p.10 #2 · Will Leica bring the M6 film camera back to life?
From my email this morning from The Leica Store San Francisco:
“ The new Leica M6 is not a limited production release and will be available soon. Stay tuned as we will announce when an in-store display becomes available for an in-store demo.”
p.10 #6 · Will Leica bring the M6 film camera back to life?
I'll be getting one. Read the thread on Leica Forum from Jono Slack's review of the Steel Rim. He talks about the new M6:
– It's not limited edition (or else Leica would say so on the new M6 page)
– Leica has completely redesigned the internals – it's basically a new camera
– Leica has ramped up the film production line since this new body uses internally-sourced circuit boards and other components that previously held up film camera production
It sounds like to me the MP/M-A will be discontinued (or continue in the same small numbers) and future variants will be based on this new M6. Given that the new M6 circuit boards are made by Leica, the M6 (and variants that are based on it to follow) now becomes the metered camera that will likely have the longest service life of its meter.
The limited supply is only due to the expected high demand at first.
––
From Jono's Steel Rim review on Leica Forum:
The New Leica M6
First of all, I haven't tested this camera, There isn't so much need to test a film camera, so I've not had one sent my way. I thought it was a great idea, but I didn't know the full details until visiting Dublin last weekend, where Stefan Daniel was carrying the new camera with the 35 Summilux V1.
Superficially the camera is a replica of the 1984 version of the M6, complete with the Leitz red spot and the engraving on the top plate. The shutter speed dial is also exactly as the original camera and the MP (smaller and in the other direction).
The original camera had a die-cast zinc top and brass bottom plate, but the new camera is machined out of solid brass. In addition it has the latest version of the 0.72 rangefinder. The viewfinder itself now has a red dot between the two arrows (as did the M7 and the M6TTL).
The paint is the same as the M11 (which is incredibly durable) but with a slightly smoother finish. This camera will brass, but it's going to take a long time!
Most of the rumours about the new camera suggested that it would be a limited edition, but this is not the case. Leica have completely revamped the supply chain for components so that they should be able to produce the cameras quickly, and be able to repair them for the foreseeable future.
This is Leica re-affirming their allegiance to film photography whilst every other manufacturer has abandoned it.
and
As I understand it . . the problem Leica have making the MP (and the M-A to a lesser extent) is that many of the parts were made by suppliers who no longer exist, so creating another camera with the same internals would be pretty stupid.
So the M6 is substantially different - I guess Leica are producing the printed circuit boards themselves in Portugal, but I don't know for sure.
I would have thought a more likely (and better) solution would be if they now changed the MP a little to take advantage of the modern supply chain for the M6. . . . but I don't know this. What I do know is that they shouldn't have too much trouble producing the M6 in substantial numbers and then being able to supply spares for many years to come.
and
Q: Did they say whether the new parts of the M6 reissue are only electronic, or do they include mechanical parts?
A: They include mechanical parts - "basically an entirely new body" was what I was told.
p.10 #10 · Will Leica bring the M6 film camera back to life?
As I mentioned on l-forum, this is the quote I do not understand:
As I understand it . . the problem Leica have making the MP (and the M-A to a lesser extent) is that many of the parts were made by suppliers who no longer exist, so creating another camera with the same internals would be pretty stupid.
Why cannot the new supplier make the current MP parts?
p.10 #12 · Will Leica bring the M6 film camera back to life?
Desmolicious wrote:
It is actually a very good thing that it is NOT a limited ed camera, as now I do not feel the rush of having to claim my place in line....
If you think too long though, they might in the meanwhile already have raised the price twice...
p.10 #13 · Will Leica bring the M6 film camera back to life?
Fred Miranda wrote:
I wonder is someone has seen the 6-bit for the new steel rim? I shoot with the 35/1.4 pre-asph v2 but would love to add that code to my CV 35/1.4 II.
I wouldn't think the CV ver II would have the same problems (er..."character") as this old design Summilux.
p.10 #14 · Will Leica bring the M6 film camera back to life?
Oldwino wrote:
I wouldn't think the CV ver II would have the same problems (er..."character") as this old design Summilux.
I have both and you are correct, although their optical design is similar. The Voigtlander is better corrected for SA with less glow and higher contrast wide open. I just like to have the lens 6-bit coded for exif documentation and a bit less vignetting from the Leica auto-correction.
Although the Leica 35/1.4 Summilux can be set manually in camera, there was not code for this lens until now. Perhaps cameras will get their firmware update for it?
p.10 #15 · Will Leica bring the M6 film camera back to life?
AndrewNYC wrote:
Can you share anything about this project? (Genuine question from Chicagoan)
Hi AndrewChicago, disfromage posted a GapersBlock article on the previous page:
disfromage wrote:
I'm afraid I don't have these images online at the moment. I am in the process of revamping my web presence and have taken them down for the time being. Here is an article from when my book was published which is a taste of the entire work:
You can also go to rwasserman.com and see a series I recently did on cell phone towers as well as a document of the historical Pullman neighborhood in Chicago.
p.10 #16 · Will Leica bring the M6 film camera back to life?
Desmolicious wrote:
As I mentioned on l-forum, this is the quote I do not understand:
As I understand it . . the problem Leica have making the MP (and the M-A to a lesser extent) is that many of the parts were made by suppliers who no longer exist, so creating another camera with the same internals would be pretty stupid.
Why cannot the new supplier make the current MP parts?
Because there's no new supplier for the mechanical parts, Leica is making those for the new M6. Leica has all the original machines to make a new M6 from scratch (per Hugh Brownstone's YT interview with the Leica marketing director), and it would be my assumption they don't have the machines in house to make the MP parts. That could be a wrong assumption, though, and Leica may start tooling their own parts for the MP and M-A as well.
The supplier reference is for sourcing semiconductors. It's not super clear, but they didn't say curcuit boards, just semiconductors. So they probably found new suppliers for semiconductor parts and are making their own new M6 circuit boards in-house.
p.10 #20 · Will Leica bring the M6 film camera back to life?
So much for it being cheaper. £400 on top of an MP. Nice one. I'll wait for the M6-P that has a screw instead of the red dot, a quieter shutter and can do 1/4000 😆
