Leica R6

Variants & identification

1. Lens cams. The R6 couples to the third, stepped cam, the R-cam, and nothing else. It takes and meters at full aperture with 3-cam lenses (the two Leicaflex cams plus the R-cam), R-only lenses and ROM lenses, which keep the R-cam; it predates the ROM contacts and does not read them. The manual says all lenses and accessories for Leica R cameras can be used without modification. 1-cam and 2-cam Leicaflex lenses have no R-cam, and the manual says not to use them on the R6 "to avoid damaging the camera body", and that they can be fitted with the cam at any time and still work on every Leicaflex. Karen Nakamura and English Wikipedia's article on the bayonet say such lenses can be used on R bodies with stop-down metering. Leica's R9 instructions say the cam must be fitted before use on any R camera from the R3; the manual's warning is the safer reading, so check that a lens carries the R-cam before mounting it.
2. Production is an estimate whichever source is used: about 24,000, 20,000 black and 4,000 chrome (Apotelyt); 19,000 (Erwin Puts, Leica Chronicle); about 23,841 (the Leica Wiki). Gandy's list has 16,250 numbers in blocks that hold only R6s and 6,515 in blocks shared with the R5 or R-E, 22,765 in all. The Leica Wiki's 23,841 is the sum of its own table, which counts the 4,000-number M6 block at its head, the three R6-only blocks, and a share of each mixed block (half or a third, and 1,250 of Gandy's misprinted 2,500); without the M6 block it comes to 19,841, close to Puts.
3. No launch list price has been found. English Wikipedia and camera-wiki say it was "significantly more expensive than the R5". A dealer's advertisement in Popular Photography of November 1993, after the R6.2 had replaced it, listed the R6 at US$1,495 against US$1,349 for the R5, US$1,889 for the R7 and US$2,049 for the R6.2: advertised dealer prices, not list prices, and the advertisement does not say whether the cameras were new stock.
4. The chassis is the one the R4 introduced. English Wikipedia says the R4–R7 were "all based on the same chassis", the R4 itself "based on Minolta XD-7 (sold as XD in Japan and XD-11 in the USA) but with Leica developed exposure metering, mirror box, and newly designed body", and camera-wiki that the same body and chassis served every R model to the R7. What the R6 does not share is the electronically timed shutter: camera-wiki calls it "a very different camera, developed and manufactured in Solms", and English Wikipedia gives it a Leica-developed and Leica-made mechanical shutter. Karen Nakamura describes the R3 to R6 as "designed with some Minolta technology (the XD series)" but made by Leitz in Portugal or Germany.
5. Karen Nakamura notes minor revisions during production, most visibly a film-speed dial changed to be easier to read in dim light; no source gives a serial number for the change.
6. Apotelyt reports dials freezing (shutter-speed dial, depth-of-field lever) and jammed mirrors on some R6 bodies, and says Leica no longer services R-system cameras and refers owners to Paepke-Fototechnik in Düsseldorf. Leica's own SF 20 flash, made for the M6 TTL and M7, does not work on the R6 (Apotelyt).
7. The Leica Wiki and Apotelyt name Sebastião Salgado as the best-known user of the R6 and R6.2; Karen Nakamura names him as an R6.2 user.

• Black (10070): The launch finish and by far the commoner one. The two R6-only black blocks were assigned in October 1987 and June 1988; the last black R6 numbers are in mixed blocks of 1990, and the sources agree it was sold until 1992. The Leica Wiki's table labels the black blocks "Schwz", which its key glosses as black anodised aluminium; the R6 manual describes a die-cast aluminium body with a die-cast zinc top and a brass base plate.
• Chrome (10072): Chrome came more than a year after black: the first and only R6-only chrome block was assigned in February 1989, and the two blocks shared with the chrome R5 followed in June 1989 and March 1990. There is no chrome R6 from the 1987–88 blocks.

Specifications

Format

24×36mm on 35mm film

Finder

fixed pentaprism with an eyepiece blind and built-in dioptre correction from +2 to −2; universal focusing screen standard, four more interchangeable (R6 manual) · 0.8× magnification · 92% coverage

Shutter

vertical-travel metal-blade focal plane, mechanically timed (R6 manual; Leica Wiki); a Leica-developed and Leica-made shutter (English Wikipedia) · 1s–1/1000 in whole stops and B; X (1/100) for electronic flash; every speed works without a battery (R6 manual; camera-wiki) · flash sync 1/100 (X); hot shoe and a coaxial X socket beside the prism housing. With SCA 300 or 500 flash units and the SCA 351 or 551 adapters the camera meters the flash through the lens, with ±2 EV override in third stops (R6 manual) · self-timer

Film advance

single-stroke lever, 130° throw; mechanical coupling in the base for the Motor Winder R and Motor Drive R; multiple exposures by pressing the rewind button before winding (R6 manual)

Back

hinged, with a cartridge window; interchangeable with the DB 2 data back, for which the body has contacts (R6 manual)

Meter

Silicon photodiode in the base of the camera, fed by light passing a semi-transparent main mirror and a Fresnel reflector behind it; manual exposure only, set by balancing the LEDs. Two patterns on a selector below the shutter-speed dial (OFF, selective, integral): selective, a 7mm circle in the centre of the screen, and integral, which the manual calls a centre-weighted mean of the full field (see disputed). Range EV −1 to +19 integral and EV +1 to +19 selective at ISO 100 with an f/1.4 lens; ISO 12–3200; full-aperture metering with every Leica R lens that has an automatic diaphragm, working-aperture metering otherwise. Two SR44-type silver-oxide cells or one CR 1/3N lithium cell, about 2,500 exposures; the batteries run only the meter, the displays and the electromagnetic self-timer (R6 manual; English Wikipedia).

