-fantastic design
-low weight
-all the material used to buit it

the price of all the lenses you may need

Keep in your mind with the leica M6 you always have to think what you are doing with it.

Similar Products Used:

Pentax
Canon EOS

Built like a tank. this is the sturdiest camera I've ever owned. The camera is portable, and the best camera for travel that you can buy. It works when the batteries die, something my N90S can't say. Lenses are very sharp and solid. Outstanding flash with
SF20, best I've ever used.

Unbelieveably expensive, even if used.

I hate the film loading but it gets easier. I traveled with this camera in my pocket throughout England and France and never missed a shot.

My autofocus N90S is my primary journalistic camera but the Leica is my favorite. I am using a 35mm f2 Summicron and have some wonderful shots. I cannot tell much difference between my Nikor and Leica photos using similar optics, although I recently used a 75mm 1.4 for theater shooting and find the combination without equal in the photographic world. Simply the best lens and body combination for low level available light you can find anywhere.

If you use a lot of fill flash, this is the only camera to buy, although it will cost you an arm and a leg. The SF 20 flash is expensive to use but it is so far superior to the N90S and SB26 that I have quit using the SLR.

If you buy one, plan on keeping it forever, and put it in your will.

Similar Products Used:

N90S, Canon A1, Canon F1, Nikon rangefinder, Leica IIIG

Optics.Solid.Reliable.

Price

If you can afford one buy it, the best camera I ever used.

Customer Service

not tried

Similar Products Used:

Contax G1,Nikon F5,F4,F3
Canon

Optics. Not battery dependent. Discreet. Solid. Reliable. Accurate. Light metering.

Price -- but not a false economy.
Takes getting used to. Film loading.

If you can't afford one, don't push yourself. Try a Nikon FM2 insted with some Nikkor prime lenses (28mm f2, 35mm f1.4 especially). The price is high, but if you buy at a good price (try shopping in NY or in Bangkok) you can pick up a could deal and it will hold its value.

The film loading is a pain, and the focussing takes some getting used to. I've missed shots with it, but then I've got shots with it in situations where I would never have been hunking around an SLR system.

If the speed is a worry, try the G2 -- excellent optics (28mm, 90mm) that match leica.

The lenses are warm yet sharp, and way beyond any SLR setup. A great available light travel camera for candid work. A terrible press camera.

Well built. Light meter is superb -- and better than this 3D matrix crap being promoted.

In the end this is a camera that I should still have in 40 years, when my EOS will be recycled as plastic bags. I love using it, despite the inconvenience. Don't fall for the hype though -- decide what your priorities are and work from there. If you go for a Leica, if you are disappointed it'll always be worth something, unlike most other cameras.

Customer Service

not tried

Similar Products Used:

Contax G2. Canon EOS1 system. Nikon FM2

Quiet, compact, excellent result for low light

film loading, TTL

Great camera for people photography especially in candit situations. However, much overrated for what is it. High price tag even for a Leica but if I have to pay for one of these, I don't think I will ever buy one. Not worth the high price.

Customer Service

Somewhat helpful but not very up-to-date on new features.

Similar Products Used:

Leica M4, Hassey, various Nikons.

Compact size, Just the right weight for hand held shooting, superb viewing system,and lenses that simply can't be beat.

The only people who find weaknesses with the M6 are people that have not done any extended shooting with one.
-The M6 is a camera that is addictive.

If you need long telephotos buy a SLR

I personally do not like the TTL model, Leica has screwed up the symetry of what is one of the most beautifully engineering designs in all of photography. The M6 "Classic" as people are now calling it, did not need "features" like TTL. We are talking about the best available light photographic instrument ever designed, and someone wants to change the look and feel of the camera to add TTL flash?
Anyway, my observation is that the M6 is made to be used, buy one, use it, get used to it,
and then try to find another camera that is so intuitive, and gives such fabulous results. - There is no other camera/lens combination that compares to the M6 and M series lenses.

Similar Products Used:

Leica R series, Contax RTS, Nikon F series,
Cannon F1.

Built quality, simple design, small, quiet shutter and you can use low speed shutter without camera vibrating

Pricey

I don't realize why people seem to be against Leica. If you know about photography, you will cherish the design of M6. It is truly a pgotorgraphy tool for a photographer. No other camera can replace M6.

Customer Service

Very good

Similar Products Used:

Contax G2

Body size, lens' quality, weight.

Leica's prices

The M6 is a joy to take on a day's shoot. I've taken my 21, 35, 50, 90, and 135 mm lenses with it all at once many times and been elated at the lack of that combination's weight, which SLR equipment otherwise imposes on me (like my R8 and its lenses). The construction is so solid and the materials that comprise the M6 are sterling! The metering system requires good knowledge of exposure metering principles since it lacks matrix metering like that found in, say, the R8 or Nikon's F5. And if one has an SLR as well as an M6 with oneself on a shoot and one is an amateur, one must excercise caution and not pick up the M6 after the SLR and shoot without considering the degree of light hitting the M6's meter, for it is different in its interpretations from those found in matrix metering. The lenses? Wonderful but, oh, so expensive! Fortunately, they are outstandingly constructed with fantastic, sturdy metals and will last a lifetime.

I just read in Shutterbug's March issue that Leica has announced permanent price cuts on the M6 and R8 bodies but no corresponding lowerings of the respective lenses. This does not bode well for Leica if it truly wants its revenue to vastly increase. This is especially true on the R side which is why most of my R lenses were purchased used. Additionally, while the output from Leica's lenses still has that certain "look" to it, I've taken shots with my Nikon F100 and various Nikon lenses and just can't see any difference, even on slide film.

Customer Service

Okay

Similar Products Used:

M2, M3

Wonderfully made. Razor sharp and contrasty lenses. I have a IIIg as well that is 40 years old and still in regualr service.
Unbeatable for low-light work.

As always, the bottom load. People complain about price, but check out any rally high end audio/video/kitchen/car (get my drift) equipment

Not a do 'everything camera', but what it does it does better than anything on the market, BAR NONE.

Customer Service

In Canada it is wonderful.

Similar Products Used:

Konica Hexar and Contax G series. Owned a Hexar for four years. Wonderful lens, but after a couple of years of heavy u

This camera does everyhing that I need from a 35MM camera. Lenes are as good as I am going to get in any system. I do not have to worry about batteries.

I had to learn about the unusal loading sysytem.

Very expensive but will end up as best value

Customer Service

Fantastic. When I have called LEica I was not a number but respected as a customer.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon, Hasselblad, Rollei