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Anyone Leica M as their only camera today.

Nshah

By Nshah
in Leica M (Type 240 / 262)

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Echo63

Echo63

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It really depends on what you want to shoot. I also do a lot of insect photography and it would be bonkers to use the M for that, so I use a Canon with a proper macro lens.

Bonkers, but it can be done !

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/263378-bugs-in-the-garden-bee-and-a-fly/?do=findComment&comment=3095515

 

 

 

 

 

In a few weeks i will have to hand back my work issued Canon gear, at that point my M wont be my only camera, but the only one i use regularly.

 

I still have an X100, 350D, 1Dmk1 and a bunch of film cameras and old P+S too, but they never get used.

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jrp

jrp

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I love my M240, but it does not get the attention that it did before the SL came on the scene.  Focusing M lenses with the SL is easier for a glasses wearer like me that does not always like to frame their subject centrally.  The SL zooms are surprisingly good, although I am not about to give up my specialty M glass.

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colonel

colonel

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M, iphone and xpro-2

 

not really answering your question !!!

 

The Leica is the camera of choice always. The iphone I use mostly for its excellent panoramic feature and when I need to send a picture to someone immediately. e.g. what does my wife think about this piece of jewellery !! The x-pro2 is when I need AF and only usually low light

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kkonkkrete

kkonkkrete

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These are nice, well done!  Check out mine at: https://500px.com/rolandwfleming

 

If you really want to get close, isn't parallax a big problem, though?  Also my technique involves automated focus detection: there isn't time to do the focus and recompose thing.  I just can't imagine doing macro work with my M, despite all it's other strengths.  To paraphrase Chomsky: 'a chimp can learn language in the same way as a human long-jumper can fly'.  In other words, although I feel that at the outer limits, the M can probably scrape by in macro work, it's not what I'd choose to use when there are better dedicated tools (personal choice, not intended to put others off!).

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Peter H

Peter H

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These are nice, well done!  Check out mine at: https://500px.com/rolandwfleming

 

If you really want to get close, isn't parallax a big problem, though?  Also my technique involves automated focus detection: there isn't time to do the focus and recompose thing.  I just can't imagine doing macro work with my M, despite all it's other strengths.  To paraphrase Chomsky: 'a chimp can learn language in the same way as a human long-jumper can fly'.  In other words, although I feel that at the outer limits, the M can probably scrape by in macro work, it's not what I'd choose to use when there are better dedicated tools (personal choice, not intended to put others off!).

 

 

I don't often do macro photography but when I do, I put an  60mm macro Elmarit R on my M with a Novoflex adapter, use the EVF (the tilt can be extremely useful) and it works fantastically well.

 

I used to use a Nikon D700 with Nikon and Zeiss macro lenses but this every bit as good, if not better for the richness of colours, and ease of use is exactly the same in practice, if not better because of the tilting EVF.

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Echo63

Echo63

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Advertisement (gone after registration)

These are nice, well done!  Check out mine at: https://500px.com/rolandwfleming

 

If you really want to get close, isn't parallax a big problem, though?  Also my technique involves automated focus detection: there isn't time to do the focus and recompose thing.  I just can't imagine doing macro work with my M, despite all it's other strengths.  To paraphrase Chomsky: 'a chimp can learn language in the same way as a human long-jumper can fly'.  In other words, although I feel that at the outer limits, the M can probably scrape by in macro work, it's not what I'd choose to use when there are better dedicated tools (personal choice, not intended to put others off!).

 

You have some beautiful work on your 500px too - i love the Chameleon and the Bee

 

no issues with parallax, i use live view 

shooting macro with the M started out as a "lets see if this works" building an extension tube from a lens cap and body cap glued back to back.

from there i started shooting flowers, then moving stuff - its more an exercise in frustration, trying to focus using an LCD in full sun, without scaring away the creatures i am photographing - occasionally i will get a photo in focus.

i do want to get either a hood loupe, or a Multifunction grip (to free up the hotshoe) and an EVF - but that might still be a little way off, with unemployment getting closer and closer.

