Leica History: Prototype M6E

how do these prototypes get out to the public? i'd think they're locked away in the company's museum or something.
 
Interesting camera... I wonder how close that came to being the m7. The swing out back and the body's flat front with the sharp front corners and more rounded corners to the rear remind me of the cle and ZI body shape, and the shutter speed/shutter release combo also looks minolta to me. Not a bad looking camera, but certainly would have changed the current heritage.
 
Now that's a collectors camera, Twenty eight thousand euros!

I wonder if after they made it they looked at the results, and thought "Oh God, Not another M5 - just stick a meter in the M4-P please", anyway, Thanks for the link. really interesting
 
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I guess it's the ghost of the M5 that makes Leica chicken out at the last minute, after prototypes such as this get produced and tested, when the brass passes the camera around the boardroom table, takes a long, hard look, then collectively shudders: "Gotterdammerung...are we really going to make this thing?"

I remember the rumors about the Hexar RF supposedly being the prototype for the M7, and that Leica decided to pull the plug on that for unknown reasons, and Konica deciding to put the thing out themselves. I didn't (and still don't) put a lot of stock in that particular tale, but seeing something like this show up makes me wonder...


- Barrett (wishing I had a Lexus to sell for this)
 
SolaresLarrave said:
Thanks for posting! That's an interesting camera to look at. I wonder what the lever in the back is for...
Click to expand...

On the XE-7 that lever was to open and close the viewfinder eyepiece blind, but obviously that wasn't an issue here. Based on the symbols next to it, I'd guess it was a spot/average switch for the metering system. IIRC, the Leica R4 had this feature, actuated by sliding a lens over the meter cell in the camera base, so it would have been natural to include it on the prototype as well.
 
ddutchison said:
Now that's a collectors camera, Twenty eight thousand euros!
Click to expand...

And that's just the opening bid -- estimated range is 30,000 - 50,000, plus a 22.5% buyer's premium!

As I posted on the RF list, for that kind of money you probably could have your own "prototype" built from scratch!
 
mac_wt said:
Do you think Leica feeds these to the collectors to fund the research for the MD/M8?

Wim
Click to expand...

I was thinking about that too...
 
The switch on the back is switching for spot and 'full frame' metering. (just a guess)
They just could not walk away from the "swinging meter cell". A pity.
And why oh why did they not use the swing back. The bottom loading is classical, but...
 
"They just could not walk away from the "swinging meter cell". A pity.
And why oh why did they not use the swing back. The bottom loading is classical, but..."

Yes its funny that they still persist with a swing arm in their metering system BUT it doesnt actually look like a meter cell but rather a reflecter down to the meter cell. You would have thought since they borrowed so much from Minolta that they would have mentioned how to put white spots on the curtains to reflect light to the meter cell that they had just developed for the CLE the year before. Since the M6 does reflect off the cutain for its metering it may be that feature which made Leica go with a different design which is the M6 we have today. Traditional rear loading in an M would have been nice. Overall I think the camera isnt too bad at all.

The compact 28mm lens looks unusual. BUT its not of the same vintage as the camera. the way the E46 is written and the fact that the lens is labelled Leica not Leitz and Elmarit-M that this lens must be the prototype of the last Elmarit 28mm prior to the 28mm Summicron being released. So I suspect that the optics of this 28mm Elmarit and the last one recently discontinued are one and the same. The way the top and bottom of the front element are masked off makes it look quite different.

Thanks for posting the link, I found looking at the camera quite fascinating.
 
Leica_Magus said:
Not really... I don't think 40 or 50 thousand euros or even 100,000 constitutes serious funding for that type of research and development.
Click to expand...

I still hope Leica gets the big bucks and not someone who decided not to return a sample, or some former employee who took it home. It must be hard for a company that has financial problems to see its older products being resold on the second hand market for more than their initial price (all those special editions or small production batches).
And at the same time seeing that products from the fifties trough the ninties are so durable that they are competing with their current products...

Wim
 
mac_wt said:
Do you think Leica feeds these to the collectors to fund the research for the MD/M8?

Wim
Click to expand...
Hardly...the starting bid for this particular prototype wouldn't have covered the lunch tab of the development team for that camera, let alone the full-boat development costs any upcoming Leica. Think boatloads of dM/Euros.

Sometimes I think the Leica brass let one of these loose for the sheer fun/schadenfreude of watching the resulting feeding frenzy, particularly now in the Age of eBay ("This'll get a rise out of those well-heeled nutcases", or something to that effect).


- Barrett ("Spare change for a four-off Leica?")
 
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Very interesting. It's like those "concept cars" you see at automobile shows. Some are actual cars (like this is an actual camera) and others are "mock ups".

What I find interesting is the Canadian "mark". Apparently the N.A. team was way too far ahead of what would be acceptable at German corporate HQ.
 
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