Thomas:
The Leica M3 was introduced in 1954, and was the first of the "M"
Leicas. It featured a bayonet mount, and parallex-correcting framelines
for 50, 90 and 135 mm, in a combined range-viewfinder.
The Leica M2 was originally introduced as a "junior brother" to the M3.
It was very similar to the M3, but had framelines for 35, 50 and 90 mm.
The exposure counter also had to be manually reset.
The M1 was also similar, but it had no rangefinder.
The M4 had an improved quickload system, angled rewind knob, and
framelines for 35, 50, 90 and 135 mm.
The M5 was the first M to offer a built-in light meter. There was a CDS
cell that was mounted on a "semaphore", and offered TTL metering. Alas,
the M5 was not a commercial success, and nearly ruined the company.
The M4-2 was an interim camera. It was basically a cheapened version
of the M-4, and was assembled in Midland Canada, rather than Wetzler.
The M6 offers TTL metering, and six frameline (28,35,50,75,90,135) in a
body the same size as the M1,2,3,4. (The M5 was bigger).
The M6TTL added TTL flash capability. However, the X synch is only 1/50
second, so I'm not sure why they bothered.
The M7 is a M6 with the option of aperture-priority automation, and DX
film encoding.
This is written quickly form memory. You should look at Stephen Gandy's
excellent web site at:
http://www.cameraquest.com/
For an excellent discussion of rangefinder cameras.
Erwin Puts has a long review of the M7 at:
http://www.imx.nl/photosite/leica/mseries/m7.html
HTH,
Bill Stanke
T.Clausen@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
>
> On Tue, 21 May 2002, John Hudson wrote:
>
> > T.Clausen@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> > >
> > > On Mon, 20 May 2002, Richard F. Man wrote:
> > >
> > > > Uh Oh, I am being heretical here, please don't stone me... yet.
> > > >
> > > > I held a Leica M6/M7 for the first time on Thursday....
> > > >
> > > > Hmmm... OK stone me now...
> > >
> > > No no, no reason for stones...The Leica M6 is a nice rangefinder-version
> > > of the OM1, as is the Leica M7 a nice rangefinder-version of the
> > > OM2n. I guess SLR's are just too difficult for some people :)
> >
> >
> > The M3, not the M6, is the nice rangefinder version of the OM1 !
> >
>
> John, obviously you've got more Leica-knowledge than I :) What does the M6
> then do that the OM1 doesn't? I thought the M6 was fully manual and
> mechanic with a ttl - roughly like the OM1?
>
> I've never owned a Leica - I've only admired them on occation. So if you
> can fill me in and make me sound a little less mind-numb next time I speak
> of Leica, then I'd be happy...
>
> --
>
> -------------------------------------------
> Thomas Heide Clausen
> Civilingeniør i Datateknik (cand.polyt)
> M.Sc in Computer Engineering
>
> E-Mail: T.Clausen@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> WWW: http://www.cs.auc.dk/~voop
> -------------------------------------------
>
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