Nigel Meaby
Well-known
Yep that's a first version Elmar. They typically sell on Ebay for £200-£300. If you like the vintage Leica lens look, it's a lens to go for, otherwise I would pass it by... unless it's a bargain 😀
Any tips on what to look out for in a M6 Classic?
- Thread starter kennylovrin
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baisao
Established
You're going to use a flash with your M6? I recon most people do not.
denizg7
Well-known
i would actually buy a roll of film and take sample shots of an object and test the system (lightmeter , focusing) and then get it devoloped and if all is well than buy it
sanmich
Veteran
JS,
when I buy face to face (read cash), I do check whatever I can on the spot.
I never tested with a film, because I think I can spot most major problems, but I once sold an M6 and the guy did run a film through it before buying, and I thought this was totally normal.
You are right, most people are honest, but these are expensive cameras to repair... (and whilst 99% people are honest, some are not aware of the issues of their camera, specially after the proverbial 30 cupboard years)
funkydog
Well-known
The Leica is just a camera. No need for the existence of a Leica Taliban to fatwa what can and cannot be done with it.
maddoc
... likes film again.
Since you have / had an R-D1 then you should have at least one lens for the M6. Best to run a roll of E6 (color-slide) film through the camera under different light conditions to be sure that there is no problem. I also bought an M6 (classic) after having owned an R-D1s for some time. 🙂
ramosa
B&W
ditto what gabor said. i recently picked up an M6. it is immaculate, but i didn't feel completely settled until i had developed a test roll.
baisao
Established
Your original comment:
Your edited comment:
I certainly have no concern with what you can and cannot do with your camera. If you want to take flash photos of your colon, by all means do so. I even encourage you to stick it there! My comment was meant to be helpful to the OP, not to tell him what to do. Comparing my innocent comment to the Taliban, while amusing, is absurd. Be helpful or troll someplace else.
Your edited comment:
I certainly have no concern with what you can and cannot do with your camera. If you want to take flash photos of your colon, by all means do so. I even encourage you to stick it there! My comment was meant to be helpful to the OP, not to tell him what to do. Comparing my innocent comment to the Taliban, while amusing, is absurd. Be helpful or troll someplace else.
kennylovrin
Well-known
i figured i might as well share the short story of how i "found" this camera. right now i'm not so sure it's of much interest to anyone, but as i mentioned i would do it here we go. 😉
so i had actually put out an ad for my r-d1 at the biggest online used items market in sweden. this site is quite interesting in the sense that all kinds of crap gets sold and purchased there, and if you sell something you'll always have someone either wanting to exchange it for sofa of telling you they'll pick it up tonight if they can get if for half the price you're asking.
anyway, i got this email from a guy asking in very general terms if i wanted to make a switch for anything camera/studio related. kind of like saying "i have it all". so i somewhat jokingly said "not really, but if you have a leica m6 i would consider it" to which he comes back and says "i do in fact have a black m6".
so i asked him about this camera, what condition it was in and such, but didn't get any real answers. instead he said "it's easier if we meet and check out each others cameras". up until then i had taken it for granted he was far away from me geographically, so i replied just that - "i thought you're living far away from me" kind of indirectly expecting and answer along the lines of "no, i live in XXX". instead i got an answer saying "i'm going to malmö today, i can give you a call when i know more".
because i had already noted that he used a completely incomprehensible email address, which i don't particularly fancy, i started to get a bit suspicious at this point. i figured he was after my perfect body rather than being interested in a camera. 😉
this specific day, last sunday, we we're going out for the whole day though, so i told him he could give me a call and we'll just have to see if i was available. then my phone was on silent until the evening.
when i got back home i noticed i had a missed call from a protected number, and also an email from this guy saying he wanted some money on top of a potential exchange of cameras. his request wasn't unreasonable though. i didn't like the protected number thing though.
so at this stage i wrote him and asked if i had any form of receipt, box or such. then he went silent for several days and i was sure his plan had been to rob me of my camera and disappear. 🙂
but then after a few days i got another email from him where he apologized for the delay, saying that he could no longer make the switch due to unexpected expenses and that he needed to sell the m6 to finance a new water heater for the house. sounds a bit ridiculous at first i guess, but could very well happen.
i was still being suspicious though so i wrote him back and explained i was still interested because i had in fact sold the r-d1 in the meantime but that i was worried because he disappeared on me when i asked for receipt previously and the fact that i had asked him twice where he lived and had got no answer. he then answered me with the town he was living in and his phone number.
