Why would anyone want a Leica with no screen?

[MarkP]

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Every camera forum on the web is full of complaints, most of them personal opinions, some of them the 1 in 1000 issue you get with every mechanical or electronic device.

If one reads them all then one wouldn't buy any camera.

 

I think the M240 has less complaints then most other cameras I read about.

Alot of the complaints I do see are sometimes fed by the sheer price of the thing, where people who do have genuine issues often feel doubly aggrieved.

 

A few more "I love my M240" threads would be nice

 

IMHO I think the M240 is the best camera Leica has ever made, and I like the design of the base model, including the red dot.

 

Flame resistant shield activated ......

 

I agree with everything except about the red dot.

Easily fixed - I got a black one.

[mfunnell]

A few more "I love my M240" threads would be nice

I could agree to that. I sure love mine

IMHO I think the M240 is the best camera Leica has ever made, and I like the design of the base model

I'm with you to here...

, including the red dot.

 

Flame resistant shield activated ......

Not so much love here for the "lidless eye of Sauron" red dot, I'm afraid. But it's really a very, very minor quibble that's easily dealt with. I've been enjoying my M240 and think it's a wonderful camera to use, and I've taken some photos I really like with it. Which truly is the end-point for me: the M240 allows me to work in a way I like to take photos I like. What more could I ask? (And please take that with "minor quibbles (and price) aside" as an assumption I'd have preferred to leave unstated.)

 

...Mike

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[IkarusJohn]

All very true, Harold. But the fact that you like your M(240) doesn't make it perfect, nor does it mean that any criticism or alternative preferences are by definition wrong.

 

It really is a case of horses for courses.

 

What I find unconvincing is much of the comment here not understanding why some one would want a camera based on the M(240), but stripped of what I might consider to be unfortunate, half baked electronic frippery. This is even stranger on a Leica forum. By way of comparison, there is genuine real affection here for the M3, but since the mid 80s, very good film cameras have been made with extremely advanced auto focus and metering options. This is very mature technology (at least, it was on my F5). Yet, Leica releases the M-A to a lot of admiration here. No AF, no meter, no DX film reading, no motor drive.

 

Why on earth should digital be any different?

 

I can get people disliking the Audi design (I like it), I also get people hating the collectors' white glove approach (I dislike that too), and certainly the price; but I really do not understand the suggestion that this cannot be a good camera for photography. Of a certain style, perhaps, but direct control over focus, aperture, shutter and ISO, and nothing else, with an optical viewfinder, I find intriguing. Nothing there to stop it being a very fine image making tool.

 

If electronics are your thing, then I would suggest that others really do do it better. That's not really what Leica is about. The EVF on my A7 was really pretty good, and focus peaking okay, as it went. I had other issues with that camera, but the quality of the electronics wasn't one of them.

 

Leica's sensor? The OVF? The user experience, and fixation with the "Essentials", I get.

 

Cheers

John

Edited October 2, 2014 by IkarusJohn

[colonel]

All very true, Harold. But the fact that you like your M(240) doesn't make it perfect, nor does it mean that any criticism or alternative preferences are by definition wrong.

 

It really is a case of horses for courses.

 

What I find unconvincing is much of the comment here not understanding why some one would want a camera based on the M(240), but stripped of what I might consider to be unfortunate, half baked electronic frippery. This is even stranger on a Leica forum. By way of comparison, there is genuine real affection here for the M3, but since the mid 80s, very good film cameras have been made with extremely advanced auto focus and metering options. This is very mature technology (at least, it was on my F5). Yet, Leica releases the M-A to a lot of admiration here. No AF, no meter, no DX film reading, no motor drive.

 

Why on earth should digital be any different?

 

I can get people disliking the Audi design (I like it), I also get people hating the collectors' white glove approach (I dislike that too), and certainly the price; but I really do not understand the suggestion that this cannot be a good camera for photography. Of a certain style, perhaps, but direct control over focus, aperture, shutter and ISO, and nothing else, with an optical viewfinder, I find intriguing. Nothing there to stop it being a very fine image making tool.

 

If electronics are your thing, then I would suggest that others really do do it better. That's not really what Leica is about. The EVF on my A7 was really pretty good, and focus peaking okay, as it went. I had other issues with that camera, but the quality of the electronics wasn't one of them.

 

Leica's sensor? The OVF? The user experience, and fixation with the "Essentials", I get.

 

Cheers

John

 

I agree mostly but don't understand why Leica electronics are so bad. The screen and menu on the M240 are fine. They are not the best, but they are pretty good. They are miles better then the confused menu systems of Fuji and Olympus for example. The buttons are firm and well placed and the menu is relatively uncomplicated

 

I am absolutely ok with anyone desiring a camera with no LCD. If it sells Leica should make it. I am just expressing an opinion. Many of the comments here are quite absolutist.

 

I believe there are many different groups here. There are many old foggies who are refugees from film cameras, will never leave that mentality, and are just now trying to make a digital camera into a film camera. There are many who have expressed an absolute loathing for the T. I actually think the T is great and even the talk about the sensor being old is myopic, considering that Fuji is still using the same 16mp sensor as in the x-pro1 and Olympus is still using the same 16mp sensor from the original E-M5.

 

Leica is about different markets. I believe to reap the maximum benefits of their outstanding lenses they should continue packing as much functionality into future digital M's as possible, but subtlety done in the Leica style. For example I would love a 4G sim and wifi in the next M so that I never need to upload from cable or card again.

 

Similarly it makes sense to also maintain a line stripped to the bone, e.g. no LCD, whilst the market exists for it.

 

I think everyone can live together (well mostly)

[IkarusJohn]

I really like my T.

 

Not sure I qualify yet as an "old fogey", but I do like also using stripped down minimalist film cameras, and a digital version is appealing.

 

Cheers

John