Fantastic results, have been unable to duplicate with SLRs.

Film loading

Leica as small, unobtrusive, quiet....
Leica is resting on a 50, or 70 year old reputation. In the Barnack or
Cartier-Bresson days, this was certainly true. Cameras in those days were big,
loud, heavy, and the newfangled 'miniature' cameras such as the Leica were not
held in high esteem by the illuminati, just as we disdain point-and-shoots or
APS formats today.

And at least in the early days HCB was not using M-series Leicas, he was using
earlier, smaller cameras.

From being the mainstream of 35mm focusing in the 40s, within a decade
interchangeable lens rangefinders had all but disappeared. The public found an
alternative it liked much better, and which obviously offered the public much
more.

Flash forward to the 1970s... the M body is not particularly small anymore,
especially compared to an OM or an FM or an MX, nor is it lighter. If doing
waist-level shots the M is not noticeably quieter than the F2 with mirror
locked up, or OM1 for that matter. In particular, the M is demonstrably
heavier, louder, and much more expensive than the series of excellent
non-interchangeable rangefinders put out by Minolta, Canon, Konica, Olymplus...
(In my opinion, those rangefinders with their excellent 1.7 lenses are the
ultimate street camera, and good examples can be bought today for $50.

And if you are raising the camera to eye level to take a pic, no one will care
what you are using, whether an M6 with 35/1.4 ASPH or a big Canon SLR. They
KNOW you are taking their picture, and there is no way you are fulling them or
being more unobtrusive with one camera or another. In fact, there is an
argument that if you want to be really unobtrusive, you'll use a P&S
(denigrated today like 35mm was many decades ago). You are just not being
sneaky in the way HCB was, in the days when mainstream cameras were funky
affairs with look-down viewfinders, or extended bellows, that screamed
'camera.' Maybe then you could fool street people, who were not used to small
eye-level picture taking motions.

A long way to say, Leicas today are not THAT unobtrusive or light or quiet, and
that a very great deal of that image is holdover or urban carryover of previous
generations and magazine editorial writers' wistful ramblings.

None of this is to impinge on the Leica as a picture taking machine. Some of
my best images ever made were done with a Leica, and I don't believe it's only
due to the lenses. Something about the interaction between the machine and the
photographer. I look on some of the shots I took, and marvel.

But after a couple decades of M use, and in particular 5 years of M6 use,
including two different M6 bodies, I dumped the system because I found it
unreliable. It was not the stories I heard from acquaintances who had
troubles with misaligned rangefinders on brand new cameras, with no way to
detect the problem until AFTER film had been shot. It was not even so much the
way the thing ate up meter batteries. Rather, it was the film loading system.

Again, I used M3's for many years without problems. But intermittently I had
problems with the M6. I simply found NO way to determine whether the film was
properly transporting through the camera. I could even tighten all slack and
monitor the rewind knob, actually see the rewind knob partially spin with each
film advance, only to find after frame 39 that if I opened the back I'd see
that the sprockets only partially had engaged the film holes, jiggled the film
slightly-- enough to partially rotate the rewind knob-- and then fall out.

If this had happened once, I'd consider it a fluke. But on multiple bodies, on
multiple missed photo occasions, I'd had it. Loved the images, could not
depend upon the camera. In frustration I took it to the

Customer Service

Little used, but it was good.

Similar Products Used:

Many fixed-lens rangefinders, M3, M4, Modern autofocus 'rangefinders'

Excellent manufacture elegant and simple design silent light weight and great reliability

None

Camera versatility that can be converted to a single lens reflex using the Visoflex. Also the Magnificent and unequalled optical syatem. UNICO.

Customer Service

Excellent Technical Service Center. U.S.A.and Wetzlar/SolmsFast turn arround service U.S.A.

Similar Products Used:

Leica M2,M3, M4-2-P, M5, CL, M6 almost all Screw Mount and most Leicflexes and R Systems. Nikons F, F2s.

