Hello Everyone New Here.

[Simon Larbalestier]

Welcome to the forum Mark.
Congrats on the M6 at a good price 🙂
For straps i'd agree with Peter about the Domke Gripper.

 

[Pablito]

For straps, my view is that the simpler the better. It's a matter of personal taste and your best bet is to actually try to find a store where you can compare them (nearly impossible these days). Having said that, I prefer the original Leica strap or the Upstrap. Neither is cheap (about twice the price of the Domke) but they are very plain and simple with no quick release gizmos to break or get caught on your clothes and a good non-slip shoulder pad. These straps are relatively thin too so they don't clutter up your camera bag - makes it easy to grap the camera and pull it out securely. Good luck.

 

[Marc-A.]

Welcome Mark and congratulations on your acquisition. Its a great camera. A word of caution though, this place is very bad for your wallet🙂

Welcome Mark! Btw Gid is damn right ... 😉
As for straps, lately I ordered at Gordy's one strap with neck pad for my M2 , and it's just perfect. You should try one (and it's cheap!)
Marc

 

[Alex Krasotkin]

Welcome on board, Mark! Congrats with purchase of Leica!

 

[Xmas]

The big shock is discovering you cannot load it! The little diagram on the baseplate is only for -40 below, the manual explains.

Noel

 

[markinlondon]

The big shock is discovering you cannot load it! The little diagram on the baseplate is only for -40 below, the manual explains.

Noel

I'm over 40 and I have no problems loading mine 🙂

 

[Xmas]

-40 below is the same in Centigrade or Farenhite, really cold.

It is a normal expression.

Noel

 

[markinlondon]

Sorry, Noel. I couldn't resist. I've always followed the loading diagram without incident, but then I'm naturally bad at reading manuals. Any idea why this is recommended for extremely low temperatures only?

 

[Xmas]

Mark

The manual says only use the diagram when it is cold enough to shatter the film.

The manual says when the film is ok to bend - take the film through the prongs until it touches the far side of the take up chamber wall. This way the film is held at two locations when the basket pushes it into place and to a degree crimps the prongs on to the the film more tightly, less chance of slipping before more film is wound on top, and is secured by friction.

If I dont use the manual technique the film slides through the prongs - sometimes. I try and avoid the thinner fiilms as they are worse. I have two Ms both annoying unless you use the official method.

Noel

P.S. on another topic I was going to make up a cap for my inverted hood (glue and plastic) if I made up two would you want one, it wont have leitz on it...

 

[markinlondon]

Oh! I stand amazed. I really should RTFM more often. I've also been very lucky in never having a misload in all these hundreds of rolls without ever really thinking about what I'm doing (shove film in, slap on baseplate, fire two, take up slack, look for subjects).

On the P.S., oh yes please! My pockets are full of rattling hoods at present AND it's chipping the enamel that I carefully touched up.