Just bought an early M6 C/W 50 F2 summicron - very good deal. I't' a bit worn but as I wanted a user and not a trophy I think I'm a bit more comfortable with it's less than mint apearance. Anyway everything works fine ( no results yet) but I noticed the white spot on the shutter curtain that the meter uses is a bit less than pure white - some of the cloth is showing through. I tested the meter against my Sekonic L508 and its over by about a stop - is there anyway of re whitening the patch (special leica paint?) or should I just live with it?

-- John Griffin (john@griffinphoto.u-net.com), March 02, 2002

Answers

All the white dots I've seen are off-white in color and sometimes blotchy too. I wouldn't worry about it as I think it's normal. Doing the obvious and taking some pics is the best way to find if there's a fault.

-- sam smith (ruy_lopez@hotmail.com), March 02, 2002.

Ha! Good question as I'm sure I'd be like it's wearing off! Well, my new M6 TTL is a bit spotty in some places (black showing through), and so reading the manual it tells me that this is normal and that it is hard to coat a solid dot without building the dot too high and interfering with shutter functioning. Leica states that this in no way affects metering accuracy. It's definitely not pure white on mine either ( I don't think). I don't know about the accuracy deal though.

-- James (snodoggydogg@hotmail.com), March 02, 2002.

Jason is right. Leica specifically states in its manual that the white dot is fine as you view it. The apparent off-white dot is designed to be what you see. If you whiten it, you'll really screw up the meter. I'd also suggest checking the Sekonic meter you have--chances are good that the Leica meter is dead-on & the Sekonic off. The M6 meters rarely drift, while the Sekonic should be frequently tested & adjusted...

-- Patrick (pg@patrickgarner.com), March 02, 2002.

It is supposed to be less than pure white, with at least some of the fabric showing through in VERY small spots. If you have a big patch missing (unlikely with rubberized fabric paint) then you have a problem. You definitely should not be painting the shutter curtain.

IMHO, the meter will be off by a whole stop because of fabric paint loss when approximately half the paint area is missing. Is it?

Do test your meter in actual usage with slide film. If it is truly off by a whole stop from where it should have been calibrated in the factory, it should be obvious enough. M6 meters are almost always dead-on, in practice with appropriately rated slide film.

My guess is everything is fine. Do wait for those results... Leica worrying is an old and well-known affliction, one that affects us all in this forum :-)

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), March 02, 2002.

When you say that you checked the M6 meter against the Sekonic... did you meter for both in the reflective mode? If you metered with the M6 normally and then used the sekonic in incidence mode, then there is a good probability that there may be a difference.

Either use a grey card for the M6 when using the Sekonic as an incident meter, or use the Sekonic in reflective mode and make sure the tone being measured by both meters is constant and fills the frame in the camera.

In some old books I have by John Shaw, he says that he "calibrates" all of his cameras against a meter of know accuracy. Back in the day, he said that several of his Nikon F3s would have a deviation from dialed-in film speed and the film's stated ISO, but he would live with it because he could get perfect results.

-- Al Smith (smith58@msn.com), March 02, 2002.

As others have said, the "weathered" off-white look is correct for the metering spot. The only way you can check the meter against a 508 would be to turn the lens to infinity, set the shutter so the reading falls in the f/5.6-f/11 range (to avoid optical vingetting at wider stops)and meter both up close enough to a uniform subject (like a wall) so that the different angles of coverage are ruled out. Of course use the 508 in reflected mode. It is not unusual for meters to be off a stop from one another. If you've been getting consistent readings from your 508 you may want to reset the M6's ISO dial to a different speed to equilibrate them...but I would try some test shots using reversal film first. My experience with M6's is that the one thing which is very consistent is the meter calibration.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), March 02, 2002.

I would not mess with the white patch at all. Anything you put on there will 1) probably not accomplish what you wanted to do with respect to meter accuracy, and 2) probably not be flexible for a shutter curtain, will flake and jam up everything.

If you take any 2 meters they will probably not completely agree. Your 508, for example, reads a narrower target area than your M6 meter. Best go by the results on slides than try to guess. If necessary, change the way you set the ISO on the back of the M6 to compensate.

-- Ken Shipman (kennyshipman@aol.com), March 02, 2002.

I've heard of SLR meters being off by that much, often the Japanese manufacturers bias their in camera exposure systems according to whether they think their cameras will be used to shoot slide vs print film. I personally dislike this practice. But Leica doesn't do this, and the M6 meter is one that is particularly accurate. A one stop difference with a handheld meter is too much. I think you should expect 1/2 stop or less (and almost always less). I would check the metering under various different lighting conditions (always compare with reflective metering mode only, not incident). Makesure you take close up readings or meter off a uniformly bright area to account for the differences in metering angles.

Of course, then you will have to do an actual test with narrow latitude slide film to determine which meter is correct. I wouldn't automatically assume it is the Sekonic that is correct. You might be surfprised by the results. Leica camera meters are uncannily accurate. Surprisingly so.

-- Eliot (erosen@lij.edu), March 02, 2002.

I can only concur with the rest of the guys so far. When I got my TTL M6 the spot was 'off white' from new. And, lo and behold, testing it against my Sekonic 308B the meter seemed off. So in situations when the camera was on a tripod I used the Sekonic for a really accurate reading. Only after several films came back over, or under, exposed, did I stop scratching my head and started using the correct exposure from the Leica. But, if it has been well used, clean the battery contacts, change the batteries for known new ones (lithium if possible), and if results are still out consistently, use the ASA dial to compensate for the meters mis reading.

-- Steve Barnett (barnet@globalnet.co.uk), March 03, 2002.