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Is it the IQ or the feel for you?


Me Leica!

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I had an M8 some years back. In terms of performance it was pretty awful (terrible battery life, lockups, etc) but in terms of the actual shooting experience I don't think I've had a camera since which beats it. In retrospect I should have kept it, but you know, 20-20 hindsight...

 

Anyway, yesterday I got the opportunity to handle and shoot with the new M. I shouldn't have done so, because now I can't get it out of my head. This seems to be the ultimate gestalt camera. For instance, my Sigma DP3 Merrill will be superior (significantly) at base ISO and 200, modern DSLRs will be better at high ISO, etc etc. But shooting with the Sigma is a pain in the butt. The results are more than worth it, but the actual experience of shooting isn't that much fun. But the very act of holding and shooting with the M was just incredibly satisfying...

 

So this isn't a question as such, but more of a guess: do most people use Leica because of the shooting experience, or do you genuinely prefer the result? Obviously, it's not going to be totally one way or the other, but we can talk in terms of 50-50. 70-30 etc. With my Sigma, it's 10 per cent shooting and 90 per cent result. I guess that with the M, it would be more or less half and half, but I'm curious to hear the thoughts of those who actually shoot with it on a regular basis.

 

 

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personally for me it is about the type and style of the camera more than its specifications. I just like it. I believe my enthusiasm is probaby quixotic as I could take virtually identical images with much cheaper cameras- but I don't care.

 

The image quality is certainly good enough- who cares if some other camera is marginally better.

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I use Leica, Nikon, Hasselblad V, Mamiya 6 and 4x5. None of them are my preferred cameras because they are the right tools for their expected tasks and I am very in tune with when to choose them.

 

The results from every system listed above can be equally spectacular when I am driving them 100%. And the handling and overall shooting experience with every one of them is equally as rewarding, I do my homework before I make the call to build the system I decide I want.

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I'm always totally envious of photographers who are able to produce such superior images that it really makes a difference which of the present-day better cameras they are made with.

 

I'm probably being dense, but I'm afraid I don't know what you're getting at. I was simply asking what the main attraction to the M is: the shooting experience, the outcome, or some mix of the two.

 

If you're saying that most modern cameras can produce good output, then of course I agree. But that wasn't the main thrust of my question.

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I had an M8 some years back. In terms of performance it was pretty awful (terrible battery life, lockups, etc) but in terms of the actual shooting experience I don't think I've had a camera since which beats it. In retrospect I should have kept it, but you know, 20-20 hindsight...

 

Anyway, yesterday I got the opportunity to handle and shoot with the new M. I shouldn't have done so, because now I can't get it out of my head. This seems to be the ultimate gestalt camera. For instance, my Sigma DP3 Merrill will be superior (significantly) at base ISO and 200, modern DSLRs will be better at high ISO, etc etc. But shooting with the Sigma is a pain in the butt. The results are more than worth it, but the actual experience of shooting isn't that much fun. But the very act of holding and shooting with the M was just incredibly satisfying...

 

So this isn't a question as such, but more of a guess: do most people use Leica because of the shooting experience, or do you genuinely prefer the result? Obviously, it's not going to be totally one way or the other, but we can talk in terms of 50-50. 70-30 etc. With my Sigma, it's 10 per cent shooting and 90 per cent result. I guess that with the M, it would be more or less half and half, but I'm curious to hear the thoughts of those who actually shoot with it on a regular basis.

 

I hear you. Since my M8, I haven't found love for a digital M--and I want to. I loved the M8's B&W capabilities, much more than the M9, which I owned, or M, which I have tinkered with. It was a basic camera, which I really like, without any bells and whistles. 

Edited by ramosa
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A hard question to answer with any specifics.  I like the M image quality but it is not my best image quality camera.  My Nikon D800e will exceed my M240 in every measurable way.  It is the unmeasurable (subjective) that the Leica excels at for me.  It just feels right and is intuitive and enjoyable to use.  Part of this is the rangefinder/manual approach that makes me slow down and think more, but not everybody will react the same way.

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I bought the M because of the Rangefinder and the feel. - i certainly didn't need another camera,  i had an X100 (that frustrated me with its Glacial AF and focus by wire MF ring that needed hundreds of turns) and work issues me a pair of Canon 1D bodies and a bag of glass

 

I wanted a camera i could focus quickly and easily, that i could easily take with me everywhere, and that had excellent image quality.

i got a camera that feels great in the hand, has the best IQ of anything i have ever used and can be  fairly easily focused in light where my 1DX would struggle - taking it with me doesn't feel like work, and i have also learned a lot by shooting with it (both by actually taking it with me everywhere, and because it has no automation to rely on)

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I got hooked with the simplicity of everything manual. I use a light meter once as a baseline then move up or down as per how I feel I want the image. On top of that it forces you to slow down. Kind of like the difference between being a sniper or a grunt, a calculated shot or machine-gun capture everything.

 

The image quality is good, I'm done with pixel peeking a long time ago.

Edited by A Almulla
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I don't know about Sigma and I did not buy an M240 neither for the IQ nor for the handling. 

Size does matter for me, no other brand than Leica gives me that IQ with this this size/weight in combination with stunning, characterfull lenses.  I sticked to the M9 because of its uncompromised colours and love my MM too. Are these the first M cameras that I really keep until I die?

Of course 20 years of experience with this philiosophy of handling a camera, starting with M4 and so on, contributes to not wanting to change anymore to another system

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I got the camera to be able to use lenses of a size / weight that I am prepared to carry around.

 

At the moment, I am playing away with the new Sony A7r ii.  Athough it blurs the corners on some lenses, it is lighter than the M240, and the pictures are sharper (because I can focus the lens precisely on the point I am trying to shoot) and of higher resolution, even a higher ISO.

 

Whether the affair will last remains to be seen. 

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I had an M8 some years back. In terms of performance it was pretty awful (terrible battery life, lockups, etc) but in terms of the actual shooting experience I don't think I've had a camera since which beats it. In retrospect I should have kept it, but you know, 20-20 hindsight...???

 

 

... do most people use Leica because of the shooting experience, or do you genuinely prefer the result?

 

Hello Me (?)

 

You are talking to the church's gospel singers here!!

 

It's the beautiful M cameras.  No other camera has the charm and "use me"  feel like a Leica M camera (like Jim's comment)

The gorgeous optical viewfinder, the easy menus, the comfortable size and heft,  and use of a million lenses.

For me it's 90% camera...image quality is easily available with any modern camera.

cheers  Dave S ;)

Edited by david strachan
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I'm probably being dense, but I'm afraid I don't know what you're getting at. I was simply asking what the main attraction to the M is: the shooting experience, the outcome, or some mix of the two.

 

If you're saying that most modern cameras can produce good output, then of course I agree. But that wasn't the main thrust of my question.

So what is? Everybody will buy the camera that works best for him/her.

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