M6 vs. M7 Longevity

M7

M7

I bought my M7 new in Aug 2009, ran 40+ rolls of film through it and have no problems thus far. I bought my MP new in June of this year, ran 3 rolls of film through it and the film advance indicator is stuck on frame "8". Go figure.....It does not re-set when I remove the bottom plate nor does it move when I advance the film.:mad: Oh well....
 
Yes, these things happen unfortunately. Assume you've sent it to Leica NJ or returned it through your dealer? I've used M6TTL, M7 and MP cameras and the only problems were with the M6TTL, but I still recommended that body to the OP. Can't generalize from a sample of one.
 
I have an 0.58 M6TTL with MP finder and very much like this camera, but when I was looking to buy AE, I decided to purchase the Zeiss Ikon over the M7. I've been happy with this decision in that I really love the viewfinder. In fact, I bought a second Ikon. The one downside is that the shutter is a bit noisier.
 
I had a call with Sherry K, and told me she saw some MPs with a lot of problems. She said DAG had problems too; he called her and said, "weren't these MP's supposed to be better built?" Her conclusion to me was, "spend your money on the M6, buy a lens with the cash you save, or buy another M6."
 
I have an early M6, serial #169xxxxx. The meter circuitry went out during the first year and was replaced at no charge. A few thousand rolls of film and several CLAs later, it runs very smooth.
 
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For reliability/longevity I would say M2, M6 then M7. The simpler the camera, the more reliable it is. Unless of course parts of it is glued by canadian balsam. :D
 
I I shot trannie film a M7 would make an awful lot of sense, but for neg film I dont think the AE is any benefit at all. In this case a M6 would save $1k and lose you nothing.

I get better exposures with my Ms and mono film than any auto system I use or have ever used. I know it well and now know that it wont twitch when I adjust composition as I have entered the reading. The prob with AE is that it decides what to do for you before you can decide what to tell it not to do if that makes sense. When I make errors with my MP/6s I tend to go over on exposure whcih is better than under with mono. I tend to find that when I make errors with my Eos system I tend to go under (zone metering being the cause). Now that I am used to the metering of the M, I found that I got better exposures with my EOS by going back to centre weighted and using AE lock... essentially mimicking the way I work with my Ms with AE lock in place of 'locking in' the reading.

I would urge any avid mono shooter to steer clear of AE if you want consistent exposures that are set in advance so there is nothing to stop you getting the shot rather than being in a situation where you have to dial in AE and end up missing the shot. I was a skeptic at first, but it works, at least for me.
 
I have an M6 (bought used in 1994 had to replace a metering circuit board after about 15 years) and had an M7 (had to be sent back to Leica upon receipt to fix the DX-coding and meter). I wouldn't get too hung up about the reliability issue. Things that are used hard break after a while. However, when it came time to sell one, I sold the M7 -- primarily because I wasn't using the AE feature all that much, and because that was where the value was. That is, I could get a lot more on resale for a three year old M7 than for a 18-year old M6 that had been dropped once (rewind crank). I agree with the thread's notation of high-speed shutter accuracy on mechanical M's, but I have to tell you, in practice, I have never compensated for it and never noticed. As it happens, the M6 is sitting next to me as I type, loaded with Neopan 400 and ready to go. Oddly, I used AE on my Nikon F4 all the time quite successfully. . . I think it is just one of a set of features that I associated with that style of shooting that never really translated into the way I used M's.

Ben Marks

Ben Marks
 
Turtle said:
The prob with AE is that it decides what to do for you before you can decide what to tell it not to do if that makes sense.
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Or if you're too involved in the heat of the moment to tell it to do something else, which is what happened to me a lot. I've found my exposures to be more accurate since I've gone back to mechanical Ms from my M7s. My problems with the M7s were my own fault, I know, but I'm lazy. You can't be lazy with a manual camera.
 
Turtle said:
The prob with AE is that it decides what to do for you before you can decide what to tell it not to do if that makes sense.
Click to expand...

No, not really. I use exposure lock all the time. Of course, this really makes an AE system just a manual exposure system. So, short of taking a quick shot in a rushed fashion, my AE cameras are no faster than my M6TTL. I use my M6TTL more than any other camera because I love the .58 viewfinder for my 35mm.
 
With AE and exposure lock you normally take a reading, hit the lock and then recompose. Often this has to be repeated immediately before each frame if it cancels after shooting the last frame.

If you are not doing this but leaving a reading in and manually adjusting it, thats manual mode.

If your AE lock times out, you have or cancels in some other way, then you have to keep repeating the point, lock, recompose, shoot cycle as opportunities present themselves and you lose vital time.

What I like about manual is that it does not cancel so I can walk about and have full knowledge of what the exposure will be when I trip the shutter, whether now or in one hour, whether I have re-focused, pressed the shutter halfway or anything.

I guess AE lock varies from camere to camera. Most cancel after each frame is fired. If not, you might as well be using manual mode.



bwcolor said:
No, not really. I use exposure lock all the time. Of course, this really makes an AE system just a manual exposure system. So, short of taking a quick shot in a rushed fashion, my AE cameras are no faster than my M6TTL. I use my M6TTL more than any other camera because I love the .58 viewfinder for my 35mm.
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Turtle said:
What I like about manual is that it does not cancel so I can walk about and have full knowledge of what the exposure will be when I trip the shutter, whether now or in one hour, whether I have re-focused, pressed the shutter halfway or anything.
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Exactly.:dance:
 
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