Leica M6 CL or Minolta CLE I am going crazy

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gregarpp

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I have a CL CLE and Leica M6 in front of me.
I have been playing with them all day..

I cannot decide. There are many good and points with all of them...

CLE has A mode, nice bright finder and compact body

CL has compact solid body, shutter speed in viewfinder but dimmer finder.

M6 has nice finder, solid build but not shutter speed and plain arrows for exposure.

My most common lens will be the 90mm.. then the 50mm. sometimes (rare 28mm)

Any other suggestions.. Pros/Cons?? I want to keep them all, then I would have no money for nice glass.
 
What F-Stop on the 90? At F4, all the cameras will be fine. F2.8 is "pushing" it on the CL and CLE. Of the cameras in front of you, the 0.72x M6 will be the best for using the telephoto lenses.
 
Yes, That will save me from suggesting the M3.

Stick with the M6 0.85x for telephoto lens work. I love the 90mm framelines of the M3 with its 0.91x finder. The 0.85x is close. Even if you stick with the 90/4, which is easily handled by the CL or CLE RF baselength, the generous size of the framelines of the M6 is a big benefit.
 
another vote for the .85x m6. for the rare occasions when you use a 28, use an accessory viewfinder like the zeiss ikon 28/25 finder, the voigtlander 28, or voigtlander 28/35.
 
The 90 on the CL would need to be stopped down to f4 in order to have
accurate focus. Like the others, I say get the M6.
 
This has been on my mind for a while.

The Leica CL is, well, a Leica (sort of). Battery-independent shutter. Really small. Convenient strap lugs, IMO (some hate this aspect of the camera, though). TTL metering via potentially fragile mechanism. Cheapest of the bunch, but perhaps not as cheap as it should be.

The Minolta CLE is All The Above and More: more-precise electronic shutter (which needs a battery, alas). TTL ambient and flash metering. Aperture-priority AE. 28mm framelines (yay!). 40mm instead of 50mm framelines (not-so-yay! IMO). Swing-open back (like my Hexars!). Cheaper than a M6 TTL (but not by as much as it oughtta be).

Leica M6: well, it's a Leica (for real). If I could possibly swing the coin for a user TTL version, i'd take it in a heartbeat over All Of the Above, as a truly silent partner to my Hexars (which aren't crazy-noisy, but...well, you know what I mean).


- Barrett
 
M6. Why? 6 different framelines in the viewfinder (not all at once, of course, but you know what I mean), framelines for all the lenses that I'm really interested in (35/50/75/90), choice of black or chrome that are actually available at a decent price, etc. If I had my way (and I will eventually, but not any time soon) I'd have an M3 and an M6 Classic. The M6 Classic would get the 35 and 75mm lenses and the M3 would get the 50 and the 90.
 
M6.

I think of mechanical M bodies as being "bread and butter" cameras; always have a basic camera or two around before you expand into the more exotic stuff. In Nikon SLRs, a parallel would be the F2 and F3 - a F3 is nice to have, but the F2 is the battle-axe.

That, and the comments I've seen about long-term repairability of CLE electronics scare me (if they're true).
 
35/50/75/90/135

I didn't notice the M6 has framelines for a 75mm lens.
I have a 75mm lens, but it is screwmount. Will I be able to get an adapter for 75mm framelines? I have only seen 28/90 35/135 and 50mm.
 
Thats even better.. I will probably keep the M6.
The CLE seems rather hard to find.. and mine is near perfect. I was a bit leary about selling it, as I will probably never find one the same again.
 
Naturally the m6 is the keeper.
I have a CL and its perfectly usable even with a bad meter.
One suggestion is to think about the summicron 40-C, a great lens made for the CL that works fine on the m6. You can modify it to bring up the 35 framelines on the m6 if you like. Its also a very good bargain.
 
when doubts reach panic my suggestion is take them all. Glass can wait, and besides, may be you are the kind of photog that uses mostly normal lenses. My only reservations is the CL vs CLE. The only advantage of CL is that it will be easier to fix it. For the rest IMO is inferior on all counts, including a quirk I dislike particularly: the position of lugs (sorry for the sidereal Nakamura which has not yet a CLE). So if you don't mind the risk, drop the CL and take M6 and CLE, which are two different beasts and complete each other
Good luck
Pistach
 
M3 M6 Cle...

M3 M6 Cle...

I had a chance this past weekend to shot some film...

M6 M3 and CLE..

Used 90mm 75mm and some 40mm.

I am liking the M3 with the 90mm and 75mm lens.
I guessed the 75mm framelines...
The M3 is a SS with frameline preview and DOF marks..
The CLE is great with the 40mm with built in meter.

I am not sure about the M6... The camera is nice, but the meter is not much, and the viewfinder is not as good as the M3.

This was so much easier with my Minolta SLR. maxxum 9 with 85mm/1.4 Bright and clean 100% viewfinder, what else could I ask for???
 
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