M2 or M6 for next purchase?

M2 or M6 for next purchase?

  • M2 - built to last a lifetime

    Votes: 177 46.1%

  • M6 - meter and 28mm framelines are a bonus

    Votes: 183 47.7%

  • Neither - and let me explain why!

    Votes: 24 6.3%
  • Total voters
    384
I read virtually none of this, my not so biased opinion - m2 with a descent light meter. I have had the m6 for a couple of months now and just got my m2 two days ago - so much nicer. The looks, the feel, the fact that it is meterless. Beautiful, now I know why some collect those.

martin
 
undecided

undecided

i started with an m6 classic; black chrome last november.
recently purchased a m2; 1962.

they compliment each other perfectly.
i can see how with the m2 there is less clutter in one's mind.
using the handheld meter there is less tendency to constantly meter
while street shooting.

i can't really choose between the 2.
 
I also haven't read the entire thread. With respect to the built to last a lifetime, there is at leat one issue with the M2 that you won't find with later models. There is a single brake to stop the shutter. The M3 has two. I think the M4 onwards does it completely different. The M2 brake is apparently more fidgety, and can wear over time.
 
My first choice would be the Leica M4-P you get the 28mm framelines and no on board meter. I find you get better readings from an incident meter.

Your plan B would be the M2 and run with an external viewfinder for 28mm.
 
Al Kaplan, I have a button rewind M2 and the break is apparently weaker now. It's not like i'm making **** up to be contrarian. I'm not suggesting all M2s are going to fall apart. I hope you aren't suggesting all M2s won't fall apart because yours hasn't.
 
No, funkaoshi, not all of any Leica model will last forever without having problems at some point. If you don't give them enough excercise the lubricants gum up. Too much use can case wear. Springs can lose power or break, and so on.

All I can tell you is that this M2 was purchased used at Browne's Photo Center in Miami by a photographer I knew back then. He used it to shoot the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Four years later it was owned by another customer at Browne's and she covered both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions in Miami Beach in 1972. I bought if from her. At some point a few years later it got a CLA and I had the flash synch sockets changed to M4 style. I put a new skin on it from Cameraleather a few years ago because the original vulcanite was falling apart. One of the cameras I used at those 1972 conventions, my M2-R, is still in regular use also. The various versions of the M2 are as sturdy and well made as the M3 versions of that era.
 
a M2 in good shape with CLA could cost you as much as a not so good shape M6 .72.

I used to have M2/3/4/5/6, and the 35mm frameline on M2 will really make you happy.

after years, I've sold my M4 and M5, I keep M3 because it's 50mm frameline and M2 because it's 35mm Frameline. I keep M6 and again brought another ttl type beause the easy and very accurate metering system.

recently I brought another M2-R because of the easy loading.

In your case I would chose M2, it cost you less than $500 now adays on the bay and since you are familiar with LTM camera, you don't really need a building meter.
 
Get a Canon Model P w/ a "quicker load" kit for $300 and a hand-held meter and spend the rest of your money on a fine lens!
 
Suggestions for a good incident meter? I want to start using my IIIc more and I could see getting really anal with one.
 
I like incident meters, since long ago using the Invercone on my Weston Master IV! For many years I've been content with the Gossen Super Pilot SBC (along with my M2 of course!), a smaller pocketable cousin of the large Luna Pro. I prefer a null-reading needle for speed of use.
 
The M2 in my possession is getting better all the time in my hands.

Since, as far as M-type RFs go, my Hexars are speed demons in terms of film-loading/reloading and the like, I've gotten away from fretting about the M2's film-loading regimen (in fact, I'm getting good at reloading at a reasonable pace), and really appreciating some of the camera's straight-ahead design characteristics (one-frameline-at-a-time VF, better egonomics on account of there being no self-timer lever, etc.). At the risk of starting an online barroom brawl, I'd almost regard the M2 as a triple-distilled version of the M3. (I almost brought the M2 with me tonight to Galapagos for a shoot; I could've put the Metz 34 CS-2 flash on it, and sync'd it with the PC cord, but having both Hexars and the little Contax with me was "going gunslinger" enough.)

Metering? I've got a Sekonic L-428; I think it was one of the very first SBC handhelds made, and also uses S76 silver-oxide cells, meaning no hunting for batteries. But, on a nice day, I only need to take one quick reading, and I'm basically good for the next several hours outdoors, with just a few changes now and again.


- Barrett
 
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Robert,

I have both a M2 and a M6TTL. Handling wise, I prefer the M2, except for the loading, I take my M2 out more often now than my M6TTL. However, for some shoots like stage work, I'll take the M6TTL, as it has the 135 frameline too. If you're a 35/50/90 shooter, then buy the M2. If you like 28/75/135 as well, buy the M6.

Charlie
 
M2 or M6

M2 or M6

Robert,

I have both a M2 and a M6TTL. Handling wise, I prefer the M2, except for the loading, I take my M2 out more often now than my M6TTL. However, for some shoots like stage work, I'll take the M6TTL, as it has the 135 frameline too. If you're a 35/50/90 shooter, then buy the M2. If you like 28/75/135 as well, buy the M6.

Charlie
 
I am new to RF's and to this forum. I purchased an M3 and now is at Sherry K for a deep CLA... In the pipeline, there is a 50/2 and a 35/2 coming up; I wish that my M3 would accommodate the 35 frame line though... What would you recommend? Get an M2?
 
Next1, there were special versions of some Leica 35mm lenses made specifically for the M3, with attached viewfinder modifiers sometimes called goggles. Look at early M-mount Summaron or Summicron. These lenses bring up the 50mm framelines but magnify them so as to show the proper field of view for the 35mm lens.
 
Thank you Doug, I was trying to know if is an option besides that and/or an external viewfinder... like modifying something. Ooops, did I say something bad?? I'm trying to keep it as light as possible and a 35/2 with eyes is an extra expense. The lens that I will get is a newer black version without eyes though... If somebody wants an M3 SS, newly CLA'd in exchange for an M2?
 
I see some of you guys are recommending the M4-P. So I guess this one is an OK model, too, despite the fact that it is made in Canada (except, as I understand it, for the last 1000)? If you guys absolutely say that the M4-P can be trusted build-wise and that it is up to normal Leica standards (i.e. German standards), then I will budget for that.

I'd consider also the M6 but I read on Cameraquest that the VF is cluttered. Is that the same for the M4-P?

Tnx.
 
The M4-P VF is as cluttered as the one of the M6 and all later models with frame-lines for 28/90 + 35/135 + 50/75. Only differences are the larger 50mm frame-lines in the M4-P (like the preceding models) and the 75mm "frame-lines" are only 4 corners.
 
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