Small, long lasting mechanics

price, realability

When I bought my brand new Leica it was leaching light thruogh the strapholders, imagine on an Leica! A brand new 35mm summicron was not correct assambled. After I got this corrected I have once and then problem with the light meter wich make higly jumps out of control. I have fuond out,speaking other photographers that these problems are not unusual. Anyway I have lost my confidence for this camera, but I stilllikeit as peice of camera history and mechanical art but not as proffesinal tool. I nowadays use my Hexar to 90%. After being a Leica photographer for over 10 years.

Customer Service

warranty service not good. Otherwise normal

Similar Products Used:

Konica hexar among others

Small, quiet, solid, really a nice camera! Great lenses, and good feel.

rangefinder "whiteout" in certain conditions. That's it! people who say no high shutter sync or no auto metering are missing the point.

I love my Leica! If you have the spare cash, skip the stock market or getting an F5 or whatever, splash out on a Leica, it'll last a lifetime, and the results will be great. You can take pictures of people with out them even noticing, unlike a whizzing clicking SLR, which distracts you and them. It's ironic that the Japanese have yet to make a camera of this calibre after years of dominating the photo industry. They could do it if they wanted to.

Customer Service

too soon

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Contax G2 (garbage) Mamiya 6 (Superb camera, my next choice after a Leica) I sold the Mamiya to buy a Leica. Do yourself a favor don't touch the Contax with a ten foot pole.

Strong body
Best lenses in the world
Compact
Density
Metal touch

None

Had a Canon EOS3 and used it in full manual mode. Sold the EOS stuff for M6 TTL+ 35 ASPH 1.4+ 21 ASPH f2.8+ 50 F2.00. Since that time, my pictures changed and the quality of the photos are sharp, the sharpest ones in the world. I love this camera to death, I go out with it, you see better and it is the best tool for quick shots and night pictures, your just take photos without thinking for it becomes part of your body, eye and feeling. Incredible. I was lucky because I found MY camera, a camera which suits my needs and I use it very instinctively. Some hate it. Just try it for 1 week and you will know if it is good for you or not. Now I cannot use a SLR, I am definitely Rangefinder and Leica, because it is the Best.

Customer Service

Excellent: good work/ Very professional

Similar Products Used:

Contax G2
Canon EOS 3+ PBE2

Is good. tight and hard like. it gives me tight weight feeling. lens is good for pictures. everything is goodness. manule operartion is good. nice for not loud.

moneyness. is most.

is good camera for you. you buy. it is for good. hard tight weight feeling. strongness. it makes for me to be buying one more time. take picture good of your mother and loved peolpe take one.

Customer Service

not to me.

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camera.

GREAT build quality, sharpness and color gradation of the lenses are very very hard to beat, controls are very simple and straight forward, the meter is the nest best thing to having a hand held spot meter, looks and most of all feel like it'll last forever

NONE OF WHAT I WILL LIST ARE REALLY WEAKNESSES, THEY'RE JUST THINGS THAT NEED TO BE PRACTICED WHEN SWITCHING TO A LEICA RF OR ANY OTHER ALL MANUAL CAMERA SYSTEM -
-The loading system takes some getting used to, but with practice it's actually very easy. The only thing cumbersome about it is that the whole bottom of the camera comes off and you have to find a place to put it while changing the film, not always a comfortable thing to do. Honestly, it's not that hard and compared to loading a medium format film back it becomes a breeze.
-Focusing on moving subjects can be a bit tricky, again true of any all manual camera system. And to be honest, that's why I switched to AF cameras for much of my professional work (events, weddings, etc.).
-Expensive!!! But worth every penny!!! It's just hard to shell out that much money for anything. But, again, it's worth every penny!!!

This is a wonderful camera. It has it's place as does any other camera system. People who own them either love them or hate them, and part of that has to do with their price tag. Some believe that it's all hype and that the camera isn't that much better that a moderately priced SLR. I'll defend the M6 by saying this - photographers love their gear (count me among them) and not many who have spent alot of money on their gear/system want to say that another system could possibly be better (especially considering the feature to dollar ratio). That also goes for some Leica owners - not many want to admit the possibility that there are some conveniences that may make their photographic life easier (easier not better).
It really is worth the money and if you every get the chance to try one for any length of time and see the results you would think so too. The lenses have a character that is very hard to beat (sharpness, shadow detail, contrast, color saturation and gradation - all superb) It's like holding a Mercedes, a BMW or a Rolls Royce in your hands - for anyone looking for ultimate, hand-crafted build quality this really is it. As far a being expensive I'll defend the M6 by offering up the bit of info - a new Nikon F3HP in the Calumet catalog is roughly $1500-1600. That's manual focus camera from the early 80's that's built in Japan. That's alot of money too!!!
This camera is for the photographer who really knows what he or she is doing and is looking for a tool that ALWAYS REQUIRES them to be an integral part of the process. It's not for the faint of heart or for someone who's not willing to practice. This camera is so simple - even to the point that it hurts.
Lastly - it's not a camera for those who tend blame cameras for a bad shots. I do this stuff for a living - all my great shots are because of me and all my bad shots are because of me. That should sum it up for this camera

Customer Service

I have luckily never had a real problem with any of my gear, including anything from Leica.

Similar Products Used:

Contax T, Contax G1/G2, Fuji MF RF, Mamiya MF RF, all sorts of SLR's from Canon, Contax, and Nikon both manual and AF

Focus quick and easy. Body very well made. Lenses excellent both in contrast and sharpness.