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Echo63

Echo63

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Ah, yes, Live View of course! I have an M-D so it's not an option. Fair play to you: we all develop our own techniques. I have to admit, you've made me curious: I'm going to look more into macro with the M, thanks!

Went for a walk with the 1DX and 50mm compact macro (1:2, not a true 1:1)

Its like shooting fish in a barrel - you can see what you are focusing on easily

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Echo63

Echo63

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Nice composition with the dark bringing the flower out! I use flash for all my macro work, I'm always impressed by those who can do it without!

I left my ringflash at home (a quick walk during my lunchbreak) but there is still flash there - a 600EX on camera, pointed forward with a sheet of A4 paper folded in half and rubber banded to it, to bounce light down - it just doesnt look like flash....
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freitz

freitz

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Just to piggy back on what a lot of people have said.

 

I have been shooting exclusively with the M since 2012. Just recently I picked up a A7II for my wife since our daughter moves very quick and the Dlux wasn't doing it for us in terms of over all image quality. While the camera is easier to use and I have used it from time to time; I found I just snapped away rather then relaxed and took the shot. Leica M slows me down and allows me to focus. I prefer it still.

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Tailwagger

Tailwagger

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Since since buying an M a year ago, it has totally dominated. If I'm doing any photography,  it is always with me.  My secondary gear is just that now and is only retained to handle the chores that the M is not that well suited for. Frankly the only thing that prevents me from selling off most of it off is laziness.  My other systems consist of a Pentax 645D and 645Z and a half a dozen lenses along with a Fuji XT and again full compliment of glass.  My plan is to keep the D (IMO its worth more than the money it would bring at this point), selling the 645Z and half the lenses to finance a few more bits of M glass, punt all my Fuji primes, save the macro, keep a pair of zooms and someday upgrade to an XT2 or Pro2.  The Fuji is still quite useful for certain stuff I shoot, but despite the insane level of resolution that 50MP provides, I find in my advancing years, it is becoming too much of a chore to lug MF gear around given my typical print sizes.  I used to feel that FF was a compromise, not as detailed as MF, not as portable as APS-C.  And it is, but with the M, and in particular its native glass, I've come to believe that its exactly the right compromise. I'm a Leica lifer now. 

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matthewluczy

matthewluczy

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I use an M262/50mm Summilux ASPH, and feel like there's nothing else I need. I shoot mainly street, some landscape and the occasional portrait. I also travel fairly often, and cannot speak highly enough about using the rangefinder system when visiting foreign places; the fact that you're not looking through a digital rendering of your subject, but are actually viewing it in realtime is a huge plus. Being able to "experience" a place while simultaneously shooting it can be a difficult balance to achieve, but since using an M exclusivly, I find it a joy!

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Herr Barnack

Herr Barnack

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In addition to my M kit, I own a Nikonos V with the 35mm f/2.5 amphibious lens, a Rollei 35 SE with 40mm f2.8 lens and a Hasselblad XPAN II with the 45mm f/4 lens.  My M kit is pretty much all I use consistently, though.  I shot a few rolls of Tri-X with the XPAN back in July when we were in Ireland; beyond that, I can't recall the last time I used the XPAN or the others.

 

If you want to photograph NFL games or wildlife,  you need a monopod, a Nikon or Canon DSLR and a 600mm f/4 lens; NBA and college basketball photographers seem to prefer DSLRs and 70-200 zoom lenses with a second body mounted with a wide angle for under the basket baseline work.  The preceding kits are specialized and have a limited spectrum of applicability.  For macro, the best lens I ever used was the Nikkor 200mm f/4; for people and portraiture, the Nikkor 105mm f/2 DC was outstanding.

 

The M system excels at specific types of photography - travel, street, photojournalism, documentary, weddings and events (reunions, etc.) are among them. 

 

As someone else observed, the optimal kit depends on the kind of photography one pursues.  For what I do, the M-P 240 and my modest collection of M lenses are the best fit. 

 

YMMV.

 

(and for the record, I don't care one whit about the cameras that are built in to phones :p )

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