Okay, here is an insignificant question: What are the prros and cons of the M6 Titanium? It is probably a little more wear resistant, and for those who cannot choose between black and chrome, color wise it seems to fall in the middle. There is a limited choice of matching lenses, but this is not necessarily a bad thing.

-- Stephen York (S.G.York@worldnet.att.net), October 20, 2001

Answers

I forgot to add that it is discontinued, but you can still find a few demos, ect. floating around.

-- Stephen York (S.G.York@worldnet.att.net), October 20, 2001.

No differences at all. It's just another finish, with a great ostrich leather! For my taste it's the most beautiful finish, but this is a personal thing of course, someone else may hate it.
I don't like titanium lenses so much, they're much heavier and not so smooth in focusing. I believe that the black ones are a better match for the titanium body and they're much cheaper. But -of course- this is a personal taste too.
(The lenses that I prefer were not made in titanium anyway.)

-- Jordan Koussis (jordan@koussis.com), October 21, 2001.

titanium is just a thin layer of "finish" and is known to peel off.

-- sait (akkirman@clear.net.nz), October 21, 2001.

This finish is very fragile - it can be taken off with a pencil eraser... But, the Ostrich leather looks very neat!

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), October 21, 2001.

So the M6 Titanium isn't really made out of Titanium, the finish isn't that durable. the "Titanium" lenses are heavy and not as smooth, and an odd looking leather is used on the body-and all of this can be had for a a healthy premium over a regular M6. Seems to me Leica missed the mark by a mile on this camera. A real M6 out of solid titanium without the gaudy leather(sorry to those who like it) would have made more sense to me. I wonder how Contax manages to construct their bodies and lens barrels out of solid titanium so nicely and affordably.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), October 21, 2001.

Ditto for the Konica Hexar RF and the answer is the same for both: CNC machining. Probably the reason Leica don't do it is because they've invested lotsa-$s in the centrifugal casting machines used to make the current zinc alloy plates.

-- Andrew Nemeth (azn@nemeng.com), October 21, 2001.

I wonder how Contax manages to construct their bodies and lens barrels out of solid titanium so nicely and affordably.

You must be joking. Have you ever used a Contax G or an S2? I own both of them. The Titanium finish on them mars even if you look at them funny. Screwing on a filter takes the finish right off of the G lens filter threads.

-- Joe Buechler (jbuechler@toad.net), October 21, 2001.

Joe, The T3 I have seems nearly scratch proof. I'm surprised you found your stuff to be fragile, as I thought it was the same material. Are there different grades of titanium I wonder?

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), October 21, 2001.

> Contax manages to construct their bodies and lens barrels out of solid titanium

Contax doesn't; they're also a surface finish. I believe the Olympus OM-3ti and OM-4ti are still the only cameras in which the top and bottom covers are made of titanium. There was a Nikon F3/T and FM-2/T several years ago but I don't know of that was just a finish or if the covers were actually made of titanium.

Titanium definitely isn't scratch-proof; it can be scraped and marred although perhaps not as easily as other finishes. It's very difficult to dent though.

-- John Hicks (jbh@magicnet.net), October 21, 2001.

I'd always heard that the finish on the titanium M6 was the most durable of the lot. Pencil eraser? Do you mean one of those abrasive erasers?

Anyway, it looks neat.

-- rob (rob@robertappleby.com), October 22, 2001.

Any M6/T owner out there willing to take an eraser to his/her Leica in the interest of science? I once removed the CE sticker off the baseplate of a black chrome M6TTL with my finger nail. I then rub the excess sticky decal cement with a pencil eraser and the black came right off!!!!

-- ray tai (razerx@netvigator.com), October 22, 2001.

The way I see it, titanium on a camera has four functions: [1] resistance to oxidation (air) and hydrolysis (moisture), even in the presence of acids, salts and organics, [2] low density (little weight), [3] relatively good hardness, and [4] nostalgy/history/jubilee merits. A good "hybridization" of gold (for [1] and [4] above) and aluminium (for [2] above).

That is why also the most expensive yacht masts are often made of titanium.

The better the function, the thicker the mass. Bad coatings (e.g. very thin) have less to do with the metal but more to do with the manufacturer.

-- Michael Kastner (kastner@zedat.fu-berlin.de), October 22, 2001.

The titanium finish on a Leica M6 seems to have been applied for aesthetic reasons only! A solid titanium body would have been more sturdy and useful, and much more expensive! :-)

-- Muhammad Chishty (applemac97@aol.com), October 22, 2001.

Not too long ago, I read a submission to the leica users group from a reader who indicated that he worked at Leica. He indicated that the titanium on the M6 titanium is not a coating, but rather a method by which the brass bop and bottom plates are impregnated with the titanium by bombardment with titanium ions at low speed and high pressure (or was it high speed and low pressure?). He further indicated that if you were to try to scratch the surface with a car key, you would not be able to do so because of the increased hardness of the surface resulting from the process. You might be able to dent the surface, but you would not be able to removed the finish. Needless to say, I've not tried on my camera and I don't intend to.

I don't know how true what this man wrote was, but I the titanium on my camera does not appear to be merely a "painted on" coating. Moreover, I think my M6 titanium is one of the handsomest cameras I've ever seen.

One has to wonder why, if the M4 is considered the best of the M's for having brass top and bottom plates that are chromed or painted with black paint that can chip, peel, or otherwise wear off, the M6 titanium should be considered any less of a quality camera.

-- Peter B. Goldstein (peter.goldstein@us.cgeyc.com), October 22, 2001.

Hello All:

I bought a Titanium M^ thinking it would have all of teh features mnetioned above, knowing teh mertalurgical charistics of that metal: stringest metal per weigt etc etc.

I made a bad mistake. It is NOT a titanium cover. nor is it wvwn a titanium cladding. It is some kind of plating or anodized finish. It is VERY susceptible to scratching, marring etc. The finishes on my Hexar RF and black M6 are much more robust.

I lost a bundle on the sale/disposal oif the Titanium M due to the scratches. A very unwise purchase.

Purely decorative and not at all functional, IMHO.

Cheers

-- richard ilomaki (richardjx@hotmail.com), October 23, 2001.