By JOHNNY MARTYR
I’m not going to wax
poetic about the Leica M6 TTL .85. I don’t need to.
This camera is the best
35mm film camera ever conceived or constructed. Chances are, you’re reading
this because you’re a photographer interested in buying the best Leica that you
can. Or perhaps you already own a Leica and just enjoy articles that continue
to justify your substantial and tasteful purchase.
In any case, there are
enthusiastic blogs and articles about every Leica body out there. It would seem
that every Leica M is very special. So I’m simply going to tell you, in a
dispassionate, list format, why, compared to the M6 TTL .85, all the other
Leica Ms out there are absolute trash.
I will prove beyond a
reasonable doubt that the M6 TTL .85 is perfect for the type of shooting that I
do and the absolute apex of human optical engineering, metallurgy, and
industrial design. It may not be perfect for collectors or for other styles of
shooting. But only losers shoot like that. And collectors are dweebs.
So here’s why I bought and
plan to always use, not shelve, my 1999 black chrome Leica M6 TTL .85, as if
it’s not instinctively evident and obvious to any sentient being.
Light Meter
If you’re going to buy a
$2,000+ 35mm camera, it may as well contain a good, built-in light meter. While
I appreciate the craftsmanship of M3s and M2s, impoverished Leica photographers
such as myself cannot justify the financial outlay on something that can’t be
used comfortably for paid shoots to return the investment.
Voigtlander Bessas are a
joke. Their light meters are more like warning lights of impending mechanical
failure. And Leica M-A shooters, if you wanted to prove to everyone that you
know Sunny 16, a Barnack says “Luddite” much more clearly and affordably.
Classic M6 bodies are more
affordable than TTL models, but I’ve never liked the idea of a two LED meter
display. Reminds me of the Yashica GSN Electro. I’m not buying a f***ing piece
of s*** Yashica, I’m buying a Leica. Even Nikon has three LEDs. The problem is
that Leica LEDs cost about $500 each and I want three of them. Over, Under,
Correct.
I don’t want to guess
about what my meter is telling me. I want to be one with my meter. I want fast,
accurate, easy operation. I knew the exposure before I pressed the shutter
release halfway anyway, I’m just looking for agreement. The newer Bessas
contain nine LEDs. Are you playing a video game or are you taking a picture?
The M6 TTL meter is the
earliest Leica M that you can buy that contains the world’s highest quality
center-weighted averaging meter built into any camera. I’ve never used another
body with such a fine meter. The LEDs brighten and dim as you adjust, not
simply turn on or off like a dispassionate binary automaton.
It’s the difference
between playing a keyboard with weighted keys and not. And all Leica shooters
are accomplished pianists. Very fine, accurate readout from a mere 6 ISO to
6400 ISO, not the lowly and unprofessional 1600 top ISO of the CL or 3200 of
the M5 and inferior Bessa line.
This is the same meter
spec inside the current production, highly-regarded, highly-priced Leica MP.
It’s the same type of meter that Leica removed from the MP to create the all
mechanical M-A because it’s such a good meter that it has no business being
mixed up inside a model which is intended to represent mechanical excellence
alone.
There’s a certain, famous
Leica repair technician who has been discouraging her clients from buying an M6
TTL citing that Leica no longer supports the metering electronics. Around the
Internet, you might hear people mindlessly warn about the failure of “the
metering board” in M6 TTLs. But this is all horses***.
While I don’t deny for a
thousandth of a second that this certain famous Leica repair technician knows
what she is talking about, I disagree with her reasoning and wonder if she
simply doesn’t want to work on newer Leicas.
While it’s true that Leica
no longer supports electronic repair/replacement on the M6 TTL, one has to
consider that these cameras are now about two decades old and were only
manufactured for a few years. Additionally, Leica has long discontinued support
on M6 and M5 meters, but nobody’s discouraging anyone from buying those models,
whose meters still work by and large. So why tell people not to buy M6 TTLs
because of this?
Are the M6 TTL meters
prone to failure? I only own one M6 TTL and it’s always worked beautifully for
me. I’m looking to buy a second one and have yet to stumble across any with
noted bad meters. For a more qualified answer to this rumor, I asked Don
Goldberg, AKA DAG, for his opinion.
First of all, he clarified
that there are two circuit boards associated with the light meter in the M6 TTL
so it’s pure silliness when people say “the board” is prone to failure. And he
went on to say:
I’ve had 2 Leica M6-TTL
cameras in so far that needed new main circuit boards. That’s out of 489 M6-TTL
cameras that I’ve had in for repair.” This was as of July 2019. And those two
board replacements? “One of the circuit boards that was bad was due to someone
removing the body shell without first removing parts that got in the way of the
main board & damaged the board. The other one I think was defective &
had to go to Leica, USA. All in all the M6-TTL is very reliable. I think the
reason I’ve had 489 M6-TTL cameras in my shop is that they sold lots of them,
people want complete overhauls eventually.
