Which M Frame Counter do you Prefer, and Why?

[Doug]

As with a lot of things, it depends on how much you want the equipment to do automatically and how much you prefer to take action manually. Many think an auto transmission in a sports car is a travesty, but manual is awkward in heavy traffic and you can easily slip it into 3rd in error to start up instead of 1st. I don't like the film DX feature because it inevitably sets the wrong film speed (for my use). But I do like auto exposure... used intelligently of course!

I don't have strong feelings about the difference between the M2 and M3 film counters; it's a tradeoff of convenience and do-it-yourself preference & easier visibility. I have forgotten occasionally to manually set it, but the consequences aren't dire, and one can even estimate the current count based on where the counter would have been at the end of the previous roll. Not an important feature difference either way, IMO. 🙂

The slickest frame counter I've seen is in the Pentax LX, which accurately counts backwards as the film is rewound. So, for instance, you can take 5 tele moon shots, then sometime later in the roll rewind to those five exposures and shoot 5 landscapes (in register) as double exposures each with a big moon in the sky. Just an example, and let's say it was for slides, as otherwise we might choose to do such a thing in Photoshop these days.

 

[Magus]

Post deleted by posters request

 

[sepiareverb]

...The slickest frame counter I've seen is in the Pentax LX, which accurately counts backwards as the film is rewound. So, for instance, you can take 5 tele moon shots, then sometime later in the roll rewind to those five exposures and shoot 5 landscapes (in register) as double exposures each with a big moon in the sky...

I'd forgotten about that counter- just one of the many great features of the old LX. I had two of these wonderfully bulletproof yet light cameras. Meter was dead nuts too.

Magus- I've got an M6 🙂eek: I know- it was really cheap) that is beat to s**t- dings, scratches, but the counter bubble is fine as new. A bit of glass (?) that small would need a pretty good whack to crack- I think there might be more to worry about at that point- and I don't picture you swinging at walls or muggers with a camera😀

 

[Tom A]

I like the M2 counter as it rarely goes wrong. The "bubble" finder and auto reset can act up. There was a series of M6 (many of Titanium plated ones) that was notorious for doing this. Some accountant had came up with a cheaper part and it did not work!
The function of the film counter is not that important to me.When you get to the end of the roll, you cant advance any more! Time to grab the second body and continue!

 

[Tuolumne]

I thought the MP3 external counter resets itself as you rewind the film. No?
I like them both, but I think the external counter looks funkier and more "old fashioned" while the glass bubble counter looks "classier". It all depends on which "look" you favor in your already old-fashioned range finder.

/T

 

[Keith]

So no one's going to mention the M8 then? I think it's kind of neat to pop a 4 gig card into it and see 360 plus frames available come up.

No? ... ok then, I'll go back to my rabbit hole! 😀

 

[Matthew55000]

Some accountant had came up with a cheaper part and it did not work!

I severly doubt that anyone within a Finance/Accounting department would have anything to do with picking - or 'coming up with' - alternative parts in a production process. If anything there were preassure to keep the cost down and the engineers took some decisions on where to cut back.

 

[Tom A]

These processes usually goes through the accounting guys. "We can get this part from supplier X or we can buy it for 1 cent less from Y. Which one are we picking?"
German companies are prone to this and leica is no exception.