Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/09/14
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]TMLee writes: "Can someone summarise what's teh basic diff between M photography vs SLR photography... Just read that someone said it takes some time getting used to M -use......" I use an OM4Ti SLR and an M6. Here's what I find are the significant differences: The M6 has a very bright rangefinder. It is much easier to focus wide angle lenses precisely in dim light with the M6 than with an SLR. The M6 is quiet. You can photograph musicians and they won't notice at all. The current M6 lenses (I have 24/2.8 ASPH, 35/2.0 ASPH, 50/2.0 and 90/2.8) are optimized for low light, relative to the corresponding OM lenses. The Leica lenses appear to have less flare, and better contrast when shot wide open. Many on this list will claim that they always have a magical edge over the Olympus lenses, in every situation, but I have not been able to see that. I can shoot hand-held shots with the M6 at slower shutter speeds than with the OM4Ti. There is no mirror slap with the M6 (since there is no mirror). The M6 is a relatively stable technology, seems to have very high build quality, and it may become a family heirloom. (I also have an M3 from the 60's which operates perfectly and can still be repaired.) Photojournalists, who are very hard on equipment as a group, all seem to praise the M6 for its ruggedness. The point is that you can expect the useful economic life of the M6 to be very long. This makes the high purchase price easier to swallow. On the other hand: The M6 can only focus down to .7 meters with short lenses. The built-in metering with the M6 is, roughly speaking, a very wide spot. This metering system is primitive compared to the OM4Ti. It takes a while to get used to loading film from the bottom. There is no depth-of-field preview since you don't look through the lens. You'll actually have to use the depth-of-field scales engraved on the lenses. The M6 and lenses are such mechanical joys to operate, that you may become caught up in a very expensive case of Leica lust. A single 50/1.0 lens for the M6 (the famous Noctilux) costs more than a fairly complete OM4Ti kit. What is confusing about all this, is that either an M6 or an SLR can be used for a great deal of general purpose photography. The M6 is the best for available light photography, especially for photographing people unobtrusively in dark places. SLRs are the way to go for closeups, telephoto work (anything longer than 135mm), and use of fancy color filters. For anything else, you could use either type of camera with good success. However, the M6 is small, and the black lenses (made of aluminum) are particularly compact and light compared to any other camera (including the OM4Ti!), so I conclude that for general purpose travel photography, where size, weight and reliability are important, the M6 is the best camera available, bar none. Especially true if you want to photograph in museums without flash. Hope this helps. Mark Davison