So yeah.
Shutter Speed Dial
While it doesn’t match any
other 35mm Leica body besides the recently discontinued M7, the reverse shutter
speed dial of the M6 TTL is undeniably superior. Kowtowing to the meter again,
the shutter speed dial rotates in the direction logical with the movement of
the meter display. This is a nice feature for those of us who are real
photographers and who demand not only precision of their camera haptics, but
logic!
Additionally, the M6 TTL
SS dial is much larger than other Leica SS dials, making it easy to operate
with one finger in front of, not two fingers above the camera. This allows for
much faster, professional operation.
Only amateurs use two
fingers. Pros get it done with one!
Leica spent decades
improving all the controls of the ancient Barnack rangefinders; replacing knobs
with cranks and levers but the shutter speed dial was neglected until the M6
TTL. M5? Ha. I don’t even want to talk about the M5! And the SS dial is
precisely where you need to commit to the M6 TTL.
If you buy this camera,
you will never want to use an M6, an M5, an M4, an M2, an M3 or even an MP to
shoot alongside it. You will scoff at non-reputable Bessas and Canons. You will
only want to buy another M6 TTL or M7. Or face certain muscle memory confusion
and botch your photos. So you have to commit to the reverse shutter speed dial!
COMMIT! Find an ordained minister and marry that son of a gun.
Magnification
The M6 TTL was available
in three different viewfinder magnifications. Late-model legacy M6s were too,
and M7s, MPs, and MAs were also. But M6 TTL is the first Leica M body for
choice in VF mag to be standard.
After deciding if you want
a meter or not, I believe that viewfinder magnification should be the second
consideration you make when choosing a Leica M. Many people do not value the
importance of this or are completely unaware of it when purchasing pre-M6
bodies where magnification was not a factory choice. What lenses you intend to
use has a massive impact on which magnification you want/need.
I use longer, faster
lenses. My main kit is a 50mm f/1.5 and 90mm f/2. For a while, I even used a
135 f/3.5 and 75 f/2.5. 0.85 is perfect for my set up. And it’s perfect for
everyone else too. With .85x mag, you get 35, 50, 75, 90 and 135mm framelines.
You do not get 28. .72 gets 28 but its 135 lines are diminutive. .72 is nice if
35mm is your go-to length.
With .85, 35 lines are at
the perimeter of the viewfinder. Many recommend that eyeglass wearers avoid the
.85 for this reason. I wear eyeglasses and have no issue with the 35mm
framelines in use but admittedly, they’re not ideal. I don’t think you should
let eyeglasses stop you from a .85 if 35mm is not your go-to focal length.
What is nice about .85 is
that the viewfinder is filled more, in other words, 135 doesn’t look like a
tiny thumbnail and 50 is exactly how most shooters want it; with a room on the
perimeter.
Baselength
.85x is as close to the
M3’s .91x finder that you’re going to get. The Leica M3 boasts a 62.33mm EBL.
The M6 TTL .85 is very close at 59.1mm and its baselength is actually slightly
longer. The M6 TTL .85 is almost as accurate as the M3 but squeezes in those 35
and 75mm framelines that the M3 lacks.
Some people prefer the
reduced “clutter” of these two focal lengths but the M6 TTL shooter is about
real-world use. And since Leica shooters are wealthy, they can simply pay to
have the unwanted framelines masked out. Most Ms have a 68.5mm baselength so
even MPs and M6s that have .85x magnification have shorter EBLs than the M6 TTL
.85 because its baselength is 69.53mm.
The M6 TTL’s RF patch and
framelines are also brighter than the M3 courtesy of the fresnel illumination
window and immunity to de-lamination. The .85x is the most versatile, accurate
finder on any M or any 35mm rangefinder, period. And I am right. Anyone who
disagrees is woefully ignorant and uninformed. I’ll tell you where you can
shove your Contax and Kiev.
Condenser Lens
All M6s lack a condenser
lens that prevents rangefinder patch white-out and veiling flare in certain
lighting conditions. As the story goes, this optical element in the RF assembly
was removed to make room for the light meter. Fortunately, those clever Leica
engineers found a way to cram the element back into the mix with the MP. So now
you can have your M6 RF upgraded to MP optics.
For Legacy M6, this also
means that the front RF window is replaced with a UV coated one, but the M6 TTL
already has that. White-out and flare are of particular issue with the longer
magnification finders and apparently not even noticeable with a .58. So if you
are going with a .85 finder, you may also want to price in the MP upgrade. DAG
did this for me within a few years of buying my M6 TTL and it has turned the
best RF into the absolute BEST.
