STURDY;High Quality Lenses;Full Mechanic (No need battery)Quiet,Compact,Reliable

Price,Trouble Film Loading

if you have a Leica M6 you do not just take photographs you make them!Since it is full mechanic you control the camera; you are not controlled by it.
i highly recommend this camera to photographers who delighted by taking photographs!(Beside wildlife and macro photgrphrs)

Customer Service

Not need yet

Similar Products Used:

Pentax K-1000

fast
silent
light
best optics

viewfinder flare
not realy cheap

Natural photography . You focus on the picture not on the technique. No other equipment can be hold in one hand : 1 body with attached lens and a second lens on the lens holder. Last but not lest : the Noctilux 1:1,0 / 50mm for night (a candle light is enough) or day (Kodachrome 25 even in lousy weather)

Customer Service

Solms : perfect but expansive

Similar Products Used:

None

fast focusing, wonderful sound and feel. Simply the best optics I've ever used. Even better than my Hasselblad

Battery drain

This is my personal camera. I've got many pro cameras from 35mm to large format; this is the camera I take along when I'm shooting for me. I'm blown away by the super sharp, contrasty images every time. I've considering selling my Nikons but I realize I need a SLR at times. Maybe I should try a R6.2

Customer Service

have had no need to use it

Similar Products Used:

None

Overbuilt simplicity.Ease of fine focus. The lenses that go with it.

Fast focusing. Other than visoflex, does not accept lenses longer than 135mm. Slow loading

I have used IIF, M3, M6, R4, R4sp,R8, and M6 Leicas. Just handling the three rangefinders was a pleasure. Shooting with them makes me appreciate the excellance of their manufacture. As for the lenses, I can only echo many of the above statements concerning the above and beyond quality they produce. For my M6, I use the 40mm Summicron, the 75mmSummilux and the 135 Tele-Elmar. The 135 is from 1969 or 1970, the 40mm is from 1976, or so, and the 75mm is new. All produce surpurb images. The 75mm Summilux, though, really is in a class by itself. Imagine exquisite images wide open at 1.4! I have never seen a lens like it. I have used Nikkor 50mm 1.4's, Canon 50mm1.2L's and other brands but they pale in comparison to the 75 Summilux. The Leica lens at 1.4 was much better than either Canon or Nikon at F/4. Quite amazing.

Customer Service

Was up and down, now excellent. IMHO

Similar Products Used:

Alpa, Canon, Nikon, Konica, Pentax,

Beautiful body fit nicely in my hands Reputation of the LEICA name.Lens is so sharp I could not beleive my eyes and they made in Germany

I saw a lot of people saying about the Price.The price of this camera is not it's weakness.It is a buyer weakness.Life is short if you can afford it go ahead and buy it,enjoy it it is the best camera almost in the world.But if you are the type that don't want to spend money for good things in this world,stick with cheap stuff.Don't buy Rolex,buy Timex and don't ever think of Mercedes Benz or Cadillac or any good cars,just stick with Hyundai..If you have money,buy the best for yourself and be happy.....
Now a little bit weakness of this camera is loading the film but need practices.May be about 10 films you will get more comfortable of it

I'm so happy to have this camera,I've been waiting for so long.(save and save my moneyfor it) I might sell all the cameras that I have but Leica is a keeper.This camera is not for every body if you like quartz watches instead of automatic,if you just take pictures just the pictures don't buy this camera but if you want to step up and be more creative, work on your pictures,work on this camera and when the pictures you sent out come back from the lab I bet you You will be pround of youselfBut remember this is not a SLR or P/s camera,study before spend your money on it.

Customer Service

So far have not seen them

Similar Products Used:

Nikon N.90,F100,Ti35.Contax TVS,Konica Hexar,P/S Pentax 35-145 and Fuji Minizoom

Allows photographer to go relatively unnoticed, it doesn't draw alot of attention unless there are other photographers in the room. Much more deliberate photo's will be taken. The process of photography is emphasized, at least for me it is.

Maybe loading, but will improve tremendously if used the way a leica should be used.

