Best M type camera ?

Best M type camera ?

  • M1

    Votes: 1 0.1%

  • M2

    Votes: 227 13.3%

  • M3

    Votes: 248 14.5%

  • M4

    Votes: 153 8.9%

  • M5

    Votes: 72 4.2%

  • M6

    Votes: 268 15.7%

  • M6TTL

    Votes: 157 9.2%

  • M7

    Votes: 155 9.1%

  • MP (new)

    Votes: 384 22.4%

  • MP (old)

    Votes: 11 0.6%

  • MD's

    Votes: 5 0.3%

  • Barnacks ( screwtype )

    Votes: 30 1.8%
  • Total voters
    1,711
This will hurt me more than it will hurt you :D ,
But I have a II, a IIIc, a IIIg, an M2, an M3, an M6, an M7, and the best one is...
(drumroll)
The M8.
Sorry, but it is simply amazing.
 
JohanV said:
This will hurt me more than it will hurt you :D ,
But I have a II, a IIIc, a IIIg, an M2, an M3, an M6, an M7, and the best one is...
(drumroll)
The M8.
Sorry, but it is simply amazing.
Click to expand...

YOU, sir, ARE qualified to vote :D !!

And while I will admit to being SLIGHTLY envious <ahem> I will say I am content and currently (mostly) GAS-free.

- John
 
If You have to care about the price and the funktionalety, I would vote for the M6 classic.
I do not understand why a couple of M fans critisize the M6 so badly after the MP was on the market.
We all used the M6 for more than 15 jears and the finder-flare of this camera (and also the M4-2 and M4-P) made problems in less than 5% of our pics...
Today you have the chance to built in a MP finder, and together withe the used market price of the M6, you pay less than half of the MP.
The built quality of an M6 classic is very good and the smoothness of all elements is maybe 5% rougher as with an MP but that is not such a big deal as a couple of people write about here or on other Leica sites.

It is strange, that the majority of the M users did not like the rewind procedere of the M2 or M3 and also they did not like the small speed dial at the older M´s, Leica developed the M6 TTL and the M7 with a bigger dial and in every test, people found it a real better way to adjust the speed....
And now, we all go back with the MP, we have the classic M2/3 rewind system and the small speed dial...isn´t it a strange thing.

From my point of view the MP is much over the top concerning the price range, it is a classic M6 with slightly developed hardware, a better rangefinder (maybe the strongest argument) and the small speed dial together with the very slow rewind system.

What I like most on the MP product range is Leica´s styling option with black paint - I alsways liked the blck painted Leicas and today you can just order a brad new cam with this beatyfull outfit.

Last week I bought a brad new Lhsa M6TTL for far less than half of the price of an MP - I don´t know the reason for this very good occassion, but I think it is the missing popularity of the M6...
So my dream of a black pinted M came true together with the fast rewind crank and the big speed dial - I love this camera.
For me it is not a collectors item, I will use it together with my silver M6 classic.

Regards
Ekki
 
Hell, I'll vote for the M6. (I just now did.) I think my vote is valid because I use an M3, M2, and M6, and I can extrapolate and interpolate to get a fairly accurate idea of the Ms which I haven't used.

My personal favorite is the M2, but I think the M6 may satisfy the most people if they use common horse sense and realize that the MP is but a glorified M6. (Note that 'P' is an upside down '6.' :D )

M6 rangefinder flare? Tilt the camera a few degrees and it goes away. Anyone who is seriously bothered by such a triviality should consider an auto-everything camera, not a rangefinder (which has evolved only minimally since emerging from the primordial slime).
 
I voted M4, but I meant the M4P. It is probably the most accomplished camera of the lot, with most of the newer features, whilst retaining the old build quality.
 
M5. Proud to root for the underdog that fits my big hands, that has the most intuitive meter readout of all the Ms, that allows me to change shutter speeds sensibly without taking my eye off the viewfinder, and that allows me (left-eyed) to advance the film without poking my right eye with the advance lever. It's little things like this that make it worthwhile every now and then to depart from what's basically a fossilized M3. ;););)
 
Last edited:
jaapv said:
I voted M4, but I meant the M4P. It is probably the most accomplished camera of the lot, with most of the newer features, whilst retaining the old build quality.
Click to expand...
The M4-P is essentially a meterless M6. I think most people would not agree that the M4-P retains the 'old build quality.' It may indeed be equal in quality to the M4, but the build quality is different from the M4.
 
I own anChrome .85 MP. I use to own an M6. I didn't sell the M6 to buy the MP. The M6 is for the money is probably the most practical of the M cameras. It has everything you'd ever want from a rangefinder. Is the MP really worth the extra money?Not from a purely practical point of view. Having said that , I like the stying of the MP better ( hate the red dot) and I personally like the rewind knob much more than the crank both in use and looks. The argument about the crank being faster I never understood. How many seconds faster could it be? Is the build quality of the MP better than the M6? Maybe, but used side by side I don't think that the M6 is going to wear out or give out any sooner than the M6.I like my MP a lot but if I couldn't afford it at the time that I bought it, I would have been real happy withan M6. I just would have bought one of the Black dots from DAG to replace the Red one. One thing that I really don't like is Black paint that is designed to wear off. Now that really seems silly to me. I'd take the more durable Black Chrome over it any day. Pretty soon Leica is going to be offering the pre-worn look, with the brass showing through on all the just right places. Of course that would be a much more expensive option.The true bottom line is, as has been so well said, the best Leica ever made is the one in your hand.
 
zinc was both an improvement over brass and a cost cutting measure. it's more impact resistant and protects the viewfinder optics better. a leica engineer didn't call zinc "wunderbar" for nothing. brass was only brought back when cnc machining lowered costs, first for commemoratives and then regular production. brass gets dinged a lot easier, but at least it has more cachet and you can paint it black.

the mp is still made according to the "right or replace" construction philosophy described on cq. as it happens, the m4-2 was the first camera leica made in this fashion.
 
Wait the M6, which was deemed as the "Worst Leica M Leica ever made" is in number two??

Explain this mystery to me?
 
Maybe it's not as "bad" as some suggest? I'll bet it's one of the more under-represented in this poll, because the poll #s don't show multiple ownership of any choice. I have two, a .72x and a .85x. I'd rate the .85x one of the best, maybe the best/my favorite, film body of all time, and I've owned quite a lot of Leicas, Nikons and others in 35+ years.

cmogi10 said:
Wait the M6, which was deemed as the "Worst Leica M Leica ever made" is in number two??

Explain this mystery to me?
Click to expand...
 
aizan said:
zinc was both an improvement over brass and a cost cutting measure. it's more impact resistant and protects the viewfinder optics better.
Click to expand...

I kinda hate to say kind things about zinc, but it has its benefits. I dropped an M6 from mid-chest height onto an oak floor (no carpet) a month ago. Landed on the RF/VF corner and dented the floor, but the camera was perfect. No dent, no crushing, no RF alighnment change, nothing. The camera was unscathed. Would not have been the case with brass, sadly...
 
I own Leicas using both brass top plates and zinc. To me, they feel the same while shooting.
Click to expand...
Ah, yeah, but having "zincing" on your camera doesn't carry the same weight with the posers as having "brassing" :D
 
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