Luskentyre Posted September 22, 2013 Share #1 Posted September 22, 2013 Advertisement (gone after registration) After agonizing for ages, I finally bit the bullet and bought a used Leica M-E on ebay for £2900. It is in immaculate condition, the only flaw being a few dust spots on the sensor which the seller honestly described. The seller was in a rush to sell so he accepted what I thought was a cheeky offer, as the camera was only just over four months old. I already use an M5 and have the Voigtlander 15mm, Zeiss Biogon 35mm f2.8 and Minolta M Rokkor 90mm f4 lenses. I've been out and about with the M-E and the following are my initial thoughts. 1. The finish on the camera is fantastic. I wasn't too struck on the colour when I viewed photos of the camera but the reality is much nicer, particularly as the original owner replaced the red dot with a black one. The leatherette offers a good grip and I'm very pleased with it. 2. I was aware that there was not a lot of love for the screen but it really is hopeless. Apart from showing the framing it's not a lot of use for much else. I have been shooting with exposure bracketing and it's amazing how often the image which was best when downloaded was not the one which looked OK on the screen. 3. The meter cannot be left to its own devices. Include a lot of sky or a bright highlight and it tends to underexpose. By applying a bit of common sense and by using exposure locking it's no big problem. It's the way I was used to working in the days before matrix metering etc. 4. The general view is that to get the best you have to shoot raw. I rarely shoot raw with my other cameras so it's not something I'm used to. I have Elements 9 which has ACR included so what I've been doing is opening up in ACR, clicking on Default or Auto to see what looks best and then opening up the image in Elements to play around with.The guy I bought the camera from recommended Lightroom to get the best from the raw files but I'm going to fiddle around with what I've got to see how I get on. I have shot fine jpegs and I didn't think they looked too bad. 5. I particularly like the quality of the conversions to monochrome. So far I've only used the presets in Elements but I've been very pleased with the results - they seem to convert very easily. It's early days but so far so good. The quality I get from a small and comparatively lightweight package is excellent and I have no regrets. As I learn how to get the best from the outfit I'm sure I'll love it even more. Leica M-E & Voigtlander 15mm Talla Reservoir by Elmer Duck, on Flickr Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted September 22, 2013 Posted September 22, 2013 Hi Luskentyre, Take a look here New Leica M-E owner - First Thoughts. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
ramosa Posted September 22, 2013 Share #2 Posted September 22, 2013 Congrats on the purchase. I have had an M9 (for about one year), which, as you know, is pretty much the same as the M-E aside for a couple things. As you note, the LCD isn't good (to say the least), but I really never use it. Once in a while, I'll take a quick look, but, in practice, I wouldn't benefit if it were a much more modern LCD. I had the metering well figured on out my previous M8, but haven't used my M9 enough to say I have it all set. I always shoot RAW. Most of my images end up as B&Ws. I had my post-processing down on the M8, but am still tinkering with it on the M9. When I purchased my new M9, I also pondered the new M, but really didn't need any of the "improvements" of the M, especially not the increased weight. Different strokes ... Ah, finally, nice image. Good clean image, well composed, with good (not overdone) contrast. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest malland Posted September 23, 2013 Share #3 Posted September 23, 2013 ...2. I was aware that there was not a lot of love for the screen but it really is hopeless. Apart from showing the framing it's not a lot of use for much else. I have been shooting with exposure bracketing and it's amazing how often the image which was best when downloaded was not the one which looked OK on the screen. 3. The meter cannot be left to its own devices. Include a lot of sky or a bright highlight and it tends to underexpose. By applying a bit of common sense and by using exposure locking it's no big problem. It's the way I was used to working in the days before matrix metering etc. 4. The general view is that to get the best you have to shoot raw. I rarely shoot raw with my other cameras so it's not something I'm used to. I have Elements 9 which has ACR included so what I've been doing is opening up in ACR, clicking on Default or Auto to see what looks best and then opening up the image in Elements to play around with.The guy I bought the camera from recommended Lightroom to get the best from the raw files but I'm going to fiddle around with what I've got to see how I get on. I have shot fine jpegs and I didn't think they looked too bad... 5. I particularly like the quality of the conversions to monochrome. So far I've only used the presets in Elements but I've been