Das Wesentliche. Does the phrase make sense?

[jaapv]

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Normally I am quite inured to marketing hype, so I did not pay much attention to Leica beating this drum in Berlin - however, the Monochrom has proved to be a quite haunting prospect over the last week, resulting in the following

 

<start of ramble>

 

First off Leica offering this new camera. Before the launch I had been exceedingly skeptical. but looking at Jono's files and testing the camera got my photographer's blood to the boiling point. Then there was the prospect of the M10. High resolution Cmos and high ISO performance hold little interest for me, but the idea of an M camera offering usability for R lenses, thus rationalizing my travel kit sounds highly attractive.

And the persistent murmurs of an APS-C Evil camera, what about those?

 

So first I really had to go back to essentials - das Wesentliche- and analyze my photography.

1. There is what I call house, kitchen and garden photography. 99% of us will indulge in the discipline of recording our personal daily lives, work and holiday. Essential for our memories and family/descendants, but highly undemanding of gear. Any image-recording machine will do and a Leica is a superfluous luxury. Nevertheless there are famous photographers who never took another type of shot, and all of us

will come up with the occasional minor masterpiece.

 

2.People and street, not my type of photography but I will dabble in it and it does overlap with the next category. Consensus is that this is Leica territory, but imo a good P&S will do. The Monochrome would fit in well and combine perfectly with the M9, but in my case overkill.

 

3.Travel and landscape. Now we are talking. I would not be without my M9 there. However, the travel part makes a backup an essential piece of gear. Presently that is an M8. The Monochrom would make a great addition.

Many of my best shots are in this category.

 

4. Wildlife and nature. The second leg of my hobby. Presently served by M9 and DMR. Great results, but the R8/9 part of the DMR combo is getting unreliable. For my prime area, Africa it must be replced. It needs backup too, which is either a Visoflex with long V lens or an old Digilux3. The latter is falling behind in image quality.

 

Dream combo: High quality R solution and M9.Or indeed the M10 which is very likely to take R lenses, but we will have to wait and see how much of a cludge the EVF addition ot Live View will be. Or the rumored APS-c EVIL. but how far away is tha

t. Alternative would be a Canon DSLR and adapter, but that would not rationalize my gear. I need to get out of the multiple- system as much as I can. It is getting to be too much to carry. I need some cross-platform solution between M and R.

 

That leads me to the popular solutions in this forum, NEX, OMD and XPro.

After looking at the pros and cons and taking highly valued advice and shooting around a bit (thank you Jono and my dealer) I had to discount all present day attempts.

 

The NEX series soon disappeared from the screen. Excellent little cameras, but too small for huge teles an too much of a glorified P&S for my personal taste, although I can see the attraction they can hold for some.

The OMD. With the grip it would be pretty ideal, were it not for a micro-4/3rds sensor. Albeit the best one I have ever seen.The results are as good or better than the NEX,superb EVF but an DMR replacement quality-wise it s not. Olympus, what is wrong with APS?

Which leaves the XPro, excellent sensor, APS-c, so large enogh for high-quality long-lens work, decent size, until Jono prevailed on me to try it out. Fuji, Fuji, why did you not make it a decent manual camera? it would have been great, but now, sorry, no...Too kludgy.

 

So what is "wesentlich" in my wildlife photography ? 75% are standard Safari shots anybody could have taken with any Canikon -and has done. .

25% are hopefully something more, and (although Canikon would have been (nearly)as good), have been inspired by my knowledge and habit of the Leica lenses.

But after 25 years of it I am getting to a "have seen this have done that" stage and am starting to look at revisiting favorite haunts at a leisurely pace.

So instead of looking frantically for that better version of a shot I took before, it might be useful to get down to essentials and try and add something new.

 

Which brings me to my decision: Forget about the M10. It will add next to nothing to my photography for all its expected high-res, high-ISO, Live-view, EVFViso capabilities. Forget about Sony, Olympus, Fuji, there is always a a kludge, compromise or drawback.

 

I will keep the M9, get the MM, for the coming time explore the neglected (by me) universe of B&W travel and wildlife photography using my trusty Visoflex and get the Leica EVIL in due course without time pressure.

 

Two, later maybe three cameras, a number of favorite lenses, that will be all I need to fill at least a decade. Maybe marketing ain't that stupid after all. Das Wesentliche.

 

<end of ramble, thank you for bearing with me...>

[wattsy]

Normally I am quite inured to marketing hype

 

Rationalising a gear purchase like this is IMO just a disingenuous form of GAS. If you were really keen to move your photography into the B&W travel and wildlife genre you would have done it already using your existing gear. I know this because I've been there myself many times in the past – "if I get this piece of (usually expensive) gear I can start doing this project", etc. It's a classic example of putting the cart before the horse. I've learned it's better just to be honest: "I fancy the new bit of a kit, I hope it might turn out to be inspiring. Fortunately, it's Leica so if I grow bored with it after six months I can probably sell it for only a small loss."

