Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/12/07

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Subject: [Leica] Hexar RF finder deficiency/ black paint M6TTL
From: "Emanuel Lowi" <mano@proxyma.net>
Date: Tue, 07 Dec 1999 19:02:23 -0500

I noticed in Howard Cummer's welcome review of the Hexar RF that he found the absence
of the lefthand frameline at 28mm disturbing. It's worth remembering that Leitz
Wetzlar made the same kind of choice with the M5, where the 35mm frame had no bottom
line, because the meter needle display and shutter speed appeared there instead.
Likewise on the Hexar RF, the shutter speed display appears where the left frameline
would go.

On M5 bodies modified with the M4-P frames (so you can use the 28mm and 75mm lenses)
you also gain the bottom line for the 35mm but this often overlaps with the meter
display and this can be a bit weird looking - the frameline looks curved, not
straight. This, I am told, is due to the fact that the meter display is not truly
straight and the optical illusion bothers some people. You just can't have
everything.

For those who pooh-pooh the black paint M6 as another Franklin Mint gimmick from
Leica, let's remember that the first Leica and virtually every model up to the M4 was
offered in this finish. I for one applaud Solms' return to something so basic in the
Leica tradition and hope this marks a more general shift towards Barnackian
principles

Emanuel Lowi
Montreal