Dear Leica friend, Just an idea came to my mind: Is it possible to modify the shutter dial rotation on a Classic M6 to the style as the TTL one? Perhaps it needs a new dial etc; with the same diameter ... The thinking :it may speed-up the shutter adjustment; just follow the arrow direction.

Best wishes for the Season

-- Andy Wijono (andywijono@hotmail.com), December 21, 2001

Answers

Do not try this at home.

I may be possible, but it would probably cost the same as a new M6TTL. I suspect that Leica achieved this by adding an extra gear to the shutter dial gear train, reversing the rotation and offsetting the dial away from the flash shoe by the distance required by the new gear.

It seems unlikely that there would be sufficient room for such a modification in an M6.

I have used both the M6 and M6 TTL and I think that the reversal of direction was a worthwhile change but I know many do not agree.

Maybe the new M6AE will have a push button shutter speed selector to really get everyone offside. Surely not....

-- wayne murphy (w,murphy@powerup.com.au), December 21, 2001.

Yes they used an idler gear to change the direction of rotation and to move the dial center far enough away to accomodate the larger dial. You could make up something that slips over a M6 classic's shutter dial to make it easier to move but this would have to stick up over the hot shoe and probably make it difficult to mount finders and flashes.

-- John Collier (jbcollier@powersurfr.com), December 21, 2001.

When you meter, think of an imaginary dot on the *rear* of the shutter dial and imagine it moving as you turn the dial. That imaginary dot travels according to the diode arrows. After a brief time you'll wonder how you ever believed the dial turns in the wrong direction.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), December 21, 2001.

A useful hint that was passed on by someone on the Leica Users Group is to use your thumb, or imagine using your thumb, as the primary digit for making shutter speed adjustments. Then the meter arrows in the viewfinder point the right direction.

-- Henry Chu (heninden@yahoo.com), December 21, 2001.

Yep, it works for me. I just think of the direction the rear surface of the dial moves in, and move it the way the LED arrow points. End of problem.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), December 21, 2001.

Thank you, gentlemen.

Jay: I think your advice is worth to add in the Leica manual :)

-- Andy Wijono (andywijono@hotmail.com), December 22, 2001.

I had the problem of the arrows for awhile, until I just start turning the dial in the direction of the diode that is lighted. If the left one lights up, I push the dial to the left with my index finger, and vise versa. Ignore the direction of the arrows itself. Works fine for me now. Cheers.

-- Steven Fong (steven@ima.org.sg), December 22, 2001.