Leica, pls put the ISO dial back in the next digital M

[Guest BigSplash]

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Usually the argument is that Leica's should be devoid of buttons to select this or that ...keep it simple seems to be the usual battle cry and I agree. I personally tend to use on the M8:

> A single ISO setting for daylight sunshine scenes (160)

> Indoors with available light I guess I tend to use 640 as above that as has been reported many times on this forum you lose definition, or get noise / grain.

 

So do people really change between different ISO settings all the time between sequences of images at say a wedding? Is it really such a big deal to set ISO using the buttons?

 

I think not whereas the loss of the small frame counter and battery window on the M9 is something I would care about...we should have that back.

[lct]

..."chimp" means looking at pictures, smartypants ...ISO setting on the M9 work just fine - if one is having trouble with it, the flaw lies behind one's eyes, not in front of them.

Not much sun in Denver i guess.

LCT the "sacripant"

[adan]

Not much - just 300 days a year: Metro Denver’s 300 Sunny Days a Year Create a Great Quality of Life

 

Snowing today, though

[chris_tribble]

 

It's also annoying that I can't see the battery and frame counter. Taking the LCD away was a huge mistake in my opinion, but that's getting off topic.

 

Noah - I sort of agree with you - but live in hope of the INFO screen carrying ISO info along with battery and frame count information. Once that's all in one place, the "at a glance" information will all be together...

 

Heigh ho - at least we have full-frame RF.

 

Happy Christmas!

[giordano]

So do people really change between different ISO settings all the time between sequences of images at say a wedding?

 

Some people do.

 

Roll film and 35mm film were a step backwards from this point of view: using plates or sheet film one could select the best emulsion and processing for each individual exposure.

 

The ISO control on digital cameras restores this flexibility, and it's perfectly reasonable to treat ISO as one of three primary exposure controls rather than just the two (aperture and exposure time) on a "film" camera.

 

All three adjustments (ISO, aperture and exposure time) have different side-effects (noise/dynamic range, depth of field/diffraction limit and motion blur respectively), and it certainly makes sense to use all three to get the best compromise for whatever the current situation is.

 

Is it really such a big deal to set ISO using the buttons?

 

Doing it with the M8 menus takes too much time and concentration, IMO. I haven't used a M9 but "button+dial" seems much better.

[ModernMan]

I guess I'll be a a Luddite today for a change, herewith:

 

The M9 ISO selection and display interface is just great the way it is, and it would be a shame to see the machine complicated with another dedicated adjustment knob, and an uneccessary one at that.

[jaapv]

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Modernman, you just made my day

[adan]

Using plates or sheet film one could select the best emulsion and processing for each individual exposure.

 

Ah, the wonderful range of emulsions we had in sheet film in 1925 before Leica ruined everything. ISO 5 all the way up to ISO 32.

 

Sorry - couldn't resist

 

I don't change ISO all that much with a given lens, but when swiching from a 75 f/1.4 to the 135 f/4, I'm sure willing to jump from ISO 160 to ISO 1250 to control camera shake and subject motion.

 

IMHO - the M9 setup is at least as easy and fast to use as any other system out there, including the R-D1, which I also owned. For all intents and purposes, the control dial on the back IS my ISO dial, since that is just about all I use it for when actually shooting.

[ModernMan]

Modernman, you just made my day

Best of the season to you, jaapv. I think adan has articulated things pretty well perfectly.