Do you use your M for studio use?

[R3D-D0T]

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Thinking this would be a good portable solution, but not sure if 24 MP is enough + critical focusing with rangefinder.

Thoughts/experiences?

[ralphh]

I don't. I use a 5DIII for studio. I just find focusing the M very hard work at short distances with bouncy children. Plus my flash trigger doesn't balance well on it.

 

You'll no doubt get opposite views, but I don't feel an M makes a great studio camera. The compromises of an M are worth it to be able to carry it around all day, but I cant find an upside for the M over a DSLR in the studio.

[asimplefarmer]

I have used it before with my canon 100 f2 LTM and my CV 28 1.9 for food photography. Though I used the live view function over the RF to focus and compose.

[ralphh]

Good point - depends what kind of studio photography. Children and food are very different. I would not hesitate to use it for something more static. The lack of tethering without a rediculiously overpriced accessory would still be an irratation, tho I could live with that.

 

Another thing that puts me off from using it professionally is the lack of a proper professional support. I know that if my canon breaks I'm looking at a few days repair turn around time, and a loaner while I wait. Guaranteed, not maybe, if I chat up the guy in the Leica store nicely. I hear far too many things abo cameras being gone for weeks or months. That just not acceptable for me. Maybe if you tell them it's used professionally they get their act together a bit, but I doubt Leica can match Canon for their support. And while I can afford to have a second Canon body hanging around just in case, I can't afford to M's.

[cirke]

Good point - depends what kind of studio photography. Children and food are very different. I would not hesitate to use it for something more static. The lack of tethering without a rediculiously overpriced accessory would still be an irratation, tho I could live with that.

 

Another thing that puts me off from using it professionally is the lack of a proper professional support. I know that if my canon breaks I'm looking at a few days repair turn around time, and a loaner while I wait. Guaranteed, not maybe, if I chat up the guy in the Leica store nicely. I hear far too many things abo cameras being gone for weeks or months. That just not acceptable for me. Maybe if you tell them it's used professionally they get their act together a bit, but I doubt Leica can match Canon for their support. And while I can afford to have a second Canon body hanging around just in case, I can't afford to M's.

 

There is a post on getdpi forum about Leica service :-)

[ralphh]

Yeah, seems like a lot of crossness. Leica do a lot of free repairs, which is really great, and the way they handled the sensor corrosion issue on the M9, offering free fixing even if you bought the camera on eBay, really impressed me. They do what they can, but at the end of the day they are a very small company compared to canon and they're not able to offer the same support.

 

The trouble is that it costs me about £200 a day to have no camera. That's a very different proposition to amature being without one.

[asimplefarmer]

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I agree about tethered shooting. If I'm not dealing with a client directly at the shoot, I don't mind taking the M out. Otherwise, the orange cable and canon comes out

[hoppyman]

I used mine for a number of studio fashion shoots before I got the S system. I found the RF to be perfectly fine and the image quality every bit as good as you expect from the best M lenses. You need to be careful with the framing limitations of course. The tethering does work but you need the multifunctional grip to connect. Where my shots are nearly all portrait orientation (for fashion, beauty, portraits) I find the grip is better to hold and more secure than the bare body anyway.

 

I would say that, if you have an M you can certainly make it work in studio and the image quality and resolution are fine. But if you don't have an M and you are shopping for a camera primarily for studio, you need to consider its limitations (and unique advantages)

The SL would be a superb choice or if you have the budget or enough kidneys to sell the S system is compelling. 26 000 frames later my M is virtually unused now.

[sblutter]

Fine for table top with Viso III, LV & hot lights

[algrove]

Along with the SCA Adapter for the MF grip I have had some success in the studio environment where I use my EVF for citical focusing and put a Pocket Wizard III on the hot shoe of the SCA  Adapter for firing my lights. Works just fine.

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[DezFoto]

I used to use the M9 for studio but now I use the M240. (or Hasselblad H2 for film or sometimes rent a digital back for it).

 

Major points:

1) Since I shoot mostly at f/8 in the studio, focus accuracy with the rangefinder isn't usually an issue. 

2) Tethering isn't great, but it's useable. The biggest issue is that cable points at my face because of the way it comes out of the grip, which is annoying. 

3) Lack of a vertical grip may annoy some, but I have the same issue with my Hassy. 

4) Flash sync speed may be limiting if you have no way to control strong ambient light (like and outdoor shoot).

