New Leica M6 Film Camera

[ianman]

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5 hours ago, Huss said:

Leica is the leader because everyone else quit. Who else could be the leader? Nikon? Canon? Even Cosina quit.

Again, that was the point being made!

[ianman]

1 minute ago, logan2z said:

Did anyone expect Leica to come out with a line of cheaper lenses?  Well they did and... Oh right, never mind.  

I don’t know about lenses. All I heard about this camera from He Who Must Not Be Named over 12 months ago was exactly what we are seeing glimpses of now. And at the time he wrote that the camera would not be substantially if at all cheaper than the MP/M-A. Hence my short answer. But TBH even before that I never believed a much cheaper new film M would come to pass.

[willeica]

 

11 hours ago, derleicaman said:

I’ll be in Wetzlar for the COP and LOBA (Celebration of Photography and Leica Oskar Barnack Awards) in 10 days. I will report on events there. Stay tuned!

You might hear about it in Dublin, Bill. I have Stefan Daniel programmed to speak to our conference attendees next Friday evening. 

Where I live, these are all the go with the under 30s. Every time I go into the shop, which used to be the Leica dealer in Dublin, I see a young person buying one of these.

https://connscameras.ie/cameras-photo/agfaphoto-reuseable-red-35mm-film-camera/4250255104237/52976/

They are available in red, brown and black with the popularity running in the same order. Almost every week I get an email from Lomography offering a new camera model. They seem to sell them like vaping kits in different colours and flavours.

Andy (Adan) would not regard these as 'serious cameras', but they are what the 'next generation' are using in addition to their phones. Is there such a thing as a 'non serious' or even a 'flippant' camera? Instant cameras are also popular and seem to sell to the same youth demographic. 

William 

 

[logan2z]

6 minutes ago, ianman said:

I don’t know about lenses. All I heard about this camera from He Who Must Not Be Named over 12 months ago was exactly what we are seeing glimpses of now. And at the time he wrote that the camera would not be substantially if at all cheaper than the MP/M-A. Hence my short answer. But TBH even before that I never believed a much cheaper new film M would come to pass.

Right, I was just making a little joke about Leica's foray into cheaper lenses - and we all know how well that turned out. 

If Leica's goal is to tap into the renewed interest in film cameras by younger photographers who can't shell out $5K for an M-A/MP, then a cheaper film camera makes sense.  Although as some have pointed out in this thread, that would likely not be an M camera.  But if Leica's goal is to grab some cash in the short-term from hardcore collectors, then another M6 special edition or something like it is more probable.

I hope they announce something soon, the suspense is killing me. 

[ianman]

6 minutes ago, logan2z said:

Right, I was just making a little joke about Leica's foray into cheaper lenses - and we all know how well that turned out. 

Ah sorry. I don’t follow the lens news much as I have all I need/want.

[madNbad]

Leica did enough market research to lay the path for a new film camera and we'll all know shortly where it led. There is still a small but strong group of buyers for film cameras and as many new users are finding out, cameras from the secondary market are getting older but often need service which is often hard to find. There's a spot for something better than a Lomo but much less expensive than the MP, somewhere in the 800-1500 Euro/Pound/ USD range. That is not coming from Leica and certainly not from Canon or Nikon. There is a new generation showing an interest in film photography, hopefully it will stick around.

[verwackelt]

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I wish Zeiss would relaunch their Ikon

[JimmyCheng]

Having so many fast lenses out there, my only wish is Leica could launch two film bodies: 1 with fully electronic shutter that goes up to 1/4000sec, auto mode like M7; 1 with mechanical shutter that goes up to 1/2000sec and purely mechanical like early m3/m2s.

[MarkP]

5 hours ago, willeica said:

 

 Every time I go into the shop, which used to be the Leica dealer in Dublin, I see a young person buying one of these.

https://connscameras.ie/cameras-photo/agfaphoto-reuseable-red-35mm-film-camera/4250255104237/52976/

They are available in red, brown and black with the popularity running in the same order. Almost every week I get an email from Lomography offering a new camera model. They seem to sell them like vaping kits in different colours and flavours.

 

“which can be loaded with your choice of Colour or Black&White 35mm film over and over again.”

great idea. Who would have thought on could have a reusable camera? 😁

[ianman]

It seems quite different here. The younger people are not particularly interested in the new agfas or other brands. I was talking to a couple of camera shop owners last summer and they could not get enough Nikon, Pentax, Olympus, etc. bodies to supply the demand. They were also selling the single use Ilfords and other brands like hot cakes. These, as any camera, can give great results. One of the shop owners told me he had approx 10.000 rolls of film on order. He cannot keep up with demand. Of course Kodak shutting down production due to covid didn’t help, but still demand is growing.

[Huss]

4 hours ago, ianman said:

It seems quite different here...

Where is "here"?  You do not have location next to your name.