Casual shooters may not
care. Casual shooters may not want the best. White-out and veiling flare are
easily remedied by simply re-positioning when they occur. But I want my Leica
to be fast and responsive. I wouldn’t stand for this brief moment of confusion
and adjustment. The camera has to be perfect. And now, it is!
Zinc, Not Brass
All but special edition M6
TTLs feature cast zinc outer body shells, not stamped brass as is typical of the
M series. People largely prefer brass because, as silver chrome or particularly
black enamel wear down, the goldish brass that is revealed looks very
attractive. The zinc plates of the M6 TTL are coated in a layer of silver/grey
nickel and then silver or black chrome.
As my M6 TTL’s black
chrome top plate wears down, the dull gunmetal grey nickel has slowly appeared.
I’ve read that the bottom plate is made of conventional brass but as the black
chrome has worn off, the underlying metal is a shinier silver/white color like
steel. Maybe there is a nickel or steel coating before the black chrome?
Apparently zinc bottom plates were too rigid to latch onto the camera body the
way that all other brass Leica rangefinder bottom plates fit on.
One may be quick to assume
that brass is a better metal because Leica returned to it for the MP and this
is part of the reason for its significant price hike over the M6 TTL. But the
thing about brass is that it bends fairly easily. Partly why it’s been used to
cover classic camera frames for decades — it’s easy to stamp finely detailed
shapes in brass.
Zinc is tougher than brass
though. Under the same stress that would bend brass, zinc holds its shape and
takes the beating. In fact, it will break, not bend. But I’ve read that in
order for the zinc Leica top plate to break or crack, such force would have to
be applied that the equivalent brass plate would have long crushed and
destroyed the mechanism and electronics inside. Zinc is a good idea for a
camera that is as small and heavy and precise as a Leica.
While vacationing in the
Dominican Republic, my wife accidentally threw my M6 TTL .85 from its Domke
bag, off of a table, across the ceramic floor of our suite. A few years later,
while changing lenses without the neckstrap on, I dropped the M6 TTL from about
three feet, square onto an unfinished concrete floor of an art studio. While
exiting my Land Rover, the M6 TTL was dropped from the car door, onto a
sidewalk where it bounced once before destroying the Voigtlander 50mm Nokton
that was mounted.
None of these incidents
affected the RF calibration, shutter accuracy, or meter functionality in the
slightest from what I could tell. In each case, the camera went straight back
to shooting like nothing happened. So maybe it’s time to get over our
superficial love of ostentatious brass and choose the superior metal for our
workhorses.
I don’t give a s*** if
collectors pooh pooh my Leica’s silver/grey battle scars because my focus is
tight and accurate for the thousands of shots I take while their brass beauties
are shelf-bound. The M6 TTL is factually tougher and harder wearing than the
more costly MP or even the arguably more finely crafted M3.
Bubbling in the chromed
zinc finish has occurred in some cases. You see some cheap M6s listed on eBay
that appear to have smallpox. And while this was a real concern in the 80s and
90s when these cameras were new, now you can just buy a copy with a good finish
and not worry about it.
Storing the zinc bodies in
their original fitted leather case was supposedly the cause. Some kind of
unexpected reaction between the zinc and chemicals in the case material. That’s
what you get for casing your camera for so long.
In the decade that I’ve
kept and used my M6 TTL in the humid East Coast air, it has some scratches and
wear but no trace of dents or smallpox. Its silhouette is perfectly intact.
The grey through matte
black chrome has a very handsome industrial look to me and the camera retains
its low profile appearance. It’s not screaming to be ogled like gloss black and
bright brass sheen as they catch sunlight. Some special edition M6 TTLs actually
have brass bodies. These M6 TTLs are traitors.
Height
M6 TTLs and M7s are 2.5mm
taller than previous Ms. I like to think of the M6 TTL as standing more proudly
than other Ms. The height increase takes place between the lens mount and
viewfinder system and was apparently done to accommodate the additional
electronics and reverse shutter speed dial mechanism.
Because the
view/rangefinder windows sit up higher from the lens, finder blockage by hoods
is reduced. And this is good because faster/longer lenses which are physically
larger and prone to causing blockage work well with this finder and its super
long effective baselength.
Just don’t try mounting a
Dual Range 50 Cron and its unsightly goggles. But then, why would you run such
a slow lens on such a precise body?
Film Advance Lever
Many people whine about
the articulate plastic-tipped advance lever of the M6 TTL and denounce it for
not being a solid brass part. While I initially fell into this camp, I have
become convinced that these people aren’t actually using their cameras.
Yes, solid metal is
wonderful, but that pivoting plastic tip allows one to shoot in colder
temperatures sans icy fingers (plastic) and maintain a good grip on the camera
and lever (pivot).
