M6 Survey Results !!

["Ferdinand U. LuDo" <fld@mozcom.com>]

Hello Luggers,

I would like to thank you the people (luggers) who have participated in
this survey. Thank you for the time, support and experiences.

a.) There are 31 luggers who answered my questionaires.

b.) Of these 31 luggers, a number owned more than one M6. Therefore the #
of M6 are in the survey is:41 M6's bodies.

c.) Of the 41 M6's mentioned, 17 had to be sent to the shop. Some as early
as the 1st day it was bought, some as late as 10 years.

d.) the reasons for being in the shop:

	faulty frame counter- 3  M6's
	RF adjustments/vertical
	and horizontal	  - 6  M6's
	Shutter Problems	  - 2  M6's
	Rewinding problems  - 1  M6
	meter failure	  - 1  M6
	FOcus problems=20
	relating to rf	  - 2  M6's
	Tune-up		  - 2  M6's

e.) despite of the problems encountered, many luggers still rate the M6 as
good to excellent reliability even to those unlucky owners.. Quite ironic

f.) and yes, 95% agreed to buy again and have bought one again. The
remaining 3% is waiting for another M7 to come. while the 2% will never buy
an M6 or is hesitant to buy one due to the problems encountered.

g.) Some of the interesting owner's testimonies (name withheld):

Owner #1

 "what was the reason it being in the shop ?"

Three times shutter curtain not closing at low speeds. Lost some srews on
travel.

>c.) How do you rate the durability, reliability of your M6 ?

The M6 is a very special camera with a very special price. I never had any
problems with any other camera I own - only with the M6. But if you like
the camera (like me) you have to go through the price and quality problems.
There is no other camera comparable to the M6...

Owner #2
 a/ I have had two M6s since 1986
b/ both have been serviced a dozen or more times: RF adjustment (both - ten
or more times), recollimation of body (one once the other 4 times), new
shutter mechanism (one), new meter mechanism (one), clean viewfinder (both
3-4 times), jammed wind-on (one twice), irregular frame spacing (one), PC
socket ring replacement (1), eyepiece replacement(1), broken hinge on back
(1), broken strap tags (2), screws falling out from rewind lever and hot
shoe (2).
c/ durability and reliability of M6s are fine after the above servicing -
but it took 4-5 years of frequent servicing to get things fixed. Last few
years have been fine.
d/ I did buy two M6s but I feel they are poorly assembled/QCed compared to
Japanese pro equipment. My experience with lenses has been as bad as with
the bodies but again once the assembly/QC problems have been dealt with
they are fine. IMHO the cost in time and money and inconvenience of
servicing  are the main reason I would not seriously
contemplate buying R series cameras for the time being. I would not buy
Leica M if there was a choice of say a Japanese version RF with
professional level lenses (e.g. Canon/Nikon).=20


Owner #3

>>other than the faulty frame counter, other any problems ?? <<

Yes. The rangefinder started to get out of vertical adjustment. This was
"fixed" by Leica. After it was fixed, the same thing happened
again and again. The camera would come back from the factory, RF properly
aligned. A couple of days later it would be out of alignment again. After
sending it back five or six times I drove up to  Solms and told
them in clear words what I expected from them. The replaced the entire RF
mechanism. Since then it works perfectly.

Owner #4

"I bought my M6 last January. Soon after the frame counter repair another
problem occured. Rewinding became very hard at the end of each roll, and
the problem got worse and worse! When I brought the camera to my repairman
he showed me how the thin steel coil inside the uptake spool was all messed
up. "Poor quality steel" my repairman said. He=B4s been working with Leica
cameras for the past 30 years."


I hope you all enjoyed reading this ! To conclude, I think its clear that
the M6 is a very special camera and everyone except for a small percentage,
every owner  loves it and treasures it. As far as reliability is concern,
its evident that not everyone in this group is in the same situation.=20

Now comes the question, would I buy one: I probably would as soon as I find
out how the repair facilities are in Hong Kong, Singapore and USA. My real
concern is that if ever the camera conks out on me, that I have a place to
have it serviced or tune-up. Should I decide with one, I hope  I will end
up with an M6 that will serve me for a long time with minimal or nill visit
to the repair shop. I think that is what we all want also !

Best regards,

Ferdinand