Only a few manufacturers can lay claim to
the ‘best in their field’ title, commonly reserved for the finest, most
precise and widely respected brands; two of the most famous examples
being Rolls Royce and Patek Phillipe. For cameras, there is Leica.
Leica have been around for over 100 years and from the start, they were
at the top. They were a powerhouse of German innovation and
manufacturing for the majority of the 20th century. Their reputation
caught like wildfire, even with those that had no interest in
photography.
Nearing the end of the 20th century, Leica like every other brand,
without knowing, was reaching their Apex in mechanical film camera
development. Almost overnight digital cameras took over the market in
what would become the ‘quartz crisis’ of mechanical film cameras. At the
time, Leica had reached an impressive point in their journey with the
famous M6.
The M6 is a mechanical rangefinder camera, and is one of, if not the
most, desirable and sought after camera ever made. It is a manual focus
and mechanical film camera without any automatic features; with the only
electronic component in the camera being the built-in light meter. They
were produced from 1984 - 2002 and many consider it to be the last
great camera from Leica due to its almost entirely mechanical design,
without reliance on electronic components.
You might think with the advent of digital technology that there would
be little to no demand for this sort of stuff anymore from the consumer
photography market. Surprisingly, the Leica MP, an extremely close
‘modern’ version of the M6, still being offered by Leica, has seen a
massive influx of demand in the past few years. This has led to a
waiting list of over 1 year to become a ‘Leica ambassador’. Leica simply
can not keep up with demand. The second hand market of Leica’s has seen
a massive shift, the prices of their used film cameras steadily
creeping towards the retail price of a new, Leica MP. One of the most
greatly affected, and becoming increasingly harder to come by in unused
condition, being the M6.
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