Re: [Leica] Early M6 query

[shino@ubspainewebber.com]

> 
> I have a Wetzlar M6.  It originally came with metering lights which did not
> indicate when the light was insufficient to take a picture under any
> combination of speed and f-stops.  Around 1988, this was changed so that,
> under these circumstances, the metering lights in the VF blink.  Leica has
> been replacing the older metering system with the newer ones whenever an
> early M6 passes through their hands, so this may have already been done on
> this camera.
> 
> Marc
> 
> msmall@roanoke.infi.net  FAX:  +540/343-7315
> Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!
> 

i bet i'm just not reading this quite right.

how can the m6 tell if light is insufficient for "any combination of
f-stops and shutter speeds?"  i was under the impression
that the m6 doesn't "know" what aperture you are setting, that there is
no mechanical transmission of aperture setting to the body, and that the
manner in which  the meter reacts to the aperture is that the aperture actually
opens and closes and thus increases and reduces the light shining onto the
white disk on the shutter curtain.  the set shutter speeds, of course, needs
to be an input into the meter.

therefore, i don't think the m6 can distinguish between 1) the aperture
closed up to f16, and 2) the light levels being very low.

i say this because i have an m6 in which if my aperture is set much too small
neither LED lights up, and as i progressively open the aperture, first
the left LED then both illuminate.  (i guess this is the "old" m6, i never
knew about the blinking m6's.)  therefore, the fact that neither LED
illuminates does not necessarily signify that no combination of shutter and
aperture will yield a proper exposure.

- -rei