Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/02/18

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Subject: Re: [Leica]M6 made in SOUTH AMERICA?
From: "Dan S" <dstate1@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2000 14:47:40 GMT

It is made in South America?  Has Portugal changed continents or does Leica 
still make stuff in Brazil?

Dan
(Who still can't believe a Konica is worth 1600.00)
States
Chicago Illinois


>Dan:
>
>I don't really want to get into this, but The M6 represents the best
>technology the 1970s had to offer.
>It's mostly made in South America. There are known technical problems
>with the camera. They haven't done a major retool in years, and the
>dealers barely make money selling them for $1800. Do you want to talk
>about margins?
>
>You wrote:  You can pick up a nice used M6 for 1200.00 that will hold
>it's value over time>
>
>Think about it. That nice M6 sold for $1800-$2000 two years ago. How
>is that holding value?
>
>Tom
>

>>>In a message dated 2/14/00 11:54:53 AM, dstate1@hotmail.com opined:
>>>(and Dante, who passed over an M6TTL for the RF this week, replies, 
>>>having
>>>blown through sixteen rolls of film testing the RF over the weekend, in
>>>temperatures from 75 degrees F down to 15:)
>>>
>>><< I had my first opportunity to fondle the new Konica Hexar RF over the
>>>weekend.  A camera that was described by the dealer as the Konica 
>>>M6...what
>>>a load of hooey that is..
>>>
>>>You're right. It's not an M6. The finish and materials are nicer than a 
>>>black
>>>chrome M6. The styling is cleaner. The controls are better. The on/off 
>>>switch
>>>is better. The loading is easier, with one hand. You can see the 28mm 
>>>frames.
>>>You can shoot wide-open with high-speed film. The shutter is stepless and
>>>quartz-timed. You can synch at twice the speed and shoot at twice the 
>>>speed.
>>>The metering pattern is more usable. No, it's not better.
>>>
>>> >>>Sadly the camera looks a lot better on the net than it does in
>>>your hands.
>>>
>>>The squared frame makes is look like a plank of wood, and it feels a bit
>>>like one in your hands.
>>>
>>>If it's a plank of wood, then planks of wood have much better natural 
>>>grip
>>>surfaces than do the M6. I think that it's pretty tough to hold onto
>>>something as small as the right end of an M6 - they're not designed for
>>>bigger hands.
>>>
>>> >>>The lens mounted in a very un-Leica way...Sticky!  It felt like I was
>>>jamming a chisel into a block of wood..
>>>
>>>Zzzzz. I have one in front of me, and it's pretty hard to duplicate your
>>>negative experience with this. And it's irrelevant to any performance
>>>measure.
>>>
>>> >>>The viewfinder was bright and clear, with only a hint of pincussion
>>>distortion of the 28mm frames.  The rangefinder was a little antsy.  It 
>>>may
>>>be the shorter base line, but it was easy to overshoot your target of 
>>>focus.
>>>   The biggest flaw with the finder to me was the lack of contrast in the
>>>focusing patch. Focusing an M6 is really easier in low contrast 
>>>situations.
>>>
>>>This is a nice rationalization, but the M6 patch is neither as bright nor 
>>>as
>>>flare resistant. I have tried for about a week to flare out the RF on the
>>>Hexar, and it so far hasn't worked. When I compared it to an M6 directly, 
>>>the
>>>M6 came out quite poorly in the flare department. There is nothing 
>>>lacking
>>>about the RF, and if you can see, you can focus.
>>>
>>> >>>My biggest gripe is with the shutter speed dial placement. It is a 
>>>thumb
>>>wheel and it is very difficult to work the dial while keeping your index
>>>finger on the shutter button.  Clearly Konica expects users to keep this
>>>thing in Aperture Priority most of the time.  The meter is a bit hard to 
>>>get
>>>used to, with shutter speed numbers dancing up and down on the left side 
>>>of
>>>the veiwfinder.
>>>
>>>Three responses to that:
>>>(1) Shutter speed numbers dancing in the margin shouldn't be hard to get 
>>>used
>>>to for anyone who has bought a camera in the past twenty years. And if 
>>>you
>>>compare that to an M6, I'd rather have numbers in the margin, which I can
>>>ignore, rather than 3 LEDs right in my field of vision. In addition, 
>>>since
>>>you know what speed the shutter is at, you can tell just how low it is 
>>>going.
>>>
>>>(2) The shutter speed wheel is fine and so is the EV comp dial. In fact, 
>>>the
>>>key advantage of the placement of the controls is that you can switch the
>>>camera on and off by feel, which is not possible with the M6TTL.
>>>
>>>(3) And if you have AE with exposure lock and a thumbwheel for 
>>>compensation,
>>>why does it matter if you never take it out of AE? If you're going to 
>>>pull
>>>out a handheld meter, it is easy enough to set the shutter speed by hand.
>>>
>>>The shutter and motor were about as quiet as the Contax G's, and
>>>the quality of materials was similar but without the beautiful shape and
>>>color.
>>>
>>>The G2's color is a liability. And it's materials simply aren't as nice. 
>>>And,
>>>frankly, it's pretty ugly compared to the Hexar.
>>>
>>> >>>I know this sounds pretty negative, but I really expected more
>>>considering
>>>the hype and the price of this camera (1950.00 with 50mm F2).  The 
>>>handling
>>>really leaves something to be desired, especially considering the fact 
>>>that
>>>all they had to do was match a camera that has been on the market since 
>>>the
>>>50's.
>>>
>>>I would expect, for $2200, more than a camera body made in the 1950s. If 
>>>it's
>>>not a match, I would have to ask you where the waiting list for M6s is.
>>>
>>>If you have bigger hands, the handling is superior to the M6, which I 
>>>suspect
>>>was a continuation of the design of the M3, which in turn is a lot like 
>>>the
>>>screwmounts, which are TOO DAMN SMALL TO HOLD.
>>>
>>> >>>The excitment over this fairly average camera really points out the 
>>>void
>>>in
>>>the market for an Aperture Priority M...Leica, are you listening?  Contax
>>>should also be looking at this market.  I'll wager that a manual focus G
>>>would out-sell the auto be a large margin..
>>>
>>>Which is why Contax is making it? Leica is probably not listening.
>>>
>>>Cheers
>>>Dante
>>
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>
>Thomas Kachadurian
>-------------------
>www.kachadurian.com

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