M6 Suggestion Box

[Adrian Tanovic <Adrian_Tanovic@genre.com>]

fellow LUG-nuts:

If Leica were to update the design of the M6, what sorts of things would you 
suggest?  Conceding the many features that are great about it, you must have 
some ideas for improvements---unless it has you broken in so completely that 
you cannot imagine doing anything differently.  I'll start the ball rolling 
with my own (no particular order):

1) Redesign the rewind crank, which is too small and slow.  I used to have an 
Alpa, which had an ingenious extending handle, increasing the effective 
leverage you could get on the mechanism, and making it much quicker than the 
Leica.

2) Make it possible to use the light meter without first advancing the film.  
Sometimes after metering, you decide a shot is just not worth it, and are left 
with the film tensioned.

3) Make the viewfinder a bit more friendly for people with eyeglasses.  The 
assumed pupil-point is too far forward.  Yes, there are diopter adjustment 
lenses, but, first of all, these are not available in all strengths, second, 
popping your glasses up and down to use the camera can be a pain, and third, 
what if you want to hand your camera to a friend to take a shot?

4) This suggestion's maybe a bit more difficult: give some information in the 
viewfinder about what the area being metered is.  This could take the form of 
dotted circles or something superimposed along with the bright lines.