[Leica] M6 vs M7 question

[xrogers at comcast.net (Clyde Rogers)]

On Sep 23, 2005, at 6:17 AM, Vick Ko wrote:
> Does the M7 have any other significant "major boons"?

If you have a classic M6, the other boon of the shutter lock is it
shuts the camera off.  No more dead batteries when you wind without
shooting, and then hurriedly stick your camera in bag without setting
it to B.

DX coding is a mixed blessing.  It works great on my M7, but grips the
film too tightly---when changing film, you have to grab the bottom of
the spool and pull it out, you can't just let it drop into your hand.

AE works fine on an M, and let's me hand a hyperfocal-focused camera
to my wife.  Overpriced for a point and shoot, but it works great.

Not all M7s have the flare fix, only later ones.  Mine doesn't, and
I won't bother getting it.  I hear that M7s with the flare fix also
got a slightly different eyepiece that can get dustier than the
original.

When batteries die in your M7, you only have two shutter speeds.

Slow speeds (1/30 and lower) are spookily quiet on the M7.

On B, the M7 viewfinder display counts the seconds the shutter was
open.  You can see the display with your eye positioned correctly
a surprising distance from the viewfinder (perhaps a foot).  This
is really nice for long timed exposures.

I like both cameras quite a bit.  Get the M7 and take your time
selling the M6---color in one, BW in the other.  You can maybe
just decide to keep both, or keep whichever one it turns out
you like best.

--clyde