Leica M6 question - is Chris Weeks wrong.

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OM man

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Hi

Apologies in advance for the newbie Leica virgin question.

I was considering purchasing a classic Leica M6 as I believe it to be a fully mechanical camera with a built in meter?

I know that the body takes batteries but I always thought that they were only required to operate the meter and not the mechanical components of the camera.

Therefore, if there are no batteries you have no meter but otherwise the camera is still fully functional.

The reason for the question and confusion is that I was reading Chris Weeks’ Street Photography for the Purist. He is quite clearly an experienced Leica user (and lover!) and in the document he states:

“I prefer the Leica MP. It has a meter. Yes, it does. And it works quite nicely.

But … it’s not necessary to make a photograph.

Shutter speed.

F/Stop.

With a battery and, more importantly, without a battery.

The M6, M6 TTL or M7 or the Zeiss ZM many others … cannot claim this. One can only make exposures at 1/50th and 1/125th … or bulb with the
Leicas, at least. Emergency speeds as they call them.

I don’t want to be limited.”

Now from the above statement I am led to believe that if the batteries die the M6 shutter will only fire at 1/50 or 1/125. Is this correct?
 
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Chris Week was wrong there... Except for the M7, all film M Leica cameras are purely mechanically and all shutter speeds work without batteries. Only the M7 has the limitation to only two mechanical speeds (1/125s and 1/60s).
 
AFAIK, only the M7 is limited to 1/50 and 1/125. M6 should be fully functional.

What I cannot understand, however, is why it should pose such a big issue for anybody, especially mr. Weeks

He is not really shooting with it on a desert island, but rather in the urban jungle....
 
All Leica's operate ALL speeds without a battery except M7 (and of course the digital M's). One really needs to be prepared with the M7. The batteries are not as easy to find as other camera batteries and they don't last as long. But if you are prepared your reward is a superior meter and a quieter shutter.
 
Just as i thought - thanks for clearing that up.

I am amazed that a M6 owner and Leica nut could make such a comment.

I do like Chris Weeks' photography, his pdfs and the recent videos, however, i did laugh when i saw him demonstrating street photography with the M9 after the comments he made about the need for B&W film to shoot street and de-saturated digital files....

What next?
 
OM man said:
What next?
Click to expand...

Next is the realization that the no-batteries all-mechanical film camera is overrated, because you can fit ten spare sets of batteries in the same space of one spare can of film.

That said, the M5 will work without batteries, too. The meter won't of course. Either way I've found myself without film much more often than without a battery, which has happened exactly once. If I had had a fully automatic camera, I would have brought a spare set of batteries. That way I didn't and had to go without a meter for a couple of days because the M5 takes rather rare batteries. Great experience shooting slide film in a Leica using a digital compact as a spot meter, I tell you. It's always educational when you realize that it's your own fault. Here's two pictures from those couple of days:

U4985I1227051319.SEQ.0.jpg

U4985I1227051321.SEQ.0.jpg


(EDIT: Your preferences for colours and fonts makes your posts really hard to quote. 😉)
 
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kshapero said:
All Leica's operate ALL speeds without a battery except M7 (and of course the digital M's). One really needs to be prepared with the M7. The batteries are not as easy to find as other camera batteries and they don't last as long. But if you are prepared your reward is a superior meter and a quieter shutter.
Click to expand...
If you buy the batteries in bulk (say 10 at a time) in places like zbattery.com you'll never have a problem. The Sanyo CR 1/3N are excellent.
 
OM man said:
Just as i thought - thanks for clearing that up.

I am amazed that a M6 owner and Leica nut could make such a comment.

I do like Chris Weeks' photography, his pdfs and the recent videos, however, i did laugh when i saw him demonstrating street photography with the M9 after the comments he made about the need for B&W film to shoot street and de-saturated digital files....

What next?
Click to expand...

Wellm you will find a lot more silly comments from 'experts' the more you learn. It boggles the mind how many factual errors are reported, how many people comment on kit they have never used (but imply they have) or brand biases surface. Chris weeks has evidently not used the other Leica's therefore his assertion the MP is the best rings a bit hollow doesn't it? If he had used them he would know the M6 and TTL have fully mechanical shutters. I have M6 and MPs and think the MP is somewhat nicer and feels more solid, but the M6 is better value and does the same job albeit with a slightly less good finder. The Mp is wonderful if you can afford it...
 
Turtle said:
Wellm you will find a lot more silly comments from 'experts' the more you learn. It boggles the mind how many factual errors are reported, how many people comment on kit they have never used (but imply they have) or brand biases surface.
Click to expand...

There is a lot of excellent information out there but at the same time so much crap from these so called experts. For a newbie sifting through it all can be such pain!

Turtle said:
Chris weeks has evidently not used the other Leica's therefore his assertion the MP is the best rings a bit hollow doesn't it? If he had used them he would know the M6 and TTL have fully mechanical shutters.
Click to expand...

If you look at the exposure journal at the end of the Street Photography for the Purist a number of the photographs are claimed to have been taken with the M6 and M6TTL!
 
OM man said:
There is a lot of excellent information out there but at the same time so much crap from these so called experts. For a newbie sifting through it all can be such pain!

If you look at the exposure journal at the end of the Street Photography for the Purist a number of the photographs are claimed to have been taken with the M6 and M6TTL!
Click to expand...

Probably he just changed the battery when he was getting a low battery warning. That way he noticed that the camera would have continued working. Of course that way he could have used an M7 too, apparently all the stuff about mechanical cameras was just posturing if he never had a problem with it.
 
Yeah I just noticed the M6/M6TTL discrepancy (I only just read it). I agree that it's a bit tongue-in-cheek that he's now a very proud M9 owner. Overall, I felt the entire article was a bit self-serving and also a bit heavy on the F-words. I know this is about the 'street' and such but even when I write like I talk I edit myself a little bit. 😀

I wonder if he's considering issuing a revised version of his 'purist' street photog credo.
 
i prefer mechanical camare too ,only because that i love mechanic but not the reason that the non-mechanical one will not work without batteries....

you can always prepare a spare batter for this issue .
 
Chris Weeks is a good friend of mine. We talk cameras and everything photographic at Saint Starbucks aka the patron Saint of Caffeine.

His personal film cameras include a Leica M3, M6TTL, and MP. Chris' quoted statement in post # 1 was just a typo. No big deal. It happens when you write a lot working long hours like he does. And it certainly has happened too many times to me.

So don't make the mistake of thinking Chris doesn't know Leicas or rangefinders. Chris is one of the few people in the US who enjoys a lucrative income from his Leica M work.

Stephen
 
I can only enjoy his street photography for the purist pdf if I skip the parts written by him. the photos are much better than the words by far. But I assume that is why he's a photographer, and not a writer.
 
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