[willeica]

14 hours ago, MarkP said:

“which can be loaded with your choice of Colour or Black&White 35mm film over and over again.”

great idea. Who would have thought on could have a reusable camera? 😁

Eastman and his team did.  In the late 19th Century, at first you had to send the camera back to Kodak who reloaded it, but then they came up with the bright idea that you could sell film packages to photographers. Another person, who does not get the status that he deserves, was Dr August Nagel, who sold his German company to Kodak and then developed the non reusable 35mm cassette for the Kodak Retina. Leica had been developing the FILCA cassettes and faffing around with Agfa on the Agfa-Leitz cassette, but they  eventually found that the key to long term success lay with the Nagel/Kodak creation.

The orthodox theology around here is that Barnack created the success of 35mm film, and that is to a certain extent correct, but these efforts would not have created the dominance of 35mm film without the inventiveness shown by Nagel and Kodak and, indeed, many others.

William 

[MarkP]

Seriously though, if that Agfa helps get people into film photography that’s great. But then there’s  only Lomo and then a huge jump to Leica (new or second hand) for new film cameras so I agree that there is a big hole in the middle of the new film camera market. We may soon see what the price of entry is with the new Leica but certainly too expensive for most.  Even ignoring the second hand market, there are certainly plenty of options in the middle with respect lenses from Zeiss’ and Voigtlander’s excellent offerings. I’m somewhat surprised Voigtlander doesn’t dip it’s feet back into the market.  However, I’m sure all these companies have done their research as to what is financially viable.

Looking on eBay there are plenty of excellent and very affordable film cameras and lenses from  the major manufacturers.   I agree that these are very popular now and pushing prices up.

But they’re still cheap enough to be replaced or repaired.  This will obviously change over time as these are now all getting older…

I got two of my nephews into photography a few years ago (couldn’t interest my kids unfortunately as they stand to inherit a significant amount of prime Leica equipment). Both now in their late 20s. One we bought a film CL and 40 Voigtlander as a birthday present (to which he’s added a 4/90) and the other has a Fuji digital system and added a Leicaflex and 2/35 Summicron-R.  They both still shoot film.  The nephew with the Leicaflex just told me he just came back from overseas and only shot film!

[adan]

6 hours ago, willeica said:

The orthodox theology around here is that Barnack created the success of 35mm film, and that is to a certain extent correct, but these efforts would not have created the dominance of 35mm film without the inventiveness shown by Nagel and Kodak and, indeed, many others.

Quite right. What Barnack did was to design the organization of a 35mm camera, which rapidly became the universal layout.

Horizontal format and film travel, film spools either side of the shutter chamber, viewfinder on top, most dials and levers on top, lens slightly offset to left (seen from shooting position) to accommodate the shutter clockwork module.

There have been a few exceptions - http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Rolleiflex_SL2000F - but even 100 years later, in completely digital cameras with no film and no spools, the essential layout is still almost universally what Barnack created.

[willeica]

1 hour ago, adan said:

Quite right. What Barnack did was to design the organization of a 35mm camera, which rapidly became the universal layout.

Horizontal format and film travel, film spools either side of the shutter chamber, viewfinder on top, most dials and levers on top, lens slightly offset to left (seen from shooting position) to accommodate the shutter clockwork module.

There have been a few exceptions - http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Rolleiflex_SL2000F - but even 100 years later, in completely digital cameras with no film and no spools, the essential layout is still almost universally what Barnack created.

I agree, but the concept of film and film on rolls with numbered frames predated Barnack’s innovations. Barnack, however, contributed more than just the form factors. The two curtain shutter was one, but it built on developments by the likes of Thornton Pickard , which dated from the 19th Century. Standardised interchangeable lenses for focal plane shutter cameras were largely his creations, but, of course, cameras with lens boards and leaf shutters also had interchangeability.
 

There is an interesting story to be told about the point at which the between the lenses shutters were finally replaced by focal plane shutters. While both existed before WWII, it was not until the 1950s that the dominance of the focal plane shutter really took off. Interchangeability and the SLR were two of the features which finally put the focal plane on top. While Barnack brought about tremendous innovations, I would also rank many others such as Eastman, Thornton, Deckel, Nagel and many others, including the folks at Zeiss of whom Barnack was one. 
 

Barnack was a genius, but it would be wrong to say that he was working in a vacuum. There were many others who must be recognised in order to get a full picture.

William

[logan2z]

Just received this in a Leica Store San Francisco email blast.  Could it be?

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!

[Danner]

4 minutes ago, logan2z said:

Just received this in a Leica Store San Francisco email blast.  Could it be?

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!

It's not nothing. 

Tic-tic-tic...

[caymanlawyer]

Oh...going by that diagram it will be a re-issue of the LTM cameras. Yes please!, I would definitely buy a new LTM. 

[andrew01]

Not just any LTM, it’s a reissue of the Ur-Leica!  

 

The hipsters are going to love this!  Special price $8000?

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[BradS]

Geeez, I really hope, if they actually do release a new film camera, that it is something reasonably priced and useful and not just more useless, expensive techno jewelry.

Edited October 9, 2022 by BradS