I bought a Leica M6…but I hesitated
I started shooting 35mm film a little over two years ago, and in those two years I’ve owned 5 different film cameras.
When it comes to camera gear (or really anything), I’ve always been someone who has opted for the cheaper thing, or the cheaper version of a certain thing. It has always been difficult for me to justify spending a ton of money on something when there’s a much cheaper alternative that might do 90% of the same things. Sure, I might not get some features or the same quality or whatever, but I convince myself I can deal with it.
And that’s been the mindset for a long time.
But recently, I decided it was time to break away from that mindset for one purchase — my new-to-me, Leica M6.
However, buying this camera was no easy decision. I was still considering cheaper alternatives because it was hard for me to stomach spending almost $3,000 on a film camera, considering I’ve never even spent that much on a digital camera which I use a lot more. But after a few weeks of searching and weighing my options, I decided to pull the trigger — and I don’t think it’ll be a decision I’ll regret.
The decision process.
So for the last couple of months, I’ve been very inconsistent with shooting film for a variety of reasons, but one of them is that my Leitz-Minolta CL has an occasional issue where a blue light leak appears at the bottom of some frames. It doesn’t happen with every roll/shot, but in the back of my head I have been wanting to upgrade cameras, and this little issue pushed me to decide it was time to start doing my research about a new camera.
I was considering a few cameras apart from the M6 — the Voigtlander Bessa R2A and the Leica M4-P. Both of these cameras were cheaper than the M6, and I liked certain things about each of them. My only must haves for this new camera I would be buying was that it needed to be M-mount, it needed 35/50/90 frame lines, and it needed to be a clean copy. I liked that the R2A had an aperture-priority mode and up to 1/2000 sec shutter, but I chose against it because the shutter is battery dependent, they’re a bit harder to get serviced if needed, and it only had 4 framelines as opposed to 6 on the Leicas.
I moved on to the M4-P. For the most part, this is a very similar camera to the M6 apart from some very small things but one main practical thing — it does not have an internal meter. I debated for a while if I needed/would want to use an internal light meter. I’ve always relied on using an app of my phone to meter, or more recently, using a Keks KM-Q meter. But that was something that slowed down my shooting process, and so I decided it was time to get a camera that had an internal meter I’d actually use — so I eventually decided on the M6. It had an internal meter, frame lines for basically any focal lengths I’d consider shooting, and it’s a camera that you can get pretty easily serviced if needed. Alongside that, it’s a beautiful piece of gear. Especially the one I got.
The buying process.
It took me a few weeks of scouring Ebay, Facebook Marketplace, and every possible online marketplace until I was finally able to find a copy of the camera that was really clean and everything was working properly. It was honestly a bit of an annoying process because wanted to avoid any tariffs on purchasing gear from Japan — where all the best deals happened to be. I was also kind of close to buying a silver version of the M6 in a store in NYC, but I ended up passing on that one because it was a bit beat up for the price. The one I eventually bought was from eBay and the seller was located in the U.S.
The seller had it listed for an amount outside of what I was willing to pay, but I offered a number inside my budget range and after a bit of back and forth, we agreed on a price. Even though it was still a bit higher than my budget, it looked like a very clean copy so I was able to justify spending a bit more money (I also did end up selling two pieces of gear that helped me fund this and that included my Ricoh GR IIIx and my Tamron 28-75mm lens).
The M6 I got is the classic version in black with the 0.72 viewfinder. The seller basically gave me all these little accessories he had on it which included the black Leica dot (which looks sick), a soft shutter button, a rubber eyepiece, and a strap. When I received the camera, it almost looked like it was only used a handful of times. It also took me a bit longer to find a copy in black because there were a lot of silver ones for sale, but I personally think the black looks better.
The shooting process & final thoughts.
At the time I’m writing this blog, I have put 5 rolls through the camera, and the biggest difference I’ve noticed in my process is speed — and that’s mainly due to the internal meter. It’s really simple to understand and meter, and I don’t have to constantly take my eye off the viewfinder to look at a reading. In that regard, I’m glad I got this over the M4-P.
For now, the lenses I’m using are the Voigtlander 35mm Color-Skopar F2.5 which I used on my CL and the TTArtisan 50mm F1.4 ASPH that was recently sent to me. I definitely want to invest in some more premium glass in the future but because 35mm and 50mm are my favorite focal lengths, I feel covered there so I’m in no rush to buy any other lenses. Eventually, I may look to buy a 90mm as well as a 28mm.
The loading system on this camera is pretty nice, and it’s a lot quicker than the loading method on the CL so that headache is mostly gone. I’m still kind of practicing getting better at it and knowing how much film I need to pull out of the canister but besides that, it’s really straightforward.
With this purchase, I’m definitely going to be shooting more film and shooting it more consistently because I have a camera that I trust and that works properly. I want to also hone in on shooting specific stocks. Over the last two years, I’ve tried a lot of different stocks and I want to kind of narrow my selections down. I think Cinestill 800T will be my expensive, faster speed film and then I’m likely also going to be shooting Kodak Gold 200 and probably Fuji 400. Of course on occasions, I’ll use other stocks, but I want my analog body of work to be a bit more cohesive.
Overall though, this is probably the most exciting purchase I’ve made in a while and I’m ready to put a bunch of rolls through it this coming winter and get a lot more comfortable with it.