Motor drive

Leica Winder R4, Leica Motor Drive R4, Leica Motor-Winder R, Leica Motor-Drive R — The Motor-Winder R (14208) gives up to 2 frames a second on six NiCd or alkaline cells; the Motor-Drive R (14310) single frames, 2 or 4 a second on ten; both work at every shutter speed and, when fitted, power the camera's meter (R6 manual). Camera-wiki says any winder or motor drive of the R4–R7 series fits any body of the series. The hand-grip changed from a mechanical to an electrical connection, grips and drives of the two kinds are not cross-compatible, and the R7's deeper base needs its own taller grip.

Weight

625 g

Dimensions

138.5 × 89.1 × 62.2 (width × height × depth, without lens; Leica Wiki; the manual gives the same width and height). The manual's depth line reads "32.2 mm (1¼") deep 63.5 mm (2½")" and does not give 62.2. Apotelyt gives 62.2mm depth but 88.1mm height mm

Country

Germany (Leica, Solms)

Accessories

Motor Winder R (14208) and Motor Drive R (14310), with the Handgrip (14308) · RC Leica R electronic remote control (14277), which fits the winder or drive · DB 2 Leica R data back (14216) · SCA 300 and SCA 500 dedicated flash units with the SCA 351 or 551 adapters · Four optional focusing screens, changed with the supplied tweezers

0.8× at 0 dioptres with a 50mm lens and a 34.6×23mm field, 92% of the frame (R6 manual; Leica Wiki). The finder shows the set aperture and shutter speed below the image and a three-LED balance, two triangles and a circle (R6 manual), which camera-wiki likens to the M6's; the displays can be lit in poor light. The standard screen has a split-image wedge in a microprism ring; the optional screens are plain ground glass, microprism, grid and clear glass with cross-hairs (R6 manual; Apotelyt).

Figures we worked out rather than found: No R body was made in Canada: camera-wiki places R3–R7 manufacture at Wetzlar (the first R3s), Vila Nova de Famalicão in Portugal and Solms, and English Wikipedia puts final assembly of the R-E and every later R body in Solms · The 16,250, 6,515 and 22,765 totals are this page's sums of Gandy's block ranges, using the real size of each range rather than the counts he prints · The reading of the Leica Wiki's 23,841 as its table total including the M6 block, and the 19,841 without it, are this page's arithmetic · That the R6 has no ROM contacts and ignores the ROM strip rests on English Wikipedia's Leica R bayonet article, which says ROM data is used only by the R8 and R9 and that ROM lenses are fully compatible with all R-series cameras; the R6 manual predates ROM lenses

What reviewers say

• Karen Nakamura, Photoethnography.com (blog) — A user's account of the R6 and R6.2 as one camera: tough and reliable in rain, cold and desert because only the meter (and, a reader points out, the self-timer) needs power; she praises the eyepiece blind, built-in dioptre and selective metering, notes that 1-cam and 2-cam lenses meter stopped down, and reports that many think the pair the best mechanical SLRs ever made.
• Apotelyt (blog) — Review and FAQ for the R6 and R6.2: the first mechanical, manual-only Leica reflex since the SL2, a good choice for hard outdoor use, with mirror lock-up the R5 lacks; less reliable in the long term than an M, with reports of frozen dials and jammed mirrors, and still almost as expensive used as the R8.
• Eric Constantineau (blog) — A short personal review: probably the best Leica for the money, with a bright, easy finder and a solid feel; recommended to anyone who needs an SLR that works without electricity, with the R7 for those who want aperture priority. single source, unconfirmed

History

This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Live listings

• Leica R6 Black — ₩300,000 · Sazinzibb (사진집) · likely black
• ライカ LEICA R6 ブラックボディ WINTDER R セット — ¥34,000 · Rakuten Rakuma
• 【中古】(ライカ) Leica R6 ボディ ブラック — ¥52,300 · Rakuten Rakuma
• 【中古】(ライカ) Leica R6 ブラック — ¥73,300 · Rakuten Rakuma
• Pre-Owned Leica R6, Silver #1775042 — $699.00 · KameraHaus · likely chrome
• Pre-Owned Leica R6 Black #1728695 — $799.00 · KameraHaus · likely black
• ライカＲ6 — from ¥92,000 · Yahoo! Auctions Japan · auction 2027-08-07

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Listings updated 2026-11-09. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.