The New LEICA M-P: Discreet, Faster, Harder

[danedit28]

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I was a little surprised when I checked the US retailers earlier today and saw that the M-P was actually in stock. I placed my order and crafted my ebay listing to sell my M240. My new M-P arrives next Wednesday.

 

I was expecting that the first batch would all be spoken for and I'd have to wait one year to receive the new camera. Leica either delivered an appropriate supply to the authorized resellers this time... OR I was the only one who actually sees value in the M-P.

[CheshireCat]

Thanks, yet another reason to use preview to avoid lens changing. And the less lenses are changed the lower chance of dust entering on the sensor.

 

Does preview make your lens wider ?

If you need wider, cannot change lens, and the scene is not dynamic (e.g. a panorama or even an orchestra), then you can make a left and a right shot and merge them in post.

Your lens will magically become wider, and your sensor will magically get higher resolution

[CheshireCat]

we were both hosing it down at 12 frames per second. I had the shot, he didn't. It could so easily have been the other way around. A lot can happen between those frames.

 

This will be fixed with the next 1Dy, shooting at 120 frames per second

[CheshireCat]

shooting sport on a long lens with a pro DSLR is artless.

 

And - let me guess - shooting sport with an M instead is art, just because you can't pick the best frame ?

 

Quite a weird concept of art...

[FlashGordonPhotography]

Picked my M-P up this morning. It sure is pretty. I expect prettier pictures as a result. :-)

 

The screw isn't too bad. Well not on my black one, anyway.

 

Gordon

[colint544]

I partly meant the 'artless' thing with regards to how it feels to me, because I don't specialise in photographing any particular sport - I mostly photograph a football game once a fortnight. I've been photographing football matches for twenty years. Like all sport, I've zero interest in it, which doesn't help, but it is definitely orders of magnitude easier to do now than it was twenty years ago, with (in my case) a Nikon FM2 and a manual 300mm.

 

I understand that the men and women who specialise in photographing a particular sport are almost certainly better at it than anyone else. They've put in the hours, and they know the sport inside out. If you try to photograph a sport you don't know or understand, you'll be caught out a lot and miss things. Let's face it, a lot more than half the battle with photographing anything comes down to, as Ansel Adams once put it, "knowing where to stand".

 

But probably my main reason for finding long lens sports photography a bit artless is the end result. Again, it's a personal thing, but I just find the pictures a bit boring. A very compressed, very sharp image of a sportsperson frozen in the act of doing what their chosen sport requires them to do, and with no background. It's like a cardboard cut-out. Dramatic the first time you see it, but it wears a bit thin - it's really just a nice illustration for the newspaper or magazine.

 

Cartier-Bresson visited Liverpool in 1962. There was an exhibition of the photographs he took on that trip, at Tate Liverpool a few years ago. I was fortunate enough to see it. He photographed the streets and the industry and the people. But there was one picture which really struck me. It was taken at a football match, and it was a sports picture - he'd taken it from behind the goal line. But it looked as though it was shot on a 50mm or 35mm lens. The players were racing towards the goal, the ball was at one of the players' feet. But Cartier-Bresson had panned the camera, creating a slight motion blur, although crucially, not so much as to render the background meaningless. The background told its own story. An ocean of men crammed into the stadium, watching the drama. The photograph brimmed with atmosphere. You wanted to look at it, drink in the scene, rather than glance at it.

 

I found myself wishing that newspapers could be just a little more imaginative and use shots like that, even just now and again. But no, the sports sections are just filled with the long lens frozen cardboard cut-out shots. If I handed my boss a sports picture like Cartier-Bresson's, he'd give me a thick ear.

 

Anyway, I'm probably far too idealistic - the people who read the sports sections and supplements probably wouldn't like the pictures too artful - so we continue to give them what we think they want.

 

Best wishes all,

 

Colin

Edited August 29, 2014 by colint544

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Well, considering 12fps, I get a result every 8.3 seconds

 

Jokes apart, it really depends on the context. It is impossible for a human to capture the exact (ideal) moment/expression/composition during fast action. It is really a matter of milliseconds, and mechanical delays make this even harder.

 

Strange arithmetics apart, this just happens not to be the case. The competent photographers extrapolates the action and applies the shutter release before the action has reached the desired moment. Hunters do the same with their rifles. Even though it has a rather large latency, the human nervous system can resolve time to about 1/60 of a second. Firing away at 12fps is bound to miss the critical moment by quite some margin.

[lct]

...Firing away at 12fps is bound to miss the critical moment by quite some margin.

Could you elaborate oh this? Just curious as i can't seem to figure out how i could miss anything at 12fps.

[paulsydaus]

Just a question, but how could delaying the re-cocking result in a steadier image, when at that time the exposure has already been completed...?

 

"Discrete, faster, harder".... I seem to have seen that somewhere before in Soho.....

