karl_yik1

Kai, Have you taken some shots with this lens and the results prove that you need to change the element, or is it more of a 'I must have a scratch free lens?' Youd be very surprised how little difference a scratched front element makes to an image in a general situation.

Paul, Im sure that someone bought and reviewed this lens a few weeks ago. If you have not seen it already, its typically un VC like. Heavy, solid construction very much like those made from Leica.

I use the P150 with the hector lens replaced with a colorplan lens and I am more than pleased with the results. Projection distance is about 7 meters directly onto a white wall

Get a 'Made in Hong Kong' or 'Made in Taiwan' version! ;] Honestly I believe that 'any' of the older leitz lenses where better crafted than the current Leica stuff, whether it was early german or canadian. I can also understand why some people would go for a made in germany lens just for the sake of having that stamp and although quality control is claimed to be the same and in most cases is the same, the main reasons why german companies moved their plants abroad was to cut costs and we know what means!

I beleive that all Leicas will at least appreciate in value over time. M7s are only worth more currently because they cant meet user demand.

chrome is chrome, black is paint

im sure that a lot of stolen equipment eventually ends up on ebay.

Patrick, Unless your main lens is the 21 and you regularly make enlargements, I wouldnt bother trading up, unless that is you have bundles of spare cash burning a hole in your pockets! ;]

Matt. I have both the TTl and classic and ended up selling my ttl. The classic is slightly shorter, though feels and looks more compact. Battery drainage is also a lot less, plus they cost less than ttl's. As you are familiar with the m2, the m6 classic would be 2nd nature to you as well both in terms of shutter dial size and turning direction.

I bought mine 2nd hand and it had batteries! ;]

Also check for shutter curtain damage. Take lens off, swing open back cover hold camera up to light and look for small holes in both the cocked and fired shutter curtain.

Hahaha! I wonder what he will give you as a trade in for your autographed lens !? ;] On a more serious note however, I wonder why dealers dont buy scratched lenses (Even for throw away prices) if they dont affect image quality in any way (so they claim!) I tried to sell a Zeiss vario sonnar to a dealer with very slight coating marks (which has performed flawlessy) and they just werent interested because of the marks.) Maybe this is an indication that the majority or people out there just wont buy marked lenses?.

Im confident anyhow from the responses I have seen that my scratched up lens should be an excellent 'User'.

John, Its actually a Zeiss 85 F1.4 planar, the front element is 67mm wide and the scuffing is about 1cm wide in the middle with occasional coating scratches randomly over the rest of the surface. (theres also a few specks on dust inside, but no fogging) I bought it with the intension of using as a portrait lens only, and if the scuffing gives it a slight glow, then all the better! I will report on the results when I have ran a film through it!

I dont see why they cant make a retrofit digital back plate (obviously it will be thicker that the current back plate) but who cares!

I wouldnt advise buying a 2nd hand M with no refund policy if you are unsure of what to look for.

My best advise would be to go to an authorised Leica dealer, get them to show you a M6 and how it works and have a good play with it yourself. This should give you a good indication of what a M6 should do and whether you should risk buying the no guarantee one. Good luck!

Hi all

I have purchased a well used lens for an excellent price and was told

that there were plenty of marks on the front glass (rest of glass is

good, mount and barrel well worn though). These seem only to be

coating marks, but due to the size of the marks (esp in the centre of

the lens where theres so much scuffin it kinda looks like a thumb

print.

Ive found mixed thoughts on this subject on the internet ranging from

it doesnt affect the image thru to descreased contrast due to flare

etc. My question is has any of you chaps used a well scratched lens

with excellent results or is it a case of you get what you pay for?

Use both!

I recently bought a nikon 5700 as my first digital camera and though I am pleased with the results, acutally using the camera is a real pain in the butt, I thought I could live with the small view window, but in use, you can harldy see any detail at all, rather like a washed out blurry image. Maybe its becuase I am so used to the M6 viewfinder!

Stefano, Ive had problems with a 90 elmarit where the occasional photo would be out of focus which surprised me as im usually quite carefull when it came to focussing. This would be event greater with a F2 lens on a 90mm lens where the plane of focus is greatly reduced.

 

But to have this at infinity is strange, best to bring the test shots to your dealer and get them to swap it.

Nice work Alan!

I would go for a Contax SLR (RTS2, S2, RX) and a set of Zeiss lenses , I think they handle much better than all of the Leica R bodies I have tried. The Zeiss Lenses are cheaper and perhaps of equal quality or better than the Leica equivalents.

This thread promted me to visit my local dealer to have a look and indeed construction wise this lens is VERY different from other VC lenses. Like Joel pointed out it is indeed very hefty and very solid. Focussing is very smooth and aperture ring is 'ball bearing smooth' and not 'ratchety' and I would say that the finish is on par with Leica lenses!

Thanks Joel for the review, much awaited!

Michael, you can open that champagne!

The idea of having 2 polarisers with numbered edges is good only if the glass has been placed in at the correct plane on both filters. ie position 2 on one filter may be maxiumum polarisation, but position 2 on the other filter may not be. You can easily calibrate them buy unscrewing the lens mount slightly and turning the glass until max polarisation has been achieved on both sets of lenses and then make sure they both read the same number on the edges!