HIGH GEAR

24 Nov 2000

Leica M6 Review

by theVooner

Digital Photography has still not managed to live up to the quality and the proliferation of traditional photography (though that is slowly changing). I've always been a photo buff, so back when digital cameras were taking an abysmal 640x480 I was using my Nikon F5 and the difference was like night and day.

Times have changed. First, I gave up the bulk of the Nikon F5 and traded it all in for the ultimate in 35mm photography, the Leica M6. Second, digital cameras have come a long way and I also recently just bought the Nikon 880. The difference in my opinion is still there, but the gap is quickly narrowing.

As the crème de la crème of 35mm cameras, the Leica M6 holds a mystic and a prestige all of its own. Among photography aficionados, the camera is so highly regarded that it still commands a substantial premium.

I got tired of lugging all my old camera gear around... lenses, flash, filters, loads of batteries, not to mention that the Nikon F5 with the lens weighed a ton. It's also hard to travel with all that equipment. In the end, I gave up and sold it. I waited more than a year before I decided to buy the M6. I did my usual homework, investigating, searching the web, buying 3 books on Leicas, etc. In the end, the conclusion I reached was that almost everyone said the quality was amazing. And I'm a big fan of quality.

The Leica was just introducing its new TTL model and once it hit the streets, I knew it was time to buy. So I ordered the standard (0.72x viewer) Leica M6 TTL Silver Body. When you buy a 35mm, the decision on which lens to buy is perhaps more important that which body to choose. Given that I was tired of having so many different pieces of equipment (zoom, telephoto, macro lens, etc.), I wanted to buy just one lens that would give me the most versatility. The Leica M6, in my opinion, is primarily a landscape camera meaning that it's best used for taking scenery pictures rather than a sporting event. The Leica, I believe, also works best at the lower focal lengths (i.e. 35mm instead of 120mm). Deciding on the 35mm as the best option, I merely just picked the best lens Leica had, which is the 35mm ASPH f1.4.

The M6 TTL and the 35mm ASPH f1.4 are an awesome combination. The f1.4 allows me to shoot in low light conditions and/or at very quick speeds, while the overall size and weight of the camera makes it easy to carry around and travel with. I'm not sure if the aspherical element adds to the quality, but the results of many of my pictures have been outstanding.

Form

No matter where you go, the Leica is almost immediately recognized. The Leica M6 is an extremely striking yet old-fashioned camera. With classic lines, the M6 is unobtrusive yet well designed. The buttons are sturdy. The focusing ring has a very ergonomically placed "handle" at the bottom, which when correctly held, gives you smooth control. All the other quirks are in true Leica form: from the "silent" shutter, to the bizarre insertion method of film. It thankfully lacks the bulk and weight of other pro 35mm cameras, such as my previous Nikon F5. The sleek appearance and its overall impression are its biggest draw. Put one in your hand sometime, and you won't want to let it go. It just feels and looks really good.

Function

Remembering that the M6 is a manual, rangefinder 35mm, the camera lacks all of the goodies that come with most SLRs today. No autofocus, no autowinding - nearly everything you do is done manually. Once you get past all this, the real beauty of the camera is the quality of its pictures. In the end, if you judge this camera solely on the quality of its pictures, then I believe it does live up to the hype. Pictures are extremely clear and sharp, and the manual focusing/aperture setting gives you plenty of flexibility to take the kind of pictures you want. I burned through several rolls of film just trying to get a firm grasp of the controls. In the end, with enough practice and patience, the results are amazing.

That being said, my M6 ran into a serious problem. In the end, as I will explain, this has completely sullied my M6 experience. The aperture ring on the lens came "loose", which meant I couldn't change the aperture setting. This failure was a very unusual occurrence for a camera that bills itself on its lasting quality. Even the shop said this was the first time they had ever seen such a problem. So after using the camera for less than 3 months, it went back into the shop for 6 weeks.

Got it back, all seemed well. I took it on my next vacation, and guess what, it broke again -- same problem. I brought it back to the dealer. I was so frustrated I asked them for a new lens. Leica neither heard my case nor even acknowledged there was a problem with my lens. I tried contacting them at every possible juncture to ask them to replace the lens, not just fix it. But it was to no avail as no one even bothered to hear my pleas. Leica just went about "fixing" it again. Another 6 weeks wasted but more importantly, by just "fixing" it, Leica has done little to convince me that the problem will not occur again. The camera has spent more time in the Leica workshop than it has with me!

For a company that places such importance on "competence", "quality", and "value", my treatment has been appalling. They just took my money and forgot about me. So here I am today, with a very expensive piece of equipment, which I have ZERO confidence will make it through my next vacation. In fact, I don't even take it with me on trips anymore. There's just no point because I know there is something wrong with the lens and it will definitely just break again.

