  was told by the repairman at Leica UK (Nobby Clarke) that some of the boards had not been properly cleaned of flux after manufacture and, if they were subjected to any damp or condensation, which typically occurs when you go out of air-conditioning into a hot humid atmosphere as in the Caribbean, the damp and flux can then react leading to corrosion. At that time the TTL was repairable with a replacement board (not cheap!). I exchanged my repaired TTL for an M7, when it came back from repair. 

Wilson

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9 hours ago, Elliotbialick said:

Has any of you been able to find a resolution to your failed meter in either an M6 Classic or TTL? 

I do not think options are going to improve, I am afraid. The M6TTL (and M7) use a microcontroller chip that has been out of production for some years now. If there are no stocks of boards available, there is no viable way to make a repair.

The only option would be to design a new board around a more recent chipset. This could be done, and likely with a reasonable manufacturing cost even for a small run of boards. However, the work to design the board and firmware is non-trivial, and I doubt that there are enough M6 TTLs awaiting repair to justify the effort.

That said, working M6 TTLs  are pretty scarce, and prices are rising. A local dealer here is trying to sell a good condition M6 TTL for nearly 4000€ - completely insane.

The big advantage of the M6/MP is that the circuitry is much much simpler than the M6TTL/M7, and the cameras are much more commonly in use. Even if parts cease to be available, I am pretty sure someone will design replacement parts.

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It appears that the original poster and his M6 have been abducted by a UFO. 

For others with a similar challenge (the M6 light meter problem, that is), this suggestion from Anbaric sounds like your best hope for repair -

Quote

In another old (2007) thread over on photo.net, it's claimed that Sherry [Krauter] was replacing old M6 Classic circuit boards with MP boards:

https://www.photo.net/discuss/threads/m6-built-in-light-meter-dead.290963/

If Leica Wetzlar can't repair it, the smart money is on Sherry.

Edited by Herr Barnack
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10 hours ago, Herr Barnack said:

It appears that the original poster and his M6 have been abducted by a UFO. 

For others with a similar challenge (the M6 light meter problem, that is), this suggestion from Anbaric sounds like your best hope for repair -

If Leica Wetzlar can't repair it, the smart money is on Sherry.

Sherry is a bit long in the tooth. 

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