Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/10/18
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]In a message dated 10/17/99 10:45:35 PM Eastern Daylight Time, cameras@jetlink.net writes: << I've lost count of how many factory trained techs, or former Wetzlar workers, or experienced Leica repair people that I have talked to about Leica M construction quality. Every one that I have talked to regard regard M6 construction quality as a joke compared to the M3/M2/M4. Inside is a cheapening of parts and a change from a "adjust to tolerance" >> But are any of those people still working at Solms assembling Leicas? I would be curious as to how much an M6 would have to cost today if Leica were to use the same materials and methods as the M4. In todays workplace could they even find people with a work ethic such that they would sit and adjust all those little screws to the nth degree (a question prompted by the number of defects that slip by QC even with the "simplified" M6). There are 15 year old M6's out there functioning, so if there is an argument to be made M4 vs M6 it has to be purely esthetic. As a picture-making machine the M6 (at least up until the TTL model) has acquitted itself with not all that much less dignity than its predecessors. And, in comparison to other brands contemporary to the earlier M's, the M6 has endured with much less cheapening than the rest. Pick up a brand-new Hasselblad CFi lens, you'll see my point. DT