Rafael
Mandlerian
As some of you know, I have been hunting for a second M body to pair with my M4 for several months now. I shoot with a 50mm lens roughly 75% of the time, so I would like the second body to have a higher VF magnification than my M4. Up until a couple of nights ago, I was quite sure that I had settled on an M3. I found an auction on the 'bay for a great looking M3 that had been recently CLAd but just missed out on winning it. For the rest of that night and the following day, I was quite dissapointed at having lost the auction. But since then, I have come to realise that I am, in fact, slightly relieved that the M3 "got away." It took me a little while to figure out why I was feeling this way. I have come to the conclusion that I simply prefer black to silver cameras. Shallow, I know...
Anyway, I have been looking at other options for a second body that would get me a viewfinder with increased magnification and that I could get in black. My options seem to be M6, M6TTL, M7, or MP. Now the M6TTL and the M7 don't seem to pair well with my M4 because of the wrong way shutter speed dials. I would love to own a black 0.85 MP. But wouldn't we all? The price for those is just out of my league. So that leaves a black 0.85 M6 classic.
No local store has an M6. And I have never handled one personally. I like the idea of having a meter in the camera but not being absolutely dependant upon batteries. However, I have read many negative reviews of the older style 0.85x finders (I know that they can be swapped out for the newer MP finders). And I have also read about the different feel and (possibly?) lower build quality of M6s as compared with M3/M2/M4s. So I would be interested to hear from those of you who have used both an 0.85x M6 classic and an M3. What are your impressions of the differences in build quality between the two cameras? What has been your experience with the 0.85x VF? Are there other considerations that I am not taking account of?
Ultimately, the question is which camera would make the best partner for my M4: the M3 (despite my preference for black cameras) or the M6 (eventhough build quality is very important to me, as are aesthetic details such as the script on the M3 top-plate). Opinions?
Anyway, I have been looking at other options for a second body that would get me a viewfinder with increased magnification and that I could get in black. My options seem to be M6, M6TTL, M7, or MP. Now the M6TTL and the M7 don't seem to pair well with my M4 because of the wrong way shutter speed dials. I would love to own a black 0.85 MP. But wouldn't we all? The price for those is just out of my league. So that leaves a black 0.85 M6 classic.
No local store has an M6. And I have never handled one personally. I like the idea of having a meter in the camera but not being absolutely dependant upon batteries. However, I have read many negative reviews of the older style 0.85x finders (I know that they can be swapped out for the newer MP finders). And I have also read about the different feel and (possibly?) lower build quality of M6s as compared with M3/M2/M4s. So I would be interested to hear from those of you who have used both an 0.85x M6 classic and an M3. What are your impressions of the differences in build quality between the two cameras? What has been your experience with the 0.85x VF? Are there other considerations that I am not taking account of?
Ultimately, the question is which camera would make the best partner for my M4: the M3 (despite my preference for black cameras) or the M6 (eventhough build quality is very important to me, as are aesthetic details such as the script on the M3 top-plate). Opinions?