 

On a serious point, one of the things I find particularly useful on my M8,2 is the 'discrete' mode, which supresses the sound when an image is taken by delaying the re-cocking of the shutter - this also seems to reduce vibration and results in a steadier image.

 

Does anyone know if a similar feature exists on the Typ 240 P ?

[paulsydaus]

As an M240 owner I won't be upgrading. But it does make me wonder if I should get into a P series upgrade cycle...

 

The advantages are:

1. Better looks.

2. Sapphire screen.

3. More reliable product (since the bugs have been ironed out of the first gen release already and firmware updates issued.

4. Higher resale value.

 

The disadvantages are:

1. Not having the latest tech for 2 years.

2. Higher price.

 

Not sure which option is better...

[wattsy]

Just a question, but how could delaying the re-cocking result in a steadier image, when at that time the exposure has already been completed...?

 

It stops the pixels being shaken around a bit before they travel to the SD card.

[paulsydaus]

Yep that makes sense. Then wouldn't it also depend on what speed SD card you are using!?

 

It stops the pixels being shaken around a bit before they travel to the SD card.

[MarkP]

As an M240 owner I won't be upgrading. But it does make me wonder if I should get into a P series upgrade cycle...

 

the iPhone or iPhone S dilemma

[paulsydaus]

the iPhone or iPhone S dilemma

 

 

Lol!!!!!!

[marknorton]

Am I alone in finding this a rather sad comment on the digital world.?

 

Not so much sad as realistic.

 

Just like the M8.2 and M9-P before them, the M-P is a mid-life makeover for the base camera and is a small incremental change in the scheme of things. They may freshen the cosmetics but the fundamentals remain the same.

[mjh]

the iPhone or iPhone S dilemma

While the iPhone 5s is a smaller step on a course of development leading from the iPhone 5 to the iPhone 6, the M-P (Typ 240) is nothing of that kind. It is just an alternative version of the M (Typ 240) – there’s a reason they both share the type number. The M-P is not really indicative of what the next M will be like. For example, even when the M-P has a sapphire glas cover, the next M might feature Gorilla glas again. The larger buffer may be here to stay, but since the next M will obviously feature a different CPU there will be some changes on the electronics side.

[Archiver]

As an M240 owner I won't be upgrading. But it does make me wonder if I should get into a P series upgrade cycle...

 

The advantages are:

1. Better looks.

2. Sapphire screen.

3. More reliable product (since the bugs have been ironed out of the first gen release already and firmware updates issued.

4. Higher resale value.

 

The disadvantages are:

1. Not having the latest tech for 2 years.

2. Higher price.

 

Not sure which option is better...

 

Depending on how long you can comfortably wait, you could enter the P upgrade cycle towards the end of the P model sale life. Prices will have dropped and you'll have an excellent camera with all the P upgrades. You might even skip a generation each time, giving you more time to fully enjoy and get the value from each camera.

 

I bought my M9 in early 2010, and haven't really felt the need to upgrade since then. The next M-P (not the current one, the future one) is likely to be my next digital Leica, assuming it is still relatively affordable. By then it will be six or seven years of squeezing the most out of my M9.

[paulsydaus]

The M9 is still and will always be an amazing camera.

 

Depending on how long you can comfortably wait, you could enter the P upgrade cycle towards the end of the P model sale life. Prices will have dropped and you'll have an excellent camera with all the P upgrades. You might even skip a generation each time, giving you more time to fully enjoy and get the value from each camera.

 

I bought my M9 in early 2010, and haven't really felt the need to upgrade since then. The next M-P (not the current one, the future one) is likely to be my next digital Leica, assuming it is still relatively affordable. By then it will be six or seven years of squeezing the most out of my M9.

[MarkP]

While the iPhone 5s is a smaller step on a course of development leading from the iPhone 5 to the iPhone 6, the M-P (Typ 240) is nothing of that kind. It is just an alternative version of the M (Typ 240) – there’s a reason they both share the type number. The M-P is not really indicative of what the next M will be like. For example, even when the M-P has a sapphire glas cover, the next M might feature Gorilla glas again. The larger buffer may be here to stay, but since the next M will obviously feature a different CPU there will be some changes on the electronics side.

 

Hi Michael,

 

 

I meant it more in response to the post I commented on. I think people who upgrade to a latest model tend to be on a replacement cycle of either the initial or the later 'upgrade' release. I think you're over-analyzing my comment but I do agree that the iPhone and M upgrades are different. But if they really want to release two versions then they should introduce a standard and '-P' version at the same time to give people the option. I probably would have bought the M-P at the time but I would not upgrade from a M to M-P at this stage.

 

Regards,

Mark

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[mjh]

I would not upgrade from a M to M-P at this stage.

Of course. I don’t think Leica envisioned owners of an M flocking to the M-P. Basically the M-P is for those who, when the M came out, said: “I’ll pass (and wait for the inevitable M-P).”