so i go on the swedish "yellow pages" and look up his number, and i get a postal adress that doesn't match what he wrote me. i try to look up the town and it doesn't exist, i look up the zip code and it's a town that didn't match the yellow pages or what he told me.
but then i started thinking "this is so elaborate that it just can't be true" and started really thinking about if it all could make sense. so this part might not make sense, but i live in south of sweden, and given the accent of a southerner, if you would say the name of the town where this guy lives to a non-southerner it could very well sound to them like the town that was registered for his number. so i figured this might have happened if he ever got a call from the yellow pages asking him to tell them his address to complete their register.
based on that i looked at the zip code again, and it was a bunch of number that was typical to get mixed up, so i "unmixed" them and it turns out that new number was indeed the town he had stated he lived in. also, if he did actually live there, it made sense for him to have an house, and a water heater of his own. 🙂
so i told him we could meet and i would check out the camera. he wrote me back saying that would work, then just 5 minutes later he called me. and now i could actually hear he didn't sound shady at all if that makes sense. it wasn't until now i managed to get him to send a picture of the camera.
so in the end i got his street address, i drove there and it turns out he has a typical small family in a typical swedish completely safe small town. the camera was in better shape than i expected and nothing seemed strange at all when i met him and saw the camera. he even tried to give me some film development equipment for free after we had talked for a bit.
so here's the funny part, at least to me, and that is that i think what happened was that because of this online site, people are suspicious. i was suspicious of him trying to snatch my stuff, and at the same time he was probably scared of me breaking into his house to steal his leica. 🙂 and in the end it turns out we are both normal, kind and honest people (at least that is what i like to believe 🙂)
so yeah, that's that. and now after owning the camera for just a few hours (i have actually slept in between the purchase and now) and shooting 10 frames i know why people so happily pay for a leica - it's that shutter sound. 😉
thanks,
kenny
so i had actually put out an ad for my r-d1 at the biggest online used items market in sweden. this site is quite interesting in the sense that all kinds of crap gets sold and purchased there, and if you sell something you'll always have someone either wanting to exchange it for sofa of telling you they'll pick it up tonight if they can get if for half the price you're asking.
anyway, i got this email from a guy asking in very general terms if i wanted to make a switch for anything camera/studio related. kind of like saying "i have it all". so i somewhat jokingly said "not really, but if you have a leica m6 i would consider it" to which he comes back and says "i do in fact have a black m6".
so i asked him about this camera, what condition it was in and such, but didn't get any real answers. instead he said "it's easier if we meet and check out each others cameras". up until then i had taken it for granted he was far away from me geographically, so i replied just that - "i thought you're living far away from me" kind of indirectly expecting and answer along the lines of "no, i live in XXX". instead i got an answer saying "i'm going to malmö today, i can give you a call when i know more".
because i had already noted that he used a completely incomprehensible email address, which i don't particularly fancy, i started to get a bit suspicious at this point. i figured he was after my perfect body rather than being interested in a camera. 😉
this specific day, last sunday, we we're going out for the whole day though, so i told him he could give me a call and we'll just have to see if i was available. then my phone was on silent until the evening.
when i got back home i noticed i had a missed call from a protected number, and also an email from this guy saying he wanted some money on top of a potential exchange of cameras. his request wasn't unreasonable though. i didn't like the protected number thing though.
so at this stage i wrote him and asked if i had any form of receipt, box or such. then he went silent for several days and i was sure his plan had been to rob me of my camera and disappear. 🙂
but then after a few days i got another email from him where he apologized for the delay, saying that he could no longer make the switch due to unexpected expenses and that he needed to sell the m6 to finance a new water heater for the house. sounds a bit ridiculous at first i guess, but could very well happen.
i was still being suspicious though so i wrote him back and explained i was still interested because i had in fact sold the r-d1 in the meantime but that i was worried because he disappeared on me when i asked for receipt previously and the fact that i had asked him twice where he lived and had got no answer. he then answered me with the town he was living in and his phone number.
so i go on the swedish "yellow pages" and look up his number, and i get a postal adress that doesn't match what he wrote me. i try to look up the town and it doesn't exist, i look up the zip code and it's a town that didn't match the yellow pages or what he told me.
but then i started thinking "this is so elaborate that it just can't be true" and started really thinking about if it all could make sense. so this part might not make sense, but i live in south of sweden, and given the accent of a southerner, if you would say the name of the town where this guy lives to a non-southerner it could very well sound to them like the town that was registered for his number. so i figured this might have happened if he ever got a call from the yellow pages asking him to tell them his address to complete their register.
