Where I should start with Leica...?

[Andrew3511]

I haven't really felt the need for anything wider than the 35mm and that is no problem at all with the standard 0.72. Other magnifications carry a significant price premium because of either rarity (with the classic only made for a very short time) or because it's the M6 TTL not the classic. Unless you intend using TTL flash metering, which is what the TTL bit is for, there is little difference. Wearers of glasses find the 28mm frame difficult to see in the standard finder and it is certainly right on the edge.

You may find yourself buying another body to get a different viewfinder magnification if experience on this forum is anything to go by - beware!

Incidentally, there is a considerable difference in quality if you shoot slides or get enlargements to 8x12ins or above,but you know that, and as I usually have my films printed to 5x7.5 I feel it is pretty visible. And you can always be a nerd and peer at the prints with a lupe just to marvel at the detail.

 

[Lord Fluff]

Ok, so I'm edging towards the M6...but the only ones I come across so far seem to be black - were the chrome ones really rare? Do they attract a premium. To my mind the black ones look far more like a modern camera, and my feeling is that a camera that looks more retro will attract less attention.....

 

[northpole]

LF. I checked Aperture Photographic's web page (London) and they have 3 M6's in chrome, albeit beyond the £600 mark. Irrespective of this, the prices are pegged at the same as black M6 alternatives which infers there is no premium to be paid - merely horses for courses. If I recall, Jonathan Harris tends to price his cameras a bit lower than Aperture - may be worth a call.

Peter

 

[Lord Fluff]

Thanks Peter, I didn't know of them - though right now he's showing no cameras and no lenses in stock!

 

[northpole]

LF, I suspect that is entirely because JH has a sale promotion running which excludes most of his normal stock!! Perhaps worth giving him a call to check?

Peter

 

[northpole]

LF, By chance I checked JH's site this morning and, now that the 'sale' is over, normal stock is listed including M6 in chrome! A bit of a cynical sale, but there you go!

Peter

 

[CC72]

May I suggest an M6 Classic or TTL with any CV or Zeiss glass? That would be the way to go for all the reasons stated in previous responses. I just got an early Wetzlar M6 Classic with 1960 Summaron 35 2.8. Excellent combo.

 

[mr_phillip]

...were the chrome ones really rare? Do they attract a premium.

Silver-chrome M6s are anything but rare. Leitz/Leica made 75,000 M6s in black chrome and 50,000 in silver chrome (plus around 5,000 of the various special editions) so they're plentiful enough used. Note these figures are for the original M6, I don't have numbers for the TTL.

You might also want to take a look at the barkeep's Used M-series Buyer's Guide, which has a useful amount of info, and the comparison of the different M6 versions might be useful to you. For what it's worth I think you're already right on the money with a silver-chrome M6 (either classic or TTL), they're a great introduction into the world of Leica rangefinders – especially for folks used to modern SLRs with all their fancy luxuries like, y'know, light-meters and stuff. Your budget should buy you a near-mint example privately, although you might need to go a little higher if buying from a dealer.

As you're no doubt gathering by now, there's a massive choice of lenses available for these cameras (wow, who'd have thought I'd be writing that a decade ago!) Really you should decide on your starting focal length(s) and decide from there. The Voigtländer lenses are amazing value for money (especially used), the Zeiss ZMs are wonderful things and well worth the extra, and the current Leica glass really is the best their is (cue purple howls of anger from the ZM owners). Unfortunately the law of diminishing returns kicks in big-time here, so you pay a lot of money for the Leica glass for what is really a small overall improvement over the Zeiss. Essentially it'll come down to how many lenses you want to buy, and how much you want to spend. Assuming you want to stick to 600 quid my recommendation is, if you want to start with two lenses (say a 35 and a 50) go for a pair of Voigtländers, if you reckon you can get by with just one focal length (for the hardcore rangefinder experience) go Zeiss ZM. If you find that the rangefinder thing is really for you, then you can always add some Leica glass as you go.

 

[literiter]

As it would be a pocketable holiday camera I'm not sold on separate meters...but maybe.

Since this is a maybe, may I suggest a really nice M4-P or M4-2 and a separate meter.
These cameras seem to have less of a following and I think the prices tend to be more realistic. You've been doing this professionally for 20 years so I'll bet you've developed a excellent sense of light and may not need the built in light meter.

Not relying on a built in light meter forces me to think about light in a way that my Nikon F3 does not.

I've used my M2 and M4-P for travel shooting since the '80s. I've used up my first Gossen meter in the process but my cameras are still working perfectly.

I'd suggest a M2, M3 and M4 as well, but as you know, these tend to be a little pricey now.