It’s possible to have a
solid metal lever fitted to an M6 TTL and in fact, some special editions have
it as standard so if this is a sticking point for you, it’s possible to
resolve. But if you can afford your Leica to have downtime for this kind of
cosmetic upgrade, you’re not shooting enough, slacker!
Negatives
So those were my pluses
for the Leica M6 TTL .85. Do I have any minuses for the world’s most perfect
camera? Believe it or not, I do. But only because I’m an uptight, persnickety
prick.
Because the
view/rangefinder windows are not framed on the front of the top plate like an
M3, (I like to think of the M6 as “sans serif”) it’s very easy to smear ones
sweaty fingers across the windows during fast-paced shoots. So I find myself
wiping them clear with my shirttail or necktie from time to time.
It’s kind of a
double-edged sword though; because they’re not recessed and smear easily, they
also clean more easily. The M3 windows can get crud build-up around their
perimeter due to being less easy to clean there.
I’ve got to be honest, the
diminutive rewind knob is some sort of emasculation punchline. I don’t know why
this minuscule knob has survived on Leica Ms as long as it has. Yes, the angled
crank à la M4 is an angled derby hat of class. You might not realize it but the
angle does actually help one get a firm grip on the body and wind away on the
crank. However, that knob is just too small to get a good grip on.
I will never understand
why the good people at Leica or their detail-obsessed followers wouldn’t have
turned this over generations ago. Maybe nobody else rewinds as fast as I do? I
don’t know.
Have a look at the Olympus
OM series. The camera bodies themselves are very tiny and compact but with very
large, easily handled controls. The wind knob on an OM SLR is a behemoth by
comparison to the M6 TTL. I can windmill that thing fast enough to get a 36
exposure roll back in the canister faster than a motor drive.
The only practical
solution for Leica’s little knob is to buy a second Leica so you aren’t in such
a hurry to rewind.
A 1/2000th or even
1/4000th top shutter would be nice. By the late 70s/early 80s, it wasn’t
uncommon for professional cameras to have 2000 or 4000 top shutter speeds. So
why does even the current production MP stop at a sluggish 1000? It has
something to do with physical limits on the ancient design of Leica’s deeply
revered cloth focal-plane shutter mechanism, which hasn’t changed much from the
Oskar Barnack period.
Some will tell you that
Leicas aren’t even reliably calibrated for 1/1000th. But this is all just
getting heretical now. As a 35mm Leica photographer, you will stop at 1000 and
you will love 1000 and I won’t utter any more treason against it.
Closing Words
So as you can see, the
Leica M6 TTL .85 is the pinnacle of anachronistic 35mm camera design and
construction.
Collectors can turn their
musty dusty noses up at the M6 TTL’s unapologetic implementation of modern
manufacturing materials. Voigtlander and ZM adherents can argue about
viewfinder brightness and EBL with their s****y Japanese magnesium alloy
wannabes. Pentax hoarders can pull the empty insides of their pockets out and
shrug their shoulders while standing in front of 200 unserviced Spotmatics and
MXs and an equal number of 50mm f/1.4 lenses claiming that the divorce papers
would be on the table before a cheap $2,000 Leica even arrived in the mail.
But I know, and all
thinking persons know, in our hearts and in our souls and in our massive
throbbing wrinkly brains, that the Leica M6 TTL .85 is better than all the
other s*** out there.
Thanks for reading, happy
shooting and just FYI, all images in this blog were taken with a Nikon 😉.
About the author:
Johnny
Martyr is a East Coast film photographer. The opinions expressed in this
article are solely those of the author. After an adventurous 20 year
photographic journey, he now shoots exclusively on B&W 35mm film that he
painstakingly hand-processes and digitizes. Choosing to work with only a select
few clients per annum, Martyr’s uncommonly personalized process ensures
unsurpassed quality as well as stylish, natural & timeless imagery that
will endure for decades. You can find more of his work on his website, Flickr,
and Facebook.
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Alas, for me the M7 is a far more superior Leica M than the M6. it is more solid with brass top and botton, it is more precise with electronic speed control wich are steppless so 1/230 or 1/850 exist, it is more handy were you can keep your eye in the viewfinder and select your apperture, and lock your speed then move your subject, or do constant il correction, the telemeter is more clear with the last MP model inside, and it does not use battery at all... you can leave it one during one year and shoot imediately.
ReplyDeleteI had +20 M, all of them, even M6J, Mp, Ma , and Ican say for me the M6 was the worst, follow by the M6 J and the TTL.
sorry... best is the M7, then the first batch of M4-2 , then the Ma and then the M2
Love the writing. Well played. Have to say I’d love a lightmeter in my M4, in other words an M6 or later.
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