None

Camera construction and mechanics are unsurpassed.Lenses are the finest available providing excellent sharpness and contrast.

Customer Service

Excellent for lense repair and cleaning. My M6 has never presented any problems in 4 years.

Similar Products Used:

Contax G1

Thisfor is a THE camera for documentary photography. It is the best, in my opinion, of the Leica M's. It is fast to focus, silent, and so small that people don't get scared of you. The lenses are excellent, even wide open. Once you have gotten used to the pictures you get from this camera you will probably have difficulties using other equipment.


It is the perfect camera for taking pictures of fast complex events.

Some people like to use hand held light meters or no meter at all. In that case, go for a Leica M4-P, which you can get for less money.

The Leica M4 is also very nice if you don't use 28 mm lenses, and don't need built in light meter.

It is a camera for doing documentary photography. You can do landcapes and nudes and fashion, but there are much better tools for that.

The "only" camera to use for documentary photography. The lenses are excellent. The camera grows on you, it helps you to become a better photographer by taking away everything which is not essential for the picture taking, and thus it is very simple so you can become advanced.

It is expensive, but if you are doing documentary photography, it is worth what you will pay for it.

Customer Service

Good but expensive.

Similar Products Used:

Leica M3, M4, M4-P

Solid mechanical build, comfortable rangefinder focusing, sharp lenses even at open apertures. Compact (but heavy for its size), relatively quiet, unobtrusive and discreet

Slightly fidgety film change, but no problem once you get used to it.
Expensive lens-backup, but good second-hand deals are available.

I bought the Leica M6 second-hand on a trip to London, getting a price for a mint one less than half of what I'd have had to pay for a new one in Norway.

My reasons for going on to Leica M6 after a few years of the Nikon F-50 autofocus SLR were several. The reputation for camera and lens quality that goes along with the Leica brand name is unparallelled in the world of 35mm photography. Then again, so is the price.

The F-50 is a very noisy camera, having what is not unlikely one of the loudest automatic film advance motors available, and after that, the Leica M-6 is a quiet relief, although not as quiet as I had expected from what I'd heard about it.

For people photography in the street, it is perfect. A big SLR is eye-catching, and pointing one for a shot will invariably make someone lose that special, natural look you so wished to capture, but with the M6, just as with small point-and-shoots, you don't really think so much of it when one is pointed at you.

I enjoy the all-manual action of the Leica. With an AF SLR I can easily burn through 5 rolls of film in an hour or so. With the M6, you get a much stronger feeling of being a photographer, setting everything manually, bracketing manually if need be, and you have a sense of being in control of your camera, rather than the camera controlling you.

Photography, as any art form, requires the artist to be in touch with his medium and the creative process. That is what makes it fun, interesting, challenging, and rewarding as a creative experience.

The image quality from my Summicron 50mm f2.0 is not very different from my AF Nikkor f1.8, the latter being by far the best value lens of the two, but the Leica has better definition and contrast, and I also seem to get richer colours from the same kind of film, assuming the latter might be due to even less stray light being allowed into the Summicron than the Nikkor.

I also have an older 90mm Tele-Elmarit f2.8. Both my Leica lenses with built-in lens hoods, which is very practical, they are solid of build, and have good depth-of-field scales on the barrel, although I've found the markings to be slightly inaccurate, and placing focus slightly within the theoretical hyperfocal distance is often necessary.

I have thought of selling my Leica and to get a medium-format camera, but most likely, I'll get a medium format and keep the Leica. It is true what they say: you do fall in love with this camera. I don't think there are many cameras that you can actually sit down and look at admiringly for any length of time, but other Leica owners will know what I mean when I say that the M6 is one that you could look at thus without ever tiring.

It is definitely more than just a tool for fine photography and artistic expression, but for those just needing that and having the budget to afford it, there is no excuse not to get one.

Customer Service

None needed yet

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Nikon F-50, Nikon F-80, Olympus Mju-II

*****Simple controls
*****Solid construction
****Almost Silent Shutter
****Clear Veiwfinder
**Compact

---Expensive!!

The Leica M6 classic is a simple tool and also complicated to the unexperienced photographer. It's a pure photographic tool, yeilding to the users' knowledge of lighting, dept of feild, and composition. The tool makes you think before you take a shot. One can feel the solid engineering when you lift the camera for the first time. Everything is smooth. The finder is crisp and clear. Advance lever winds smoothly. The shutter has a silent "clack" sound when released. When compared to the modern SLR's, this is a compact camera. Ofcourse the average point and shot is much smaller and lighter; but can you change the lens.

Ofcourse the only weakness to this camera is it's price. $2000 new and $900-$1600 used, depending on condition. And it's lenses exceeds the average price range of equavelent focal range; but I admit they are of superior quality. The rangefinder cameras are beautiful tool to use when it comes down to streetphotography or for photojournalist's use. Very descrete. The draw back it's limitation to macro photography.

If you have to money to invest on a high quality tool and surely going to use it; I suggest to buy an M6. In my honest opinion, if you're a strugling photographer~put your money on a good SLR system. Two-grand could get you a great used SLR system, lighting sytem, a basic B/W darkroom, beer for your dorky budies and a dozen roses for your cute neighbor.

But, I still love my M6 classic!!

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Nothing in comparison; maybe the Nikon S3 2001 limited edition(also expensive)