On the M6 TTL dial

The great Italian designer, Alessi, said that the Leica M camera body is one of the few designs of the 20th century which he thought was so perfect he would never try to change.

Well, I can tell you right now, he never used the damn thing. If he did, he would definitely change the shutter speed dial (among other things).

The M6 TTL dial is suppose to be, let's quote Leica on that,"... ergonomically perfect: it is easy to use and can be operated with the camera held to one eye.". I beg to differ. First, it's hard to get with the camera held to one eye. Second, I would say that "buttery smooth" is not an accurate description of its action. I don't know, maybe the butter I get uses a different recipe - I would say that one finger, thumb or index easy action could qualify for this description, but this is not the case.  I understand both aesthetics and the need to protect the dial from accidental tripping, but I would gladly trade putting a supplementary on/off  switch for the meter (it could be easily accommodated on the battery cover compartment, that could become an on / off switch itself) over the need of having a 1 mm bigger, a little bit forward moved, onward protruding dial that will make index operation a breeze. 

I bet that having a 1 mm rubberized grip on it will definitely improve the ergonomics of the design. Also, it wouldn't hurt to have a smoother action, but unfortunately this is not for me to tackle with.

So, this is it. I have a new project to play with.