Small, quiet, solidly built

None

Been using the M6 for under a year. Very nicely built camera. I like the quiet
operation, size, and heft of the camera. I find the viewfinder framing very
inaccurate. The shutter speed dial (non TTL) is quite small. Loading film is horrible,
especially when you're on-the-run. Outrageously expensive for what it is. Hard to tell
the difference between pictures taken with Leica lenses and Nikkor. You almost have
to be very critical/analytical to tell the difference.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Konica Hexar

It's compact and unique. I have a family history of Leica's, my great uncle was a serious collector. They are cheap in Hong Kong, about US$1800 for a new M6 body (not ttl)

Press studs on the case lasted about 2 weeks causing the camera to fall out when they failed. Brightline selector has failed. Bubbles in the finish of the top plate.

should be a little better than this for the price (but I still love it)

Customer Service

hoping

Similar Products Used:

R3 mot, M2, Nikon FE

It has a magic like no other camera. The combination of the direct view through the viewfinder, the feel of the body and the controls, and the peerless lenses make it a product in a class of its own.

None with my M6's. I had a focus problem on an M3 that was easily corrected.

The M6 is a very special camera with a photographic niche that is more tightly defined than the SLR. Its greatest strength is candid photos of people, but it also does well at landscape and general shooting as well. It's not easy to use with long lenses, and macro shooting requires an out-of-production Visoflex housing. But put on a 35 (especially the new 32/2.0 ASPH), stick a 50 in your pocket, and you're shooting with one of the very best documentary kits ever developed.

It's not for everyone, but there's scant wonder that its devotees are so smitten!

Customer Service

Service through both Leica Canada and Reinhold Mueller (private) has been exemplary.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon F, F3, FE2, SP
Pentax Spotmatic, MX
Canonet QL17, Olympus XA

It is a joy to hold and work with.The Leica becomes part of one!Nothing compares.

My camera has reqd more frequent services the last 5 years!Purchased in 67!Final assembly when purchased..Letter of apology from Leitz.

The lenses are different.I have better exposed and composed pix on the SLR but my clients always prefer portraits on the Leica.It is slow to load,impossible to reload real quick.The long lenses are difficult to imagine due to the small frames.The Leica is a special tool.It is NOT meant to be collected and stored.It is meant to work every day as my companion.I never leave home without it!The 50/35 and 90mm lenses and a tiny flash and some film is all that is reqd except for a Brain,not reqd elsewhere

Customer Service

Excellent in my home country.Assume same for States.

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Pentax manuals Nikon F,Em etc.Rollei tlr.

Total manual control. State-of-the-art optics. Accurate metering. Dependability.

No problems.

The M6 is in a class by itself. It is a precision instrument designed for snapshot-type photography, not a substitute for an SLR. The quality of the images wil be limited only by the skill of the photographer. Although it is quite simple to operate, it can be frustrating for those who have only used cameras with automatic exposure and focus. If you feel comfortable with the M6, it can become your favorite photographic tool. Otherwise, it will just sit on a shelf until buyer's remorse forces you to sell it. The M6 is not for everybody, but if it is your type of camera, nothing else can take its place.

Customer Service

The warranty on new M6 equipment is the best in the world, but I have not had to take advantage of it.

Similar Products Used:

Rollei 35, Olympus XA, Leica Minilux.

Simple, compact, rugged, not a toy, no electronic dependence

None

The only camera for candid people photography, period.

Customer Service

None required as yet

Similar Products Used:

Canon Pellix
Canon F1
Leica IIIc

The M6 is simply the best camera (for my taste ) avalable. I love that it forces me ,the photographer to make ALL the decisions concerning the exposure and the final outcome . I want the credit(or the blame) to fall on my head not Mr. Nikon's.

none

If your palms are not sweating the first time you pick up a Leica , don't bother, the way this type of camera is to be used requires a mindset and "point of veiw" that is rarely found these days. If you live your life slowly (as Possible) , thoughtfully and with meaning and purpose and you feel this comes through in your photography, you should enjoy this camera very much!

Customer Service

very speedy

Similar Products Used:

manual Pentaxs

This is the stupidest thing Ive seen in a long time. To trash an M6 is silly, It's what it is. I prefer the M4s and have a few of them, I've updated the 4s by adding the 75 and 28 windows to them. The focus dosnt seem to go out on the M4s as easily as the M6, but come on, If you need an M body you buy one- it's the only game in town.

On one of my older M6s the meter dyed, it either froze, i was usuing it at about 50 below, or it just went, Im not sure.

If you have any negative about this camera then don't use it. I use Ms and Nikon F5s, I still have some F3s to, but, when it comes to Lieca lenses, its NO CONTEST!!! By the way... Rating this camera is like rating water in the desert.

Customer Service

I don't use Leica to repair or maintain my stuff, I use a private repair person, Sherry K.

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Nikon SP