i am thinking of buying a lieca m6 camera for my black and white photos i have nikon gear at present but feel that i would like to improve my black and white work and need a fresh start advice please.

-- colin walke (colwalke@shoal.net.au), December 03, 1999

Answers

I'm sure that the Leica is a fine camera, but I would question whether you're going to get your money's worth in an improvement over your Nikon system. You might consider medium or large format. For what you will spend on the M6, you can get a fairly respectable MF or LF outfit.

-- chuck k (kleesattel@webtv.com), December 03, 1999.

Buying a Leica will not improve your photography. Only learning more, practicing and working harder will do that. The only advantage to owning a Leica is being able to tell people that you have a Leica. I know, I have one. The camera dosen't make the photos, you do. Guns don't kill...... Anyway, don't for one second think that buying another brand of camera will make you a better photographer. But...It's possible that if you get the Leica you will be more enthusiastic and you will work harder at it.

-- Joe Cole (jcole@apha.com), December 03, 1999.

Maybe, I asked the wrong question about buying a leica m6 for b/w photography what I wanted was feed back from owners of this camera (constructive)as to how they have liked or disliked THE LEICA M6!when used for black and white photography.

-- colin walke (colwalke@shoal.net.au), December 03, 1999.

I have an old M4 that I dearly love. The 90mm Summicron is one of the finest lenses available, and of course all the Leitz lenses are world class. Options are limited if you want to do close-ups, but otherwise you could hardly do better than the M6. I have used an M6, and it is even quieter and smoother than my M4--a wonderful camera to work with. However, these days I want a bigger negative, and I shoot a lot more with my Mamiya 7.

-- Ed Buffaloe (edbuffaloe@unblinkingeye.com), December 06, 1999.

I have an old M4 that I dearly love. The 90mm Summicron is one of the finest lenses available, and of course all the Leitz lenses are world class. Options are limited if you want to do close-ups, but otherwise you could hardly do better than the M6. I have used an M6, and it is even quieter and smoother than my M4--a wonderful camera to work with. However, these days I want a bigger negative, and I shoot a lot more with my Mamiya 7.

-- Ed Buffaloe (edbuffaloe@unblinkingeye.com), December 06, 1999.

"The only advantage to owning a Leica is being able to tell people that you have a Leica."

Gee, I knew there was at least ONE advantage!

-- Tony Rowlett (rowlett@alaska.net), December 06, 1999.

I was being funny with that statement. It just seems so many people think that if they buy a Leica everyone will look at them and think they must be some hot shot or something.

-- Joe Cole (jcole@apha.com), December 14, 1999.

I do know what you mean, Joe, but in my experience I have not met another Leica enthusiast with that attitude. All of the Leica folks I have met have have had really the same attitude as me. I want to look at your camera, no matter what kind you shoot, and I'll always have something positive to say about it because they're all pretty good in one way or another.

My advice for Colin, of course, is to GET THE M6!!! And you'll love it every time you pick it up. But don't put down your Nikon gear, because a Nikon SLR will pick up where the M6 leaves off, and vice versa. The M6 is a very specialized camera. It does only a few things really well. I always have to laugh when somebody chimes in with the idea that the M series Leica lacks because its framelines are not perfect, especially at closer focusing distances, or that it doesn't have depth of field preview, or that its flash sync is only 1/50, or that its stupid tripod socket is not centered, or that often times a larger lens will obstruct part of the viewfinder, or that it has no auto focus, or that it has no exposure automation at all, or that the meter is difficult to interpret, or that its lenses aren't any "sharper" than Nikon's or Canon's. (Sharpness is mostly an argument for people who don't know anything about lenses, anyway. I've never thought that Leitz glass was any "sharper" than any other. It's a particular character that I am after in optical glass, and I'm willing to spend a few bucks for it when I can.) Anyway, once these things become "issues," you're simply using the wrong camera body, period. Leica M photographers soon come to realize that the M body is not really good for use with tripods or flash or for long lenses or for exactly precise framing. It's for none of these things. The Leica M6 certainly can improve a certain kind of B&W work, and that is the practice of quiet, unobtrusive, candid (and sensitive) photography of people and events. No other camera can do it as well.

-- Tony Rowlett (rowlett@alaska.net), December 16, 1999.