Hi,

I have a mint black M6 TTL 0.85 which I bought like new in the box a couple of months ago. It's in warranty and I just ran some 10 rolls through it. I liked the idea of a second body with a 0.85 viewfinder to easier focus my longer lenses. But then I fell for the 28 Ultron and found that the 75 is the most telephoto I'll be ever likely to put on a Leica M. So I think I would be better off with an M6 TTL 0.72 as a second body to my Classic.

Now, instead of putting the camera on auction, closing the transaction and then go and look for a similarly well-taken-care-of equivalent I thought I would ask if any of you had the reverse interest - i.e. swapping his/her mint M6 TTL 0.72 with mine? (Chrome wouldn't be an unsurmountable hindrance...) I would rather trust any of you than two strangers - one when selling and another when buying.

If interested please contact me privately. Cheers.

-- Lutz Konermann (lutz@konermann.net), October 25, 2001

Answers

But, Lutz, don't you consider it important to use the 0.85 finder with the 75 Lux?

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), October 26, 2001.

Bob,

Simple question, complex answer...

The short version: Well, I DID, but now I think that all in all I would be better served with a 1.25 Magnifier.

The long version: When I bought the .85 I was actually having problems in focussing the 75 at full aperture on my Classic. I thought: Keep the Classic for shorter lenses and make the .85 the dedicated telephoto body. Only after that I had the rangefinder of my Classic checked... Need I say more? Now I feel comfortable enough again focussing the 75 with a .72 viewfinder.

Of course, the .85 finder gives you extra accuracy. So if I kept my 75 glued to a .85 body, it might still be the better choice. But... I have experienced two downsides:

1) When working with two bodies I find it irritating to have two different kinds of magnification to switch among. (And this is different from SLRs which give you *just* the correct framings - here we are talking about identifying the correct frameline among 2 within a field of view which is, yes, changing, but still *not exactly* in accordance to the lens' length.)

2) When I used the two bodies for two different types of film I felt embarrased: B&W in the .72 and Color in the .85 (without the 28 frameline) - or viceversa...?!

Conclusion: With the 28 to 75 being my range of lenses I most frequently use (98%) I prefer two identical finders which cover the full range. If I was looking for more accuracy in focussing the 75 @ 1.4 I would rather add a Magnifier (nowadays...). Same applies for the (very) rare situations in which I use the 135. If my range would be 35 to 90 (or exclude or skip the 28 - shorter lenses need extra finders, anyway) I might feel different about it.

BTW, I am happy I found a forum member with "reverse necessities" in the meantime. At this hour both our babies are shipping. Cheers.

-- Lutz Konermann (lutz@konermann.net), October 27, 2001.