very pleased with the results - they seem to convert very easily. It's early days but so far so good. The quality I get from a small and comparatively lightweight package is excellent and I have no regrets. As I learn how to get the best from the outfit I'm sure I'll love it even more... Congratulations on your new camera. The picture has great tonality. The M9/M-E is a great camera. When I got my M-9P in February I wasn't impressed with the LCD either, but have found that all I use it for is to check the histogram, which is the best way to check the exposure. If you do color I would recommend using Lightroom 5, which uses the same raw converter as Elements (ACR) but has very good tools, including the new Radial Filter, which is an excellent tool for dodging and burning. Also Lightroom has really excellent noise reduction tools, in case you do any high-ISO shooting. You might also want to check whether Elements 9 (the current version is v12, I believe) is using the version of ACR that has process PV2012, which uses a tone compression very similar to film and which gives much better results than earlier PV versions. —Mitch/Paris Tristes Tropiques [WIP] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinnfell Posted September 23, 2013 Share #4 Posted September 23, 2013 Having owned an M9 for nearly three years, I can definitely sign off on your findings. Despite some very obvious quirks from last decade, which you have correctly identified, the M9/ME is still a very capable camera in that it yields some fantastic pictures. And it really is a joy to use it, as long as you dont look at the d@mn screen.... Oh, and wonderful sample image by the way! Ps. Do go ahead and get lightroom. It really is a must, especially when shooting higher ISO. See the various thread about this technique , like this one: http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m9-forum/301422-m9-iso-performance-new-life.html Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
colonel Posted September 23, 2013 Share #5 Posted September 23, 2013 after a while you get to know the screen basically the picture looks darker then it is so don't use it to judge exposure until you can judge this the other thing to watch out for is that the lowest level of zoom is always pixelated/unsharp due to the the way the intermediate zoom jpg is generated in the camera. No idea why they bothered but I generally use the second last level of zoom to check the focus if I need to. The good news is that one is always pleasantly surprised when you see how sharp the photo is on a PC screen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luskentyre Posted September 23, 2013 Author Share #6 Posted September 23, 2013 Many thanks to all of you for your helpful replies. I'm definitely going to follow up on your suggestions. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wda Posted September 23, 2013 Share #7 Posted September 23, 2013 Advertisement (gone after registration) The screen merely shows a quick jpeg version of each picture. Once you go up the learning curve with raw processing, you will see the added flexibility you gain. LR5 is cheap to buy at present. Go for it and then tune in to Adobe video tutorials which are excellent for showing you how to get the best out of the software. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonogilmour Posted September 24, 2013 Share #8 Posted September 24, 2013 Bought my M-E a few months ago. Whilst it doesn't have the same retro looks of the black or silver chrome M9/M9-P, the finish is excellent I agree. It's more blue than I anticipated, and I like that. I think the screen is fine. After your first few uses you just put it down as a quirk of the camera, because the files out of camera are just gorgeous. I use it to judge focus (by zooming) and composition, as it should be used. I don't really chimp either, and it's rewarding not checking every image after you take it. Try getting out of that habit. And for the love of God SHOOT RAW! It is so much more flexible and you can always output JPEGs after the fact if you want. Why not use the camera to its fullest extent? You should check if the free copy of Lightroom has been used yet. Install that and get learning! Oh, and try using it on full manual, judging the exposure of your surroundings by using your eyes and your head. It's incredible what you can learn about exposure by leaving it up to you instead of your camera. I find it very rewarding. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luskentyre Posted September 24, 2013 Author Share #9 Posted September 24, 2013 Unfortunately the original owner had used the code for Lightroom but I see Adobe has a 20% reduction at the moment so that's come in handy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyril Jayant Posted September 25, 2013 Share #10 Posted September 25, 2013 Great photo well controlled in best black and white tones . I am interested in M-E and there's a good point of going for this camera. Thanks everyone for all the input here . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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