Factor

This entire episode has completely ruined my Leica experience. I own about 6 other Leica products, all of which are very good. Leica in general make great products of very high quality. I just question their commitment to this quality today, given my experience. These days, I'm just as happy with the pictures taken with my digital camera or my Contax APS. Leica will forever remain a classic, but I, for one, think your money could be better spent elsewhere and that the M6 is a WASTE OF TIME.

Leica M6 problem

I think you're being too rash in dismissing an entire camera system based on your experience of ONE sample of ONE lens. As you said yourself, you own other Leica products which are very good. Unfortunately, even with a company as prestigious as Leica, some bad apples do slip out occasionally from under the noses of Quality Control.

That said, I agree that you should not be satisfied with the service you have obtained thus far. I would recommend that you contact Mr. Horst Braun (director of customer service at Leica Germany) at Braun.kdw@leica-camera.com and relay your experiences to him.

I have been a user of the M6 and R6 ever since they came out. In the M6's case, that's 17 years! I have thoroughly abused it, taken it in the worst environments possible (torrential downpours, dust storms), have NEVER maintained it (hear that? Ernst Leitz is turning over in his grave). It has performed flawlessly, with nary a hiccup, and works as well today as the day I took it out of the box (worst shutter speed deviation is 1/6 of a stop over at 1/1000s according to electronic bench testing last month). I also use the 35/1.4 ASPH and true to your experience, it is simply the finest 35mm lens made. Nothing ever produced, nor being produced today, rivals the brilliance and sharpness of photographs made with this lens. I also bought it when it first came out, and have had ZERO problems with it.

A friend of mine had a problem with his M6- he dropped it 500 feet into a rocky ravine. It was in one piece but the top plate was badly deformed and the front viewfinder window was cracked, the rangefinder window missing. The lens had detached and was found 30 feet away. Under the Passport Warranty, Leica USA replaced both items in 8 days from mail out to return receipt, both brand new in box.

David Alan Harvey, Magnum photographer and shooter for National Geographic, as well as William Albert Allard, have each done entire assigments using just one M6 and the 35/1.4 ASPH lens. I know many photojournalists who are also using this combination to produce the best work they've ever done. It's simply unbeatable for unobtrusive photography, yet yielding the highest possible results.

Another hint - no matter what the reputation of the camera or lens you take on vacation, keep Murphy's law in mind and take a backup! In my case, I always take a Minox GT-E, which is basically like a miniature M6, with a fine 35/2.8 lens. I've never had to use it as a backup, so I keep it loaded with a different film than the M6 (for example, Provia 100F in the M6 and 400F in the GT-E) so each camera serves a different purpose but one can back up the other in case of problems.

Needless to say, my experience with Leica has been that it is worth every penny. My experience is just a single one, statistically irrelevant, but every other Leica shooter I know mirrors it, and you concluded in your own research that almost everyone agreed that Leica cameras were of amazing quality. Best of luck and don't give up. Know what you are entitled to as a customer of a high-end product line and pursue it to that end. As you have experienced, the Leica is worth it.

The Pain Lingers

Yes, the Leica has been one of my most "painful" purchase. I tried asung's advice above and e-mailed Mr. Horst Braun so I'll wait to see if I get a response, but I'm not holding my breath.

I was so frustrated from seeing the useless metal sitting in my room the other day that I took it into the shop and tried to sell it. They only offered me less than 40% of what I paid for it. They knew of my problems, and even though I have only managed to use it twice, they didn't seem to want it! Perhaps they knew that there was something very wrong with my camera.

I was still intent on getting rid of it, but danchan has advised me to hold onto it in the hopes that perhaps someday, somebody will want to buy it from me as an antique or something. One can only hope.

Gimme a break

Just sell it on the net, lick your chops and call it a day. Have you seen how much M6 TTLs and 35mm f/1.4 Asph lenses are bringing in on eBay??

I am curious, what would you do if someone came to you and offered to sell you a piece of equipment that YOU know is broken? Would you pay 80% of new? If you would, then not only do you have a right to complain, I'd nominate you for the next Dalai Lama. If you wouldn't, then.... why would you expect any different from the shop?? Try putting yourself in other people's shoes once in a while.

It strikes me as VERY strange that a) you would try to sell your camera to a shop that knows it may be defective and expect them to pay you a premium for it, and b) you are taking someone's advice to hold onto a WORKING CAMERA and "hope" that you can sell it someday as an "antique". Like, HELLO, your camera was fixed and is now working, ding ding ding ding. There are PEOPLE OUT THERE looking for working M6s, DING DING DING DING. Are you for real, or must I take a crayon and scrap paper and draw it out for you?

It Ain't Over

Ok. Let me clarify a few things.

Actually, M6s on eBay's haven't been selling that well, I've been watching.

