Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/11/13

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Subject: Re: Leica R6 & R6.2
From: "Patrick G. Sobalvarro" <pgs@sobalvarro.org>
Date: Thu, 13 Nov 1997 10:53:59 -0800

At 06:30 AM 11/13/97 -0500, Doug Williams (R) wrote:
>Hello...I was wondering if anybody could tell me about the mechanical Leica
>R6/R6.2 bodies.  I have a M body/lenses, but am thinking about the SLR
side of
>the coin.  Other than the glass, what make the R6/R6.2 so expensive?
Contax S2
>with the titanium covers sells new for about $1000.00.  The Nikon FM2
sells for
>less, even the titanium version sells for less.  Yet I see the R6.2
selling for
>quite a bit more (w/o the titanium cost factors.)  I do realize the R bodies
>are made to last, but I am looking for a bit more depth as to what makes
the R
>bodies so rugged and expensive.

I think this is partly the usual Leica story of having to amortize large
development costs over short production runs, but the R6 and R6.2 are also
just a bit more fancy than the other cameras.  The R6.2 is and was made in
small numbers, but required a substantial development effort.  It has some
expensive little features, like mirror prefire, built-in diopter
correction, and nighttime illumination of the f-stop scale, that require
more cuts in the body and more parts inside.  It offers a choice of spot
and integral metering, and its meter is sensitive for a couple more stops
than the Contax and Nikon offerings.  I don't know if Leica did the shutter
themselves, but it seems possible that they did, because there aren't any
mechanical shutters I know of in current Japanese cameras with exactly the
same specs -- so this would be quite an expensive proposition, with some
unusual features for a mechanical shutter, such as an additional
electromagnetic release (for the self-timer).

These are nice little cameras.  They really are uncompromising in some
respects -- the developers clearly had in mind the famously expensive SL2
and tried to mimic its features (at lower cost, of course).  The R6 can be
had for about $1000 used, and of course you get access to the superb R lens
line.  You might want to try one.