Leica Camera bodies | See also Leica lenses 

Leica M6: The serial number of my first Leica M6 (Black) camera was 1758506, part of a batch of 4,000 produced from 28 Oct 1988, serial number 1758451-1762450. I bought it second hand from Fieldgrass & Gale, Wandsworth, London in 1994. I sold it for €800 to Siena camera Thursday 15th Feb 2005. My next M6 (serial number 2063590) cost £495 from Wey Cameras in England in Oct 2007. It was second hand and in excellent condition. No signs of impact damage or paint wear, no marks around the strap lugs. The base plate still had it’s protective cover and the bayonet mount was virtually free from wear. I later sold this to someone in Italy for 600 euros.

Leica M6 TTL :The M6 TTL version is slightly taller than the M6. The TTL’s meter is slightly more sensitive. There’s now a central ‘proper exposure’ dot between the over- and under-exposure LED’s; the shutter speed dial can be turned easily with the index finger of your right hand. The film advance mechanism of the M6TTL feels flimsier than the one on the M6 “Classic.” The M6TTL shutter speed dial is larger and easier to change with just your trigger finger, but rotates in the opposite direction of all the previous M’s, which means the LED arrows in the viewfinder now point out the correct direction to move both the aperture ring on the lens and the shutter-speed dial for correct exposure. (With the M6, you must turn the shutter dial in the opposite direction of the metering arrows to get correct exposure.)

Leica M7:The M7’s advantages over the M7 over the M6 is optional aperture-priority autoexposure, and a more accurate & slightly quieter shutter. The M7 is more battery-dependent & a little bit heavier than the M6. The batteries that Leica provides in the M7 box are said to be inferior to new, high quality 1/3N lithiums.

Leica M9: Black. Serial number: 4204735. Purchased from FotoModerna, Siena 03rd October 2010 (€5,299.99). Launched in 2009. 18 megapixels. A = aperture (not auto) priority. Leica developed the sensor to make images look like Kodachrome. The M9’s screen gives quite a high contrast image. Frame lines: M9 frame lines are optimized at 1m.  White balance = colour temperature (measured by Kelvin): Daylight: 5400K. Tungsten: 3200K (yellow). Fluorescent (green tint): 4500K. Late evening sun: 4500K (cold blue tones). Setting white balance correctly. Indoors, or late evening (the ‘blue hour’ up to 8200K). Manual white balance (grey card). White paper OK (but this can have colours in it so use a grey card). Skin tones: Skin tones are overly red/orange. To correct this desaturate red and orange by 8% and 30% respectively. ISO: 160 is the base ISO (best quality) as this is what the sensor sees. Stick to 800 or under. Pull 80 – avoid. Stresses the sensor, lose 3 stops orange when you most need it–in bright conditions. Get an ND filter rather than use ‘Pull’. Auto ISO: The Leica M9 has Auto ISO. One can manually set shutter speed and let the camera adjust ISO to give proper exposure. SD card M9  SanDisk 16GB or 32GB. | SD formatter for Mac | A free software which formats the SD-card so you get optimum speed if for some reason speed is lost (after formatting the card in other cameras, etc).

Leica M10: Black. Serial number: 05183487. The rangefinder: An improved design post-M9. The increased magnification of 0.72 (compared to 0.68 on the previous digital M cameras like the M240) makes focusing a bit easier. The rangefinder is also larger making frame lines for the the 28mm easier to see. M10 frame lines are optimized at 2m. 18 megapixels. A = aperture (not auto) priority. Base ISO: All sensors have a ‘base’ ISO value which is where they will produce maximum dynamic range. ISO values above this are ‘push’ values and those below are ‘pull’ values. Dynamic range reduces and noise levels increase when you go in either direction. Often this is a good compromise (allowing higher shutter speeds in low light – and wider apertures in bright light). On the M10 if you use a manually selected ISO, then in bright contrasty conditions you’re better to set it 200 ISO than 100 ISO. 100 ISO base makes it easier to shoot at wide aperture in good light. 100 ISO is fine except where there’s very high contrast. Firmware version 2.4.5.0 for the M10 changed the base ISO for Auto ISO from 100 to 200. White balance = colour temperature (measured by Kelvin): Daylight: 5400K. Tungsten: 3200K (yellow). Fluorescent (green tint): 4500K. Late evening sun: 4500K (cold blue tones). Setting white balance correctly. Indoors, or late evening (the ‘blue hour’ up to 8200K). Manual white balance (grey card). White paper OK (but this can have colours in it so use a grey card). SD card M10: SD 2000x speed Angelbird 64GB or 128GB cards. Or the 1000x 128GB. Stay with just one brand and size for each camera model.

Leica M240: With the M240 Auto ISO works only when the shutter dial is set to the “A” (aperture priority) position. A manual shutter speed selection disables Auto ISO. Leica promised a firmware update would re-introduce this capability as an option.