Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss

Leica M6 TTL "OFF" position

431 views
Skip to first unread message

bachch...@my-deja.com

unread,
Jan 13, 2002, 1:58:36 PM1/13/02
to
When the shutter dial is at the "OFF" position, does it prevent the
shutter from firing or is it just an off switch for the meter only?

Andrew

Paul Chefurka

unread,
Jan 13, 2002, 4:41:59 PM1/13/02
to

Meter only. The shutter fires like it does on "B". As far as I can tell,
the "Off" and "B" settings are identical, since B has always turned off the
meter in M6's.

Paul

Edward Craft

unread,
Jan 13, 2002, 4:50:50 PM1/13/02
to
It only shuts off the meter. The shutter, being fully mechanical, would
still fire. In previous M6s setting the dial to the B setting performed the
same function.

--------------------
Regards,
Edward Craft

Herbert Kanner

unread,
Jan 13, 2002, 6:45:50 PM1/13/02
to
In article <umv34ukl7j8mgq8pm...@4ax.com>,
Paul Chefurka <pa...@chefurka.com> wrote:

Not quite right, according to one member of the Leica Users Group, who
put a milliameter in series with the battery and discovered that in the
"B" position, minute touches on the shutter release would cause
appreciable battery drain despite the fact that the meter would appear
to be inoperative. So, the only way to absolutely protect your battery
is to to set the switch to the "off" position.

I certainly wondered about this when I got my TTL; the instruction book
didn't produce much enlightenment and the folks in the camera stores
didn't seem to know. So, I was really glad that this fellow made some
actual measurements of battery drain in both "B" and other positions.

Herb

--

In addressing email, replace deadspam.com by acm.org.
--
Herbert Kanner <kan...@deadspam.com>

Serge Boucher

unread,
Jan 13, 2002, 6:49:49 PM1/13/02
to
> It only shuts off the meter. The shutter, being fully mechanical, would
> still fire. In previous M6s setting the dial to the B setting performed the
> same function.
>

I suppose that if you don't keep the shutter armed while your camera's in
your bag you don't need the OFF position at all, do you ?

Serge

McEowen

unread,
Jan 15, 2002, 7:50:50 AM1/15/02
to
<< I suppose that if you don't keep the shutter armed while your camera's in
your bag you don't need the OFF position at all, do you ? >>


If you leave a brightline finder on the camera then you don't need the switch
either since the shutter button is unlikely to rub up against anything that
will depress it.

Godfrey DiGiorgi

unread,
Jan 15, 2002, 9:49:57 AM1/15/02
to
On the M6TTL, there is current flow through the camera whenever the
shutter speed selector is not in the OFF position, even when the shutter
is not wound and the meter switch has not been depressed. The OFF setting
is essential for battery life.

Godfrey

In article <20020115075050...@mb-ms.aol.com>, mce...@aol.com

McEowen

unread,
Jan 15, 2002, 11:08:36 AM1/15/02
to
>On the M6TTL, there is current flow through the camera whenever the
>shutter speed selector is not in the OFF position, even when the shutter
>is not wound and the meter switch has not been depressed. The OFF setting
>is essential for battery life.

I haven't noticed any problems leaving it on for extended periods. . . . I
guess ignorance is bliss . . .

SWB

unread,
Jan 15, 2002, 11:19:27 AM1/15/02
to
I think Godfrey is correct, strictly speaking the only option is 'OFF' as
any other position drains the battery whether the shutter is cocked or not.
But like you, I haven't had any problems with battery drain at all. When I
got my TTL body I got two extra sets of batteries after reading panic posts
on LUG, and ten months on, and using the camera often, I still haven't
needed to change the original battery.
Steve

"McEowen" <mce...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20020115110836...@mb-mq.aol.com...

EDGY01

unread,
Jan 15, 2002, 11:25:49 AM1/15/02
to
<< there is current flow through the camera whenever the
shutter speed selector is not in the OFF position, even when the shutter
is not wound >>


Godfrey,

Just how MUCH current flow is there if I don't have the shutter cocked? I
rarely park it in "OFF" when it's not cocked since I don't care to keep
rotating that shutter dial all the time.

I haven't noticed any battery drain, and besides, the meter won't even come on
unless the shutter is cocked.

Dan Lindsay
santa Barbara

Godfrey DiGiorgi

unread,
Jan 15, 2002, 12:25:50 PM1/15/02
to
Someone on one of the Leica mailing lists/bulletin boards did some
measurements. There are four states:

OFF
ON shutter cocked, inactive
ON shutter uncocked
ON shutter cocked, active (LEDs lit)

In the measurements, only the OFF state had a zero current flow. This is
reasonable since the chip which drives the metering is also responsible
for flash synchronization and TTL flash metering connections. He found the
current flow to be some small fractional milliamperes with the shutter
speed selector not at the OFF position and the shutter uncocked, the
number .03mA is what sticks in my memory but I can't say for certain that
that is correct. Somewhere I archived the test results.

Like others, I have not experienced difficulties with excessive battery
drain when I don't turn it to OFF. In practical usage, I turn the camera
ON when I take it out for use and don't reset it to OFF except them I'm
putting it away again. I have gotten about 1 year between battery changes,
which is perfectly acceptable to me.

I tried using one of the soft touch releases for a while ... That drove my
battery consumption up a lot because the release would trigger the meter
switch very easily unless the camera was OFF. I discontinued using it both
for reason of the battery drain and also because I didn't find that the
release accessory actually made it easier to release the shutter more
smoothly for me.

Godfrey


>> there is current flow through the camera whenever the
>> shutter speed selector is not in the OFF position, even when the shutter
>> is not wound
>

EDGY01

unread,
Jan 15, 2002, 5:59:32 PM1/15/02
to
Thanks, Godrey. As excellent an engineering piece that the Leica is, why is
their documentation so poor? I can't recall that level of detail in the
manual.

Dan

Godfrey DiGiorgi

unread,
Jan 15, 2002, 7:24:33 PM1/15/02
to
Well, their documentation just suggests that you turn the camera off when
you're done with it rather than going into detail about the power
consumption, modes, etc. If you just followed the recommendation, you'd be
fine.

Just simple old consumer instructions... :-)

Godfrey

In article <20020115175932...@mb-ch.aol.com>, edg...@aol.com

Ilanshanon

unread,
Jan 16, 2002, 8:57:38 AM1/16/02
to
>I haven't noticed any battery drain, and besides, the meter won't even come
>on
>unless the shutter is cocked.

I believe that there really isn't any current flow in the off position.
However, I experienced the same problem as others, and that is when the camera
is in the bag, if anything presses against the shutter release botton, it
causes the meter to come on, and the meter may stay on as long as something is
resting against the shutter botton. I drained my first battery in a few days
that way. Since then, I always turn the shutter speed selector to "off" before
returning the camera to the case. One of the extra steps I never had to take
with my M2.

Ilan Shanon

Paul Chefurka

unread,
Jan 16, 2002, 9:56:29 AM1/16/02
to
On 16 Jan 2002 13:57:38 GMT, ilans...@aol.com (Ilanshanon) wrote:

>However, I experienced the same problem as others, and that is when the camera
>is in the bag, if anything presses against the shutter release botton, it
>causes the meter to come on, and the meter may stay on as long as something is
>resting against the shutter botton. I drained my first battery in a few days
>that way. Since then, I always turn the shutter speed selector to "off" before
>returning the camera to the case. One of the extra steps I never had to take
>with my M2.

But once the battery had finished draining, you essentially had an M2 in
your hands. No more worries, right?

Paul

0 new messages