Which M Frame Counter do you Prefer, and Why?

Which M Frame Counter do you Prefer, and Why?

  • Manual

    Votes: 13 34.2%

  • Automatic

    Votes: 25 65.8%
  • Total voters
    38
Must say the M7's counter is simply beautiful to look at. The jewel-like window, the numbers in Leica-font. I find the M5 a little harder to read.

As to manual reset- I'd be hating it. I know I'd forget to reset and have no idea where I was. One of those things I never had to do on any camera I've shot as I recall...

(something up the sleeve of that smoking jacket?;) )
 
I never really cared how it looked, but the only thing I did not like about the M2 was the frame counter. You can forget to reset it, rub it off of the correct count, etc. It always struck me as a rather silly bit of cost-cutting from the M3 and I'm surprised anyone preferred it to the previous design.
 
I prefer the M2 dial, but I also think the raised & magnifier glass window is one of the definitive design element in the M series
 
I don't really have a preference but most of my Leicas are automatic reset.
 
I love my M2, but I forget to put the counter back from time to time. I prefer the automatic reset of the MP. It helps me if I´m thinking about something else while changing film.

Thomas
 
i love the M3 framecounter.....cheers to the bubble that resets itself! i have read that they break down, but in the 2 decades i have used it, i have had no trouble. easier to read than my m2, too.
 
It's no big deal to remember to reset the counter on the M2. I usually do it after, rather than before, the loading ritual. Even on my M3, M6, or Rollei 35, after I load a new roll, I always check to make sure the counter is on 1. I thought everybody did that.

Richard
 
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One of the things that struck me when I got my M6 was the superb film counter - it's much easier to see than any other film counter I've ever used (I can read it fine without my reading glasses, whereas I struggle to see the counters on my Bessa and Olympus OM bodies). I don't have a manual Leica film counter, but the counters on my FSU bodies are manual and I always forget to reset them, so I hate them, and for the same reason I'd hate the manual Leica one.
 
The automatic reset of my M3 was convenient, but its magnifying window was cracked. I have never had trouble with a camera whose counter was manually reset: certainly no cracked windows.
 
My M4-2 is not long enough with me in service to break windows. The M2's counter is annoying because when I grab the camera, I grab the counter first. Very often anyway.
 
I don't mind the manual reset of my M2 so much, but I wish it would lock once it has been reset. I worry that it gets messed up when I put the camera in my bag (or when I take it out). I sometimes switch mid-roll and need to know exactly where I am when I reload the roll.
 
mich8261 said:
I don't mind the manual reset of my M2 so much, but I wish it would lock once it has been reset. I worry that it gets messed up when I put the camera in my bag (or when I take it out). I sometimes switch mid-roll and need to know exactly where I am when I reload the roll.
Click to expand...

It might just be your camera, as my M2 takes deliberate effort to move the counter.
 
Automatic, no question. I also vote for DX whenever I can. Can I tell you how many times I've failed to correctly set the film speed? Sometimes it doesn't matter...but sometimes it does...go from 50 to 800 and see what happens...
 
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