Am going to look at an M6 TTl.72. I am comfortable checking out the lenses, shutter speeds, VF & RF, and overall condition. However I know little about the metering system. Any advise on checking the meter system of an M6. Ed

-- Ed DeAngelis (edeange769@aol.com), March 16, 2002

Answers

Unless the camera shows abuse, I wouldn't worry to much about it. You could always check the light meter with a calibrated meter and gray card, but that doesn't necessarily tell you anything. It's really like this. It's a Leica. Is it in good condition (mint, near mint, user)? Is it a decent price or bargin? And if you don't buy it, do you think someone else will (price too high, condition unexceptable)?

-- Glenn Travis (leicaddict@hotmail.com), March 16, 2002.

Well, my M6 Classic consistently underexposes by about half a stop. I compared with my F100, my FM2n, my Polaris meter and an old Seconic. They all agreed, providing a half stop more exposure than the TTL M6 Meter indicated, and the resulting negatives were too thin. So all I do is reduce the film speed setting to compensate, and it works fine. When I need a CLA, I'll have it adjusted. So far as checking, you do want to see all the LED's lighting up as you run through a range of either apertures or shutter speeds.

-- Phil Stiles (Stiles@metrocast.net), March 16, 2002.

Phil, there is a difference between the meters in my FE2's and 8008, vs. the M6, that amounts to about 1/2 stop or a bit less. But the Nikons are Japanese, and the Leica is German. I am beginning to suspect there's a difference in exposure philosophy between Germany and Japan. I think so because the Nikons pretty well agree with my Minolta Digital Autometer. The Leica agrees well with my Gossen meters, both analog and digital models. My Leica-meter MR wants to cut the exposure even a bit more than that.

Has anyone else had this experience?

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), March 16, 2002.

Well, the dichotomy that's intrigued me is not the German/Japanese but the chrome/negative. I think negative material has latitude on the overexposure side that slides don't. You can "expose for the shadows and develop for the highlights" with good results with B&W. That same exposure will give you washed out highlights with slide film, and you're stuck. So how do you design a meter without knowing whether the photographer is shooting slides or negatives? German tourists are shooting slides, so they want those saturated colors? :+)

-- Phil Stiles (stiles@metrocast.net), March 16, 2002.

My demo Classic M6 seems to underexpose by 1 third to 1 half a stop, not just compared to my Nikons, but to the exposure I was hoping for. I usually just set the ASA accordingly and am very happy with the results.

-- Dave Carlisle (dave_carlisle@hotmail.com), March 19, 2002.