5) .7 meter close focus limit may be limiting for close portrait or product work since there's not a lot of long lens options to close the gap

6) Frame lines are guestimations, I shoot a little "loose" so I crop a little later to fix the framing

7) EVF is great for accurate framing, but takes up the flash shoe so I can't use it at the same time as my wireless triggers

8) no sync port or tethering unless you pony up for the multifunction grip

[FlashGordonPhotography]

Yeah, seems like a lot of crossness. Leica do a lot of free repairs, which is really great, and the way they handled the sensor corrosion issue on the M9, offering free fixing even if you bought the camera on eBay, really impressed me. They do what they can, but at the end of the day they are a very small company compared to canon and they're not able to offer the same support.

 

The trouble is that it costs me about £200 a day to have no camera. That's a very different proposition to amature being without one.

 

Why would you only have one camera. Ideally you'd have two M's ( I do) but the Sony A7 makes a fine backup to an M for the typical lenses you might use in studio (standard to short tele) and you get the A7 with the 24-70 f4 as your backup and for when you want either the EVF, AF or the convenience of a zoom lens. All you need is a cheap M adaptor. This is what I did when I first got my type 240.

 

I have personally found my type 240's to be very reliable as working cameras, especially compared to the M9. Other than having one calibrated I've had zero issues after 50K frames with them. Personally I prefer to have different cameras that are suited perfectly to each application but I could quite happily do everything I need to do with a pair of M's.

 

However, when all is said and done the SL is a much better platform for studio use, even with M lenses. My M's, as much as I love them, are essentially retired from use as working cameras since I got the SL.

 

Gordon

[ralphh]

I wouldn't have 1 camera, but as I said, I can't afford two M's, and any other camera you could pair it with as a backup would probably soon become the main camera. I can't really think of any upside of an M over any other interchangeable lens camera in the studio, except the joy of using such a beautifully crafted piece of manual engerineering, but explaining how nice my Leica is to use to a disappointed client doesnt fly.

 

I actually had the M in my studio for a while as a backup for my 5D, but I realised it really wouldn't work so I just bought a second Canon (just a cheap one) and brought the Leica home. For me, even a £300 Canon rebel is a better studio camera than my M - FOR ME.

 

Like I said, it depends what your photographing, and it may work well for many things, but for MY STYLE of shooting young children, where near instantaneous reactions and focusimg are critical, the M is quite unsuitable, and the EVF utterly unusable. There is probably not another pro or semi pro camera that I'd rather use less in fact. Conversely, there is not another camera in the world I'd rather use to photograph my family life than my M, so for me, it's just not the right tool for the job in the studio.

 

As for reliability I have been a member of a Canon forum for many, many years. Threads trying to diagnose camera problems are quite rare. There are often 3 or 4 threads at any one time on the first page of the m240 board trying to diagnose camera problems, and they generally up with the consensus of 'send it to leica, and be prepared to wait 2 months'. We currently have threads for a broken shutter, a problem with frameline masks and some dust in the viewfinder, tho that last one seems ok.

 

I have probably bought 50 or more Canon lenses, bodies and accessories. None have had any issues. I have purchased three new Leica items, and two were faulty straight out of the box. The one second hand lens I have purchased has serious focus issues, so I personally have a very dim view of Leica QC. All good fun and games when it's my personal work, but not very funny for the camera I pay my rent with.

[Exodies]

I don't understand the "diagnose my Leica fault" treads. Are they then going to take a hammer and soldering iron to it? Probably they are part of a cunning plan to get better customer service than everyone else gets.

[ralphh]

Well it's nice to know you camera really is broken before you send it off to Leica for an unknown amount of time.

 

 

I have an analogy for using a Leica in a studio for my style of work;

 

A Ferrari is a wonderful piece of engineering, and for pure driving pleasure is hard to beat. But give one to a taxi driver and after two weeks he'd be in tears begging you for his C class mercadies back.

[John Ricard]

I use the M9 and the M240 for a ton of my studio work.  I owned a Nikon D3x for many years, and just recently bought a D810.  Not exactly sure why I often chose the Leicas over my Nikon so many times.  

As for the USB cable that comes out at an odd angle, you can but a 90 degree usb attachment that makes the cable hang properly.  Works fine for me.  The bigger problem is that Lightroom often crashes when I'm tethered (on my Nikons and my Leica).   

 

If you check my Instagram, you'll see a lot of Leica in the studio images.  @johnricard.

[douglas fry]

As a slight aside, if you are a professional photographer, register your company with Leica (VAT number and company number), then you get a pro service....My 90mm APO was damaged, they sent a DHL package to pick it up, repaired it within a week and DHL'd it back...Equally getting my older lenses 6bit encoded, it hasn't been longer than 1 week for it to be returned 

[douglas fry]

And a great example of studio work with an M9 is in this recent edition of M magazine by Ram Shergill

 

http://m-magazine.photography/ceemes/en/magazine/m-magazine-no-4.html

 

I do a lot of studio flash work but with an SL