Was original M6 supplied with accessory shoe cover?

[ironringer]

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Almost all pictures I see of M6 cameras show no accessory shoe cover. Was the original M6 (NOT the new version) ever supplied new with this plastic cover? Is there an "original Leica" accessory shoe cover for the original M6? The M6 instruction book does not show a part number for an accessory shoe cover.

 

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[madNbad]

Try this thread: https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/330738-mp-hot-shoe-cover/?_fromLogin=1

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[250swb]

No, accessory shoe covers were only introduced during the current 'age of obsession', when Leica cameras ceased to be a camera but an object of veneration. I'd say it ranges from the M240 to the present day. The accessory shoe cover is pretty much and always has been entirely pointless and an obsessional thing in itself, it does nothing, it helps nothing, it gets lost so it becomes nothing.

Edited November 28, 2022 by 250swb

[lct]

1 hour ago, ironringer said:

Is there an "original Leica" accessory shoe cover for the original M6?

Never seen this but i come from an era when protection was for sissies not for real Leica men. Now we have protecting filters and even hood caps protecting the hood that protects the filter that protects the lens . 

[earleygallery]

Just don't touch the metal circle part of the hot shoe when you take a photo and there is never a problem. Obviously if you were to touch it you would die, but it's only ever happened a couple of times.

[madNbad]

So in the days of carrying a fifty volt battery pack on your belt to run a flash that had enough discharge voltage to cause an electromagnetic pulse, the idea of a hot shoe cover wasn’t on anyone’s mind. Move to the digital age along with needing a clean room to change a lens, a hot shoe cover is necessary in case of drizzle or even high humidity.

[Jean-Michel]

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To the OP.: None of my film Ms came with a flash or hot shoe cover. Simply unnecessary. 

I just trade-in my M6, including the original presentation box to a Montreal dealer. If curious, send me a note.

[jukka]

56 minutes ago, madNbad said:

the idea of a hot shoe cover wasn’t on anyone’s mind. Move to the digital age along with needing a clean room to change a lens, a hot shoe cover is necessary in case of drizzle or even high humidity.

Well, I’m no electrician but this might have to do with visoflex, and who knows what equal gadgetry, that needs sensitive contacts.

[lct]

There was nothing electric in Visoflex housings in the film days. EVFs would be a more serious reasons to protect electric contacts nowadays. 

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[romualdo]

50 minutes ago, lct said:

There was nothing electric in Visoflex housings in the film days. EVFs would be a more serious reasons to protect electric contacts nowadays. 

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I presume he was referring to the contemporary electronic visoflex

[lct]

21 minutes ago, romualdo said:

I presume he was referring to the contemporary electronic visoflex

With the M6?

[romualdo]

3 hours ago, lct said:

With the M6?

Aren't they referring to contemporary leicas (since M240) including digital & not just the M6

[ironringer]

Interesting discussion, and thank you everyone for your comments. I have learned that the original M6, and earlier Ms, were not supplied with a hot or accessory shoe cover. As an engineer (with experiences of operating problems often coming from the "interfaces"), I thought a plastic cover would be a good idea to protect the small "hot shoe" contacts. However Leica did not think it was necessary.

For my newly-acquired M6 (wish I had bought one 4 years ago, before prices doubled) I will find a generic hot shoe cover; perhaps one with a bubble level that may occasionally be useful.

 

[wattsy]

5 hours ago, romualdo said:

Aren't they referring to contemporary leicas (since M240) including digital & not just the M6

Correct but I think LCT and others are being deliberately obtuse. The M6 clearly never came with a hotshoe cover and I agree with the general feeling of contempt for the idea but the recent Leica fashion for these covers started, I think, with digital cameras like the M240. These cameras have an open socket for the EVF accessory and the hotshoe cover essentially acts as the cover for this open socket. Of course, Leica could have plugged this hole with something smaller like the traditional PC socket cover but they chose a solution that they might have considered more elegant and is probably less likely to fall out and be lost. (Where the Leica solution to this problem falls down is if someone uses a non-EVF accessory on the camera – eg. a flash or optical viewfinder – thereby exposing the open socket to the elements.)

Edited November 29, 2022 by wattsy

[Matlock]

13 minutes ago, wattsy said:

Correct but I think LCT and others are being deliberately obtuse. The M6 clearly never came with a hotshoe cover and I agree with the general feeling of contempt for the idea but the recent Leica fashion for these covers started, I think, with digital cameras like the M240. These cameras have an open socket for the EVF accessory and the hotshoe cover essentially acts as the cover for this open socket. Of course, Leica could have plugged this hole with something smaller like the traditional PC socket cover but they chose a solution that they might have considered more elegant and is probably less likely to fall out and be lost. (Where the Leica solution to this problem falls down is if someone uses a non-EVF accessory on the camera – eg. a flash or optical viewfinder – thereby exposing the open socket to the elements.)

The M10 onwards have EVF contacts buried deep within the front of the hotshoe so are never exposed when flash or optical finder fitted. As several people have found it essential to keep these contacts clean so the cover is necessary when the hotshoe is not in use.

[wattsy]

6 minutes ago, Matlock said:

The M10 onwards have EVF contacts buried deep within the front of the hotshoe so are never exposed when flash or optical finder fitted. As several people have found it essential to keep these contacts clean so the cover is necessary when the hotshoe is not in use.

Sounds like a good solution to the problem. My experience of Leica M digital has stalled at the M240 generation.

[Matlock]

17 minutes ago, wattsy said:

Sounds like a good solution to the problem. My experience of Leica M digital has stalled at the M240 generation.

Yes the contact layout took a step forward with the M10 onwards (I have a M10D and M10R but still use more film than digital).

[lct]

11 hours ago, lct said:

EVFs would be a more serious reasons to protect electric contacts nowadays. 

1 hour ago, wattsy said:

LCT and others are being deliberately obtuse [...]

There were the same reasons, or lack thereof, to protect hot shoes on my M4 in the seventies, my M4-2 in the eighties or my M6J in the nineties as there are today on the new M6, or am i missing something? EVfs, that i mentioned above, are another story.

[wattsy]

2 minutes ago, lct said:

There were the same reasons, or lack thereof, to protect hot shoes on my M4 in the seventies, my M4-2 in the eighties or my M6J in the nineties as there are today on the new M6, or am i missing something? EVfs, that i mentioned above, are another story.

I don't think you are missing anything. There doesn't seem to be any reason for a hotshoe cover on a film M.

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[Matlock]

13 minutes ago, wattsy said:

I don't think you are missing anything. There doesn't seem to be any reason for a hotshoe cover on a film M.

Exactly. There is a huge difference between the hotshoe flash contacts and the extremely vulnerable EVF contacts on Digital cameras.