M6J - what is it?
The M6J is a rare, collectors special edition Leica M released in 1994 to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the M series Leica. The "J" stands for "Jubilee" (and not "Journalist" as some mistakenly think) and was manufactured to celebrate the 40 years passing since the M3 was first released.
They are a hybrid of the M3 and the M6 and are much sought after by pros and collectors alike. As only 1640 of them were made, getting one isn't easy (or cheap).
The typical asking price for one in good condition is approx $US 8000 and demand is reasonably high. Prior to the release of the M6 0.85 HM, demand was even higher as the M6J was the only metered M rangefinder with a high magnification viewfinder (in this case 0.86) and built-in light meter. The viewfinder also features the simpler, un-cluttered frame line layout of the older Ms: it only has lines for 35mm, 50mm, 90mm & 135mm lenses.
Other features about the camera is that it has the heft and solid feel of the M3 - mainly due to the fact that the M6J was actually built with a lot of the original M3 tooling.
You can find photos and discussion about the M6J on the Cameraquest.com site at the following URL: <cameraquest.com/leicam6j.htm>.
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