I now own a Nikon F100 and a Leica Minilux. I'm not real wild about all of the bells and whistles on the F100. I am thinking of trading the F100 in on a M6. I know that I will be without my zoom lens but I love the photos that my Minilux gives me. Should I be happy with my F100 or go for the M6.

-- Wayne Warren (Littlefish172@hotmail.com), November 23, 2001

Answers

Wait. Don't jump in without testing the water first. Rent an M6 if possible and use it. Leica's aren't for everyone, and maybe not for you. If you find your do-it-all Nikon having less and less appeal, you may be Leica material.

-- Dave Jenkins (djphoto@vol.com), November 23, 2001.

Wayne, you might want to read this first before making a decision. I sold off my Nikon gear after having got used to my M4-P.

-- Hoyin Lee (leehoyin@hutchcity.com), November 23, 2001.

On the F100, turn the AF off, set the mode to M and the meter to Spot. So much for bells and whistles. The Leica M demands a complete paradigm shift, it's not just like a manual SLR. Use one before you dive in head first.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), November 23, 2001.

Wayne: As some people will agree, getting used to a rangefinder takes time and patience. I switched to the M3 and M6 after using an R3 (SLR Leica) and the adjustment took some time. I will never go back to an SLR, at least I don't think so right now. I really love using my M6, mainly because of its uncluttered simplicity and excellent mechanics and optics.Rangefinder photography is a different style of photography, at least for me. Good luck in you decision. Think it out.

-- John Alfred Tropiano (jat18@psu.edu), November 23, 2001.

Some people seem to take a lot of time to adapt to using a rangefinder camera. Others of us take to it naturally; for me, shooting with a Leica has always been the easiest thing to do. I'd say: pick up a used Leica M and a lens without selling your F100. Shoot with it exclusively for a month or two and see if it suits you. You can nearly always sell it for almost what you paid if you buy carefully.

-- Godfrey (ramarren@bayarea.net), November 23, 2001.

Wayne:

There are several things you'd be giving up:

*Ability to take closeup and macro shots. The M6 only focuses to 27".

*Ability to "see what you're doing" quite so well with extreme wide- angle lenses; and again, to focus them close in.

*Ability to use telephoto lenses longer than 135mm.

Unless these things are totally unimportant, the M6 should probably be considered a companion piece to the F100. I have lived to regret selling equipment, only to buy it over again.

regards,

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), November 23, 2001.

If you can get a good price for the F100 then sell it. You can always get another one down the road if the M6 doesn't work out.

-- ray tai (razerx@netvigator.com), November 23, 2001.

I owned a Nikon F100 a year back, used it a lot of time with bells and whistles, AF, matrix, spot, center-weighted, you name it has it. Somehow along the way i got tired of the AF everything , ive taken good pictures but i dont feel doing real photography here, there is something missing. I began doing research, then i got an FM2N Nikon and learn real photography. But then i stumbled on to this site about Leica and some other Leica website from then on I sold my camera on ebay (every Nikon ive got, 50mm 1.4, 28 2.0, 35-70 2.8, 80-200 mm EDIF)and embrace the Leica product and bought an M6 TTL (used) and 35mm 2.0 non-asph and a 90mm TE. Oh boy, i did not regret it ever since, with Black and white photography Im in heaven, though i still have to learn more. The transition for me from SLR to RF was not really difficult. Just practice, practice, and practice.

-- Edward Gaddi (edgaddi@yahoo.com), November 24, 2001.