I wouldn't expect an individual to pay me much if they knew it was broken, BUT the reason I would expect the shop to give me more is because I was 1) looking to trade it in to BUY another camera, 2) because the shop is the SOLE distributor of Leica and hence they can probably resolve the issue much better than I could, 3) because my main problem is the LENS not the M6 body which should be worth at least what they are offering WITHOUT the lens. Even if I assume the lens is worth ZERO, the body itself should be worth more than what they offered. So to answer your question, yes, the shop should have paid me more because they can sell the camera in its parts (i.e. body without lens) and still make a killing.

So to put it simply, the VALUE of this camera has two parts... the lens and the body. The body is immaculate and as I've said, hardly used, and hence should be worth much more than they were willing to pay for it. It is NOT in any way defective. So, even if I'm completely pissed that Leica customer service SUCKS! I could still one day, give this camera to someone who could go out there and buy ANOTHER lens. Again, let me repeat, my M6 body is flawless.

I am holding onto the camera now for several reasons, 1) I am still trying to get Leica to acknowledge my problem, 2) I could still buy another lens for, as the whole world has been trying to convince me, Leica is still a GREAT 35mm camera/lens, 3) as stated above, I could give it on to someone else one day.

Stop the paroxysm and breath. . .

They fixed your lens under warranty, albeit twice. You can either use the glass and prove that it works or sell it. Forty percent for any used equipment is about right - they have to make a living, and you should realize that one shouldn't buy equipment with any idea of recovering better than half its value.

My advice. You have the right to be annoyed, but life is too short for crying. Use the camera and become more involved in the Leica user community. Try subscribing to the Leica User Group (LUG) mailing list. Good luck.

Stop the paroxysm and breath. . .

They fixed your lens under warranty, albeit twice. You can either use the glass and prove that it works or sell it. Forty percent for any used equipment is about right - they have to make a living, and you should realize that one shouldn't buy equipment with any idea of recovering better than half its value.

My advice. You have the right to be annoyed, but life is too short for crying. Use the camera and become more involved in the Leica user community. Try subscribing to the Leica User Group (LUG) mailing list. Good luck.

The saga continues...

I agree with your comments, except that if I were in the US, I'd probably be able to get a full refund on the entire camera (since the problem happened so soon after purchase). It's just that Leica ex-US has been terrible. That's why I'm complaining about getting next to nothing for a DEFECTIVE product.

Anyway, following asung's advice above, I e-mailed Leica and I actually got a reply. The story gets more interesting. After I wrote to them to complain they said:

_____

(April 27, 2001)

Dear Sir:
I'm very sorry to hear of your bad experience with a Leica lens. Please supply me with the serial number of the lens in question, so that I can check into the repair history. If you are still within your 3 year passport warranty, I am certainly willing
to replace a lens which has required service twice during its' warranty
period. Kindly send the serial number at your earliest convenience, and I will be in contact with you.
Sincerely,
B. Olesin
Customer Service Manager
Leica Camera Inc.
156 Ludlow Ave.
Northvale, NJ 07647
phone (201) 767-8303 x225
fax (201) 767-3438

______

I was encouraged but I was worried it was too good to be true. They asked for more info so I provided it.

______

On May 3, they responded

Dear Sir:
Your e-mail has been sent to the technical service department in Solms for handling, as the lens was purchased in Hong Kong, not here in the United
States.
Sincerely,
Brenda Olesin
_____

I gave them the usual 30 days grace period. It's June 11 today and still nothing. So as far as customer service goes, I'm "annoyed". I don't see how I can ever use the camera when it's busted. I'll give them another 30 days and this time, I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I shall just give them time to see if we can resolve this problem.

Contact Leica yourself!

You need to take some initiative and contact Leica yourself, not wait for Leica USA (who has nothing to do with your lens anyway) to do it. But what I forgot to mention before, was that if you took the lens back to the store where you bought it and got no satisfaction, you should get in touch with your country's Leica importer/distributor. If you still don't get anything there, THEN contact Leica Germany.

The Saga continues

I've been in contact with so many different Leica departments, it's absurd. Not to mention that they do a damn good job of passing me off from one person to another.

Well a new development has emerged. It turns out that the store I bought it from, an authorized dealer named Kinefoto (avoid this store for any of you in Hong Kong) "fixed" the lens on its own without the Leica technicians knowing. That's what Leica HK says anyway. Who knows what the hell the truth is anymore? Everyone just keeps lying to theVooner.

Anyway, as a result, they voided my damn warranty and totally screwed me in possibly getting a new lens. BUT, the distributor here agreed to look at my lens regardless of what was done. So I took it in.

Well they called me last week to tell me that my lens was now "fixed" because those authorized dealers had fixed it "wrongly".

Thus, my saga continues. I get back the lens this week and I guess I'll try it. But with my new Sony DSC-S85 and my past problems, have I doomed myself with the M6 before I even begin?

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