Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/03/02

[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]

Subject: Re: [Leica] New or used?
From: Dan Cardish <dcardish@microtec.net>
Date: Mon, 02 Mar 1998 13:38:03 -0500

At 11:43 PM 02-03-98 +0900, you wrote:
>Hello, friends:
>
>I am considering buying an M6.  Could anyone tell me how often M6 breaks
>down and how much one should be ready to pay for the repair.  

I have a 10 year old M6, and a newly purchased M6HM.  While I don't use my
cameras professionally, my older M6 has seen quite a bit of use.  Apart
from some areas of the body covering (pseudo vulcanite) which look a bit
shiny from where I hold it, I was amazed as to how similar my two cameras
appear to each other.  At arms length, my older camera looks as new as my
new one.  Shutters sound identical.  I have never had a problem with the
lightmeter, and apart from a (minor) light leak that infected the older
camera from when it was new, no repairs were required.  I did once drop the
camera, and needed a new lens mount as a result (camera landed on lens and
torqued the mount out of alignment).  This cost me $200 Can.  I figure
apart from a new shutter, this has to be about as expensive a repair can get.

If the older camera looks good, if the rangefinder is aligned properly, and
the shutter sounds healthy, you should have no problem with buying it and
saving a few hundred dollars.

Dan C.