 

I might well buy the MM myself but I can't kid myself it'll do anything substantively different from what I already have.

[jaapv]

The point being that I do find myself converting more and more as it is the last few years even moving into IR safari photography. i think -hope- that you assesment, although a real danger I admit, does not apply here, or at least not too much

[rramesh]

So in essence?

[wattsy]

i think -hope- that you assesment, although a real danger I admit, does not apply here, or at least not too much

 

I certainly don't want to rain on your parade. I just know that, if we are honest, there is nothing substantive that the MM will do that the M9 essentially can't. A great B&W wildlife photo taken with the M9 isn't going to be inferior in any important sense to the same photo taken with the MM.

 

However, the MM is different in that it deals entirely in monochrome. It might well turn out to be an inspiring piece of kit – it's certainly not going to be boring. I honestly don't think there is much to lose giving it a whirl. The worst that will happen is that you'll have to sell it at a modest loss.

[01af]

<start of ramble> ...

You are suffering a serious case of GAS. Nothing wrong with that ... if you're into b/w photography (or plan to get into it) then go ahead. If not then take a cold shower.

 

 

And the persistent murmurs of an APS-C EVIL camera, what about those?

Red herring.

[andybarton]

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When I bought my MP last year, I bought it because I wanted one and had the funds. There is no way that I could kid myself that I -needed- one, and the photographs I take with it are no better or worse than the ones I took with the M7 that it replaced.

 

I'm with Ian on this.

 

But enjoy your MM, because I know that one will be in your bag by Christmas, regardless of what anyone here says

[jaapv]

 

 

Red herring.

 

is that the code name? I did not know that....

[jaapv]

I will freely admit that the MM is a camera that brings on serious attacks of Wannahaveitis. However, I am fairly confident it will be used - extensively.

When I bought my MP last year, I bought it because I wanted one and had the funds. There is no way that I could kid myself that I -needed- one, and the photographs I take with it are no better or worse than the ones I took with the M7 that it replaced.

 

I'm with Ian on this.

 

But enjoy your MM, because I know that one will be in your bag by Christmas, regardless of what anyone here says

[LeicaBraz]

I will buy an M-Monochrome. Strangely enough, don't feel the urge of writing a lengthy post addressed to myself.

[Phil U]

Are you sure there won't be a similar internal discourse, come the M10?

[Photon42]

Jaap - let's see what you'll write when the M-X comes out

[Wolfgang Esslinger]

I need to get out of the multiple- system as much as I can. It is getting to be too much to carry. I need some cross-platform solution between M and R.

 

>

 

Sounds very familiar to me. Need some telephoto option to accompany the M; carrying the DMR with batteries etc is just too much weight and space. Most likely this will not be Leica, given their price and product strategy. So for the time being, I have to keep looking and complaining ;-)

[ALD]

Jaap is there any reason for you not changing to the S system instead?

[fotolebrocq]

I will buy an M-Monochrome. Strangely enough, don't feel the urge of writing a lengthy post addressed to myself.

 

Made me laugh out loud!

[jaapv]

Jaap is there any reason for you not changing to the S system instead?

 

Mass, limited tele capacity and above all lack of money.

[jaapv]

Are you sure there won't be a similar internal discourse, come the M10?

 

Yep.

[johnbuckley]

Jaap - I enjoyed reading your internal argument. One thing that is fascinating, in this thread and others, is the anxiety being produced by fear of the M10. The notion that somehow Leica has pushed the M system into a cul de sac and that the only way out is to become... something inauthentic to Leica M shooters (EVF, video)... or the equivalent to the Philosophers Stone, converting M-mounts to R-mounts... This forum, having become pretty dull circa 2011, as the M9 cycle began drawing to a close, but which now has plunged full on into turmoil -- over the Monochrom, and the meaning of the APO 50 Asph, and above all, over what the Hell is coming at Photokina -- is back to being a roiling, lively mess. All these expressions of id spilling into the format of a forum post. Thanks for letting us see your thought process. Do get the Monochrom. But, I can pretty well guarantee that whatever comes at Photokina, self-limiting declarations made now could well find serious rationalization then :-). Ah, the M10 solves for this... And well in that case, I must have it! We look forward to your late September posts.

[Ecaton]

Now did a deep inner burning desire, this must have feeling we had as 5 years old and many of us are too familiar with (GAS) lead to the rationalization attempt of a purchase decision? Or did a search for getting re-inspired as a photographer lead to the conclusion the MM might be it? In both cases, just get it and share your experiences with us. You might have some followers here .

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Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[lct]

Just a GAS attack as usual. You'll have a stronger one in September when you see how fun it may be to use your Apo 280/4 on the M10. So unless you envision to own both an M10 and an MM i would not buy anything before photokina. Or just a little lens like the Apo 50 if SWMBO permits.