If you shoot people, and you want this camera but think you can't afford it, sell your nikon or cannon and all of the lenses you never use, you know the ones (the just in case I'm going to shoot this or that, ones). Buy the M6 with a 35 1.4 aspherical and set yourself free. I swear you'll look at your negs and chromes in disbelief

Customer Service

Not needed

Similar Products Used:

Fe2 F100 G2 Rolliecord, Blah Blah Blah

A body that can hold the sharpest lens in the world

Felt stupid after paying for the very expensive thing

Like many others , I have spent a fortune on this leica system I have . Anyway ,I have bought a Leica 0.72 together with a 50 mm f/1.4 and the 28mm f/2.8 .

I bought them because of the numerous propogandar I have recieved from everywhere .And now I have decided to sell them . Well I have not done that yet and right now I am finding a good reason to sell .

Basically I felt very stupid after paying that price for a leica system.With that money , I could have buy other better things .

Anyway many people tend to buy leica because some fameous people have used them before for example people like Cartier Besson.But could it be Cartier have no other choice at that point of time .IF there is something like the F100 , will cartier still stick to a leica ?

For the problem of " no mirror slap " what about a canon elan 7 with an Image stabaliser lens ? will the IS technology counter the " mirror shake" ? Also , the more I use my friend's canon with the IS lens , the more stupid I felt. Canon new elan is very quiet .

Well there are many different kinds of people that buy a leica M6 . One of them are collectors . Another one of them will be those trying to show off .The last group willl be those that want to take very good picture . I bought leica to take really good picture .And indeed I have taken tons of good picture with it .But whenever I compare with friends that use really morden cameras to take picture , I will always lose out in quantity . Well , do not fault them in sharpness, they are all using "L lens" and "AFS" .

I just felt that the traditional method of taking good picture will not be enough , you need technology advances to help you .

Well , I will be selling my leica for a contax 645 AF .How 's that ? Good bye 35mm !Leica was good and I am giving it a 5 !

Customer Service

not yet

Similar Products Used:

Mamiya M7

Exceptional lens... very solid, well built body.

Film loading for sure. Very slow, haven't mastered the art of loading but with a little more practice I'm sure it will become easier. Focusing also a bit slow but as one reviewer indicated if you start on infinity and focus from there it does simplify things.

This is a great camera to just put around your neck and take everywhere (I'm using the new 35mm F2 lens). It's small, (not necessarily light for a rangefinder)unobtrusive and takes incredible pictures or slides. I mainly use HP5 and occassionally Velvia. Believe me, the negatives/slides are as sharp and contrasty as it gets.

Customer Service

Haven't used.

Similar Products Used:

No other rangefinders, but have used the lastest 35mm Nikon's and Pentax 6x7

-build quality
-lenses (old and vintage)
-look and feel
-reliability
-resale value
-tradition

-slow shutter speed
-rangefinder flare
-price of body
-price of lenses

After nearly a year of contemplation I finaly put a large chunk of money down and purchased a M6 TTL .85 and a vintage Summar lens. Up to this point my workhorse had been a Pentax 645. I had done a lot of research on the M system, but I must admit that I was a bit un-nerved when I stepped outside and the rangefinder patch flared out when faced towards the sun, making it difficult to focus.
But 48 hours later I had decided that this camera would have to be pryed from my cold dead hands. The lenses are great. I borrowed a friends 35mm 1.4 Asph and was blown away by it's sharpness.
The camera is a joy to use, it takes you back to the basics of photography. I am shocked by the amount of film I have put through this camera since I bought it a few weeks ago. It's the first camera I can still picture myself owning and still using 25 years from now. It's not for everyone, I still use my Pentax 645, but if I could only own one camera it may probaly be this one.

Customer Service

n/a

Similar Products Used:

Linhof Technika III
Pentax 645

A very durable, well built German machine. Compact, Sharp optics.

Loading film was not easy, no matter how many times I did it. They say the loading system is for an "uncompromised camera Back" well, I think that removing the entire bottom of the camera is a huge weakness. Plus the camera is way too expensive. Buying leica is like buying designer jeans - not much better quality, but the name on it makes it more.

The Leica M6 is a fine camera, like fine art. I treated it that way too. It was so expensive I was afraid to use it. It's reputation for durability didn't make a difference, I paid $3,000 for the body and 1 lens I wasn't about to put it through what my FM2 goes through for that money. So, it was pretty much useless to me. However, if you're rich and can afford to replace wrecked lenses go for it, you'll have the prettiest camera on the block and everybody will say "OOOH AAAAH" as you walk buy.

Customer Service

Never used it.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon SLR's, not really similar.