M6 or...?

[BobYIL]

Bob
That's what I thought thanks for clarifying that
Hopefully I will get to the point where I can trust sunny 16 and my own eye. But for now I find the light meter to be helpful especially as I shoot primarily slide film

Thanks
Nik

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Nik, it really is easier than most people think it as to be.. I am sure a lot of members in these forums would not need a lightmeter under daylight. I got a used M1 when I was freshman, with an Elmar 2.8 and a rangefinder attached to the flash shoe. No money left for a light meter. We were buying HP3 in 30m rolls to save cost. In six months I remember I was shooting with no off exposure, all within the "printable" latitude of the HP3. Two years later I was able to guess with slide film under moonlight up to 15min. at f2.8. It is logarithmic, always double makes a palpable difference so one gets used to it in time. Try to guess the exposure and then check it via your meter. Do it for a couple of months then you will see. With film you may disregard half-stops..

The advantages: you set the aperture and shutter while walking, ready all the time to press the button simply by raising the camera to your eye.

Bob

 

[roboflick]

********************
Nik, it really is easier than most people think it as to be.. I am sure a lot of members in these forums would not need a lightmeter under daylight. I got a used M1 when I was freshman, with an Elmar 2.8 and a rangefinder attached to the flash shoe. No money left for a light meter. We were buying HP3 in 30m rolls to save cost. In six months I remember I was shooting with no off exposure, all within the "printable" latitude of the HP3. Two years later I was able to guess with slide film under moonlight up to 15min. at f2.8. It is logarithmic, always double makes a palpable difference so one gets used to it in time. Try to guess the exposure and then check it via your meter. Do it for a couple of months then you will see. With film you may disregard half-stops..

The advantages: you set the aperture and shutter while walking, ready all the time to press the button simply by raising the camera to your eye.

Bob

Bob
Thanks
I will start doing that!
Nik

 

[_larky]

Ye, sunny 16 is dead simple. After a few minutes playing you'll be spot on, it's really quite incredible.

 

[inSIGHT]

Thank you, Joey, those websites were exactly what I was looking for.

 

[menos]

I understand, that this will be your first Leica.
My first Leica has been a M6 classic in silver chrome with a rather late date of manufacture (~1996).

I bought it in mint condition without the often seen zinc corrosion bubbles (the M6 is build with a different material, leading with many cameras to ugly zinc bubbles - try to find a sample, that has none and it very likely will stay that way).

Make sure, to buy from a dealer with a warranty, so after really testing, there will be a coverage of issues (shutter speeds, meter, light leaks, …).

I would pick a silver chrome model over a black chrome one, as these age much, much nicer (given, you want to keep and use the M6 for some decades).

I would go for a classic M6 with the smaller dial and usually slightly lower price in equal condition - you loose TTL flash metering (but still have TTL metering for your internal exposure meter).
The M6 classic also has one of the most simplistic and beautiful exposure meters in that it is displayed with just two glowing LED arrows, which indicate spot on exposure with equally bright glowing, while you can still estimate half stop differences or finer when learning, "how it glows".

The newer Leica meters are not this nice in my opinion. They do read more sensitive in very low light, but even with a less sensitive M6 meter you easily can guess light differentials by reading on a brighter spot in the scene and guesstimating a exposure compensation.

Look for any affordable (low hundreds USD) lens for starters, as which focal length, which rendering, … are infinitely exhaustive questions, better asked and answered after getting comfortable with the camera system first.

One can really get lost into these questions and collect many samples of different lenses of the same focal length and never find THE ONE or one can be pragmatic, buy a nice 35 Cron or Lux and forget about this entirely.

If you have locked down a focal length and speed and do buy a Leica lens, you can be quite sure, to not loose any money in the progress, as mostly Leica gear keeps (or grows) value pretty nicely.
You could in fact end up with a very, very nice surprise in a shoe box in the attic of the house of your grand grand children ;-)

Good luck with the buy and enjoy!