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User comments btil June 2003

M7 auto mode. If you choose or have time to think carefully before the shot, you'd probably have it on manual. Otherwise, you'd be in the ballpark and let the auto shutter "fine tune" your exposure. Even if you have the time, I think that the metering area of the M6/M7/MP allows more precision than many reflected light meters. I use a hand held meter, a Minolta flashmeter IV with incident/reflected options when time and circumstances permit. Even with aperture priority, don't most of us look at the shutter speed first to verify we won't have camera shake? After all, that ruins a sharp picture, and that's why we like Leica glass. I think the convenience of the larger shutter speed dial and the movement which is in the same direction as the arrows indicating exposure in the VFDR would make for quicker, more intuitive settings when you need it. We get used to things, and if you have more than 1 camera (system), you might already be dealing with aperture rings/focus rings, that turn in different directions. Of course, if you already HAVE an M6 or older M, and you want your new camera or 2nd body to be the same in this manner, then you might opt for the MP. For speed in shooting, however, I like the angled rewind crank on the M6/M7. In conclusion, not a bad dilemma if you need to choose between buying an M7 and MP.
 
Why has the direction of the shutter speed dial on the MP been reversed, compared to the M6 TTL?
I thought that it was supposed to rotate in the direction indicated by the exposure meter arrows (a bit of ergonomics much hyped by M6 TTL promotional literature). Seems like a quirky inconsistency to me.
 
I guess you do not own a classic M6? The reason for the dial direction is historical. That is the direction the M1, M2, M3, M4, and Classic M6 all worked. The MP is a return to the "old school" of Leicas.... so the dial "must" turn the old way.
 
Jeff

That sounds like the type of off-handed remark I would make. But please! the MP may sort of look like a "proper" Leica, ie the M3. But that doesn't mean it is one.

Anyway the original M6 has a light meter with a real sized SS dial that works in the correct direction, for us ludites anyway. Purhaps you could get your M6 TTL funny working SS dial converted back to a proper one.

Best of wishes, Craig

PS. I hope to see some of your spectacular shots of that great country you've got over there in Colorado soon.
 
Leica saw the M market is too far split to capture with just one camera. Th= e=20 M7 is for the people who consider a Leica as a tool to make photographs,=20 which is also a very nice piece of machinery. The MP is for the collectors,= =20 who consider the Leica a nice piece of machinery to ogle and caress, which=20 can also be used to make photographs.
 
Craig wrote:
PS. I hope to see some of your spectacular shots of that great country you've got over there in Colorado soon.

Craig..
I'm gonna have a tough time doing that with my Leica. I'm traveling the next two weeks and then moving to San Antonio, Texas. I'm taking my M6 to get some "on the road" shots.
Jeff in Colorado (for now)
 
FRANK—Thanks for showing me what I'm up against! I must be the only one (aside from a few crackpot Leica engineers) who thought that it was perfectly reasonable, intuitive even, for the shutter speed dial to rotate in the direction of the meter arrows. I shoot with an M4, and two M6's. The shutter speed dial on the M6 rotates counter to the M4, but so what? It makes sense. What I find annoying is that Leica has now switched the direction again, for reasons that seem purely cosmetic. What happened to "Form Follows Function" —the basic rule of industrial design since the Bauhaus?
 
I got to hold a new MP yesterday. Not only does the shutter speed dial rotate opposite to an M6 TTL, the dial has been reduced to the old style size. It's little bitty.
Jeff in Colorado
 
Just a correction Jeff

The SS dial on the MP is the correct size not itty bitty, and it rotates in the proper direction.

BTW "Jeff in Texas" isn't going to sound the same. Looks like you'll be doing social documentary photography in the Ozarks from now on. I know it's the wrong end of the State, but where I'm from Texas is considered small.

craig
 
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