M6 meter acting slightly weird

[Toni Nikkanen]

I've tried searching for a solution to this but mostly people seem to have other kinds of problems with the meter than this one:

I just recently got myself a M6, and it's been working fine for but one small thing - the meter is sometimes erratic. Most of the time it meters in a sensible manner, but sometimes when I begin metering, the meter only shows the left-side LED arrow regardless of how much I open the aperture or where I point it at. I'm not yet exactly sure whether just waiting for a while makes it work fine or is it the constant fiddling of shutter speed and aperture. For a while I thought the problem was centered around the shutter speed 1/125 but now I'm no longer convinced of that.

I've tried cleaning the battery contacts and changing the batteries - the old ones metered at 2.8V and the new ones at 3.1V, but this did not change the behaviour. Any chance that cleaning the gold plated contacts in the film chamber would be helpful? I've got a film loaded right now, which is why I haven't tried it yet.

Any ideas what I should try next?

 

[Gary Sandhu]

Try metering a scene with known EV and see if the meter is accurate. If this is a M6 Classic, all lights go out if you're a couple of stops off; the M6 TTL always has at least ome arrow on.

 

[Toni Nikkanen]

Try metering a scene with known EV and see if the meter is accurate. If this is a M6 Classic, all lights go out if you're a couple of stops off; the M6 TTL always has at least ome arrow on.

I can do that, but I don't see how it would helpful in removing the problem that sometimes the metering is off by several stops and a few seconds later it's at least sufficiently OK, when metering the same scene..
It's the classic M6 or so I figure, since it has 2 and not 3 metering leds in the viewfinder.

 

[Gary Sandhu]

I suggested that not ad a solution to your problem but instead as further clarification of some ambiguity in the post. In that case, perhaps cleaning the contacts might help and failing that, I'd just take out the batteries and forget about the meter and either guess or use a handheld meter. If you just bought it, I'd suggest returning it.

 

[timpppa]

Hi!

Does it behave similarly if you change the ISO?
Best place to ask advice in Finland is

Kamerahuolto Mustonen & Laine Oy
http://www.saunalahti.fi/kamerahu/

 

[Paul Connet]

I've tried cleaning the battery contacts and changing the batteries - the old ones metered at 2.8V and the new ones at 3.1V, but this did not change the behaviour. Any chance that cleaning the gold plated contacts in the film chamber would be helpful? I've got a film loaded right now, which is why I haven't tried it yet.

Any ideas what I should try next?

Hi Toni,
Try rotating the ISO dial on the back through its range a few times and see if that cleans the contacts sufficiently.
It works for me when my M6 has sat unused for a long while and gets funky with exposure measurements.

Regards, Paul C.

 

[Toni Nikkanen]

Hi Paul and all,

I've tried going through the ISO dial several times. I also tried other things and found that the problem seems centered on the shutter speed dial, as if there's a slight contact problem there. If I set it at 1/125s in a situation where the meter should really indicate over-exposure (pointed at a lamp at f/1.4) and when it doesn't indicate over-exposure, then in that situation, if I give the shutter speed dial even the lightest touch, much less than is required to move the dial even a bit towards the next or previous click, the meter starts displaying over-exposure ie. the right-side arrow lights up. If I keep giving it the lightest possible touch, the arrows in the finder light up and fade as I touch and remove my touch.

So I think this is the problem. As I bought the camera under warranty from a reputable dealer I can of course contact them and send it back, which I will, unless there's a really simple solution to this that I can do at home. This is because sending the camera back and forth to a foreign country means I am without a Leica body for a few weeks..

I already tried rotating the shutter speed dial all the way through the range several times. And yes I'm aware it has to be at a click-stop to give correct measurements. And I'm still going to check out those gold plated contacts inside the film chamber when I get the chance..

 

[Toni Nikkanen]

And changing the ISO doesn't seem to fix it.

 

[John Elder]

If it is under warranty simply get it fixed. Either there is a short circuit or the camera needs a new meter board. I had a similar problem with my M6 and Dag found a short circiut which was easliy fixed. Also change batteries one more time and use 2 silver oxide sr44 (1.5 volt ) batteries. Alkaline batteries are not reliable over the long haul. Silver Oxide batteries will give you constant voltage until they flatline and die.

 

[mdozier]

Toni,
I'm sorry to tell you this but the exact same thing you describe happened with my M6 when I got it a few years ago. I tried everything you mentioned and went through more batteries than I should admit (stupid but desperate).

I sent it to DAG and the circuit board was bad. After repairs, it has worked wonderfully ever since.

If it's still under warranty let them fix it.

Best of luck,
Matt

 

[Toni Nikkanen]

I've contacted the seller and will be sending the camera back for repairs or whatever is deemed necessary to get me a fully working M6. Luckily I haven't managed to sell my Bessa yet so I don't have to stop shooting while waiting for the camera to travel around 🙂

 

[dzerry]

Hello all, it's my first post on RF forum.

What would you say on the following symptoms on top of the irrational reading mentioned in the first post? My M6 meter sometimes refuses to light up after I cock the shutter. The only way to make it work again is to turn the shutter dial to B and back, which is, as far as I know, equal to turning the meter on and off.

dzerry

 

[mdozier]

Hello dzerry and welcome.
I'm not as expert as Tom and many of the others but I'll be happy to contribute my 2¢.

As I mentioned and discovered, my M6 circuit board was the culprit. I found some others with M6's who had similar experiences. Apparently this is a symptom of age for the circuit boards, somewhat rare but none the less not entirely uncommon.

Based on the fact that you can restore operation by switching it off and on it may possibly be the battery, I trust you've already changed it. Make sure you have changed it with a new one, I have run into batteries in out of the way shops that were too old.

Assuming you've changed the batteries and cleaned the contacts etc. then unfortunately the only thing I can offer from my experience is it may be the circuit board. As I mentioned, after mine was replaced it has performed flawlessly for several years.

Best of luck.
Matt