based on that i looked at the zip code again, and it was a bunch of number that was typical to get mixed up, so i "unmixed" them and it turns out that new number was indeed the town he had stated he lived in. also, if he did actually live there, it made sense for him to have an house, and a water heater of his own. 🙂
so i told him we could meet and i would check out the camera. he wrote me back saying that would work, then just 5 minutes later he called me. and now i could actually hear he didn't sound shady at all if that makes sense. it wasn't until now i managed to get him to send a picture of the camera.
so in the end i got his street address, i drove there and it turns out he has a typical small family in a typical swedish completely safe small town. the camera was in better shape than i expected and nothing seemed strange at all when i met him and saw the camera. he even tried to give me some film development equipment for free after we had talked for a bit.
so here's the funny part, at least to me, and that is that i think what happened was that because of this online site, people are suspicious. i was suspicious of him trying to snatch my stuff, and at the same time he was probably scared of me breaking into his house to steal his leica. 🙂 and in the end it turns out we are both normal, kind and honest people (at least that is what i like to believe 🙂)
so yeah, that's that. and now after owning the camera for just a few hours (i have actually slept in between the purchase and now) and shooting 10 frames i know why people so happily pay for a leica - it's that shutter sound. 😉
thanks,
kenny
baisao
Established
That's a great story Kenny! I've met some suspicious people when buying/selling fishing gear using Craigslist. I suppose they are decent people but they always act shifty. Congratulations on the M6!
raphaelaaron
Well-known
Awesome story indeed. It's the best when you obtain a great camera with a story paired like that. Can't wait to see the pictures!
denizg7
Well-known
i paid a late m6 model in mint cosmetic condition last year for 1680 dollars. Had the original box , there wasnt even a tiny scratch on the body or anywhere. Kept it in the box for a year because i was busy with life.
Last week looked at my first roll. Also went to get it serviced. Focusing , Shutter Speed were extremely off
Last week looked at my first roll. Also went to get it serviced. Focusing , Shutter Speed were extremely off
crispy12
Well-known
I bulk roll my own film, so I always load a test roll of approx 10 shots to run through the camera on the same day.
Every person I've dealt with seemed very honest and friendly so I usually check the camera thoroughly on the spot. It's very easy with film cameras, except being unable to check focus accuracy. I just bring them home and shoot test shots on the way, developing and scanning the same day.
I suppose if I dealt with a shady character then I would run the roll and and buy it the next day after testing was fine.
Every person I've dealt with seemed very honest and friendly so I usually check the camera thoroughly on the spot. It's very easy with film cameras, except being unable to check focus accuracy. I just bring them home and shoot test shots on the way, developing and scanning the same day.
I suppose if I dealt with a shady character then I would run the roll and and buy it the next day after testing was fine.
baisao
Established
I got lucky with my M6 Classic from 1985. It was still in the hard-shell box, covered with the external card-stock box with matching serial number, instructions, and even a promotional sticker. I wasn't looking for mint in box but that is exactly what I received.
Times, focus, meter, mechanics...all of it... was to spec. It was like a time travelling DeLorean pulled up and Doc Brown himself handed it to me.
Sometimes, when it's late at night and I am shotting down at the mall, I feel like I am being followed by a blue and white VW microbus. But maybe it is only my imagination.
Times, focus, meter, mechanics...all of it... was to spec. It was like a time travelling DeLorean pulled up and Doc Brown himself handed it to me.
Sometimes, when it's late at night and I am shotting down at the mall, I feel like I am being followed by a blue and white VW microbus. But maybe it is only my imagination.
ramosa
B&W
kenny: that's--without question--the best story i have ever read on RFF. first, you are a very good story teller. second, you're sort of neurotic like me. (i mean that it a good way, i assure you!) third, your story refers to city names and regions where i've never been, but have wanted to visit for a few years. fourth, your story was suspenseful. until the last sentence, i really didn't know if you had gotten robbed by the mob or purchased a complete lemon of a camera +++ but, indeed, you did well--and don't you love the sound of the leica film shutters!
kennylovrin
Well-known
haha, thanks! that's very nice of you to say. and because of that i will reward everyone with some not so good photos of mine!! yay! 😉
i developed the first roll from the m6 today. the upside is that my mother had planned a surprise fish pedicure for us so i actually had something to shoot if not only for the memory of it, the downside is that i managed to mess up the negs quite bad by somehow getting more dust than photos onto them. 🙂 i've tried to clone as much as i could out of the shots.
here we go:
120929_006 by kennylovrin, on Flickr
120929_012 by kennylovrin, on Flickr
120929_025 by kennylovrin, on Flickr
i love shooting with the m6 already though, it's just great.
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