Over the past forty years, the Leica M6 has grown into its role as the quintessential film camera. As the first traditional M camera (setting aside the CL and the M5) with exposure metering, film revivalists consider it a great all-rounder. It is top of the wishlist for photography students and younger people who have grown up with digital cameras and want to experience what photography was all about just twenty years ago. As a result, M6 Classic prices have quadrupled in the past half-decade.
To meet this demand, Leica stepped up to the bar and produced a new version of the M6 Classic, which was unveiled four months ago. One journalist, Adam Morganstern, has followed the camera from its origins to the end of the production line in Wetzlar, the home of Leica.
“The M6 begins its journey at Leica’s Portugal facility, where the company relocated its older machines for producing film-camera parts. ‘Thank God we didn’t throw them away,’ says Pacella. Technicians give each model over 16 hours of individual attention, crafting the instrument from more than 1,100 parts, rigorously testing it and fine-tuning any adjustments before shipping it to Wetzlar. ‘Like a great watch, every piece is mounted and checked by hand’.”
The above quote is taken from a fascinating feature on the Robb Report website. Robb Report’s Adam Morganstern visited Wetzlar to watch the manufacturing team in action. You will enjoy reading the full article here.
Leica M6: the prized possession
Concluding, Morganstern writes, “Leica intends the M6 to be more than a retro novelty. “I know someone who is the only American abbot of a Tibetan Buddhist abbey in north India,” says Pacella. “He left everything to follow the Dalai Lama. The only earthly possession he still has is his Leica camera, which he uses to document his life. Limited controls and manual focusing somehow bring mindfulness. Having to fight some odds is a great way to apply your mind.”
The Leica M6 Classic is ready for action again.
Read the launch review of the new Leica M6
The new Leica film camera: Classic or grown-up TTL?
More on the Leica M6 classic and revival
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I as well. If you have done it for 70’years developing a film and using a Valloy enlarger is quicker. Than a printer which won’t print. Hurrah for Ilford Harman.
Geoffrey Rivett
To me it is just nostalgia, then you struggle with film only to scan it and turn it into digital files. In my younger days I developed B&W film and print it in my darkroom. I wonder how many people will be doing it that way now days. But it’s a nice hobby go for it.
Me, for example. Not darkroom print though
That explains so well the increasing of film demand, Mike:
“photography students and younger people who have grown up with digital cameras and want to experience what photography was all about”
So, they stamp “Made in Germany” on the leatherette in the factory where they are making them in Portugal?
I do wish I had never sold on my M4-P when in graduate school. But the M6 which I sold to fund an engagement ring, that turned out to be a wise decision.