Using Live View on a Leica M10

[SMAL]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Hey guys, is it frowned upon using the live view of the M10? Isn´t buying a Leica M, because of the range finder? Or does that all not matter and it´s all about the photos? Would love to have a little discussion about it. Keep it kind, guys. I know this can be controversial, but um honestly curious what Leica Users think about it.

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[mhicks]

I don’t use it but it’s more from a battery conservation and ease of use perspective than a rangefinder-or-bust one.

Here’s the thing: if you have a camera, use it the way you want to. Who really cares if someone else thinks your way of using it is wrong-headed or not befitting of the instrument.

[SMAL]

I totally agree. I don´t care what people think how I use my camera. I just enjoy creating. Why do you think using the rangefinder is user friendlier than using live view?

Edited September 9, 2018 by SMAL

[pico]

Why do you think using the rangefinder is user friendlier than using live view?

 

For old timers such as myself, the rangefinder is simply quicker, clear. Friendlier? I would choose benevolent, considerate, a well done option.

Edited September 9, 2018 by pico

[lucerne]

there are no politically correct rights and wrongs about utilising live view. .Live view extends the usefulness of the camera body. First major benefit is being able to use leica (and other) lenses with focal lengths that are not supported by frame lines. Live view gives the full sensor view of whichever lens is mounted and that’s priceless with wide angles and telephotos. It also shows the correct view when the camera has macro adaptors fitted. The absence of live view (and dependence on the viewfinder) would exclude all these opportunities.

Edited September 9, 2018 by lucerne

[TomB_tx]

Having used rangefinders for ~50 years, that's how I'm most comfortable using the M10. I'll never be comfortable using a camera held in front of me using live view on the rear LCD, but I did get a Visoflex 020 to use as an accessory finder for ultrawide and long lenses, which I find better than having a few optical finders in my kit.

However, live view on the M10, like on dSLRs, is pretty clumsy, with the shutter delay before shooting making it impossible to catch the instant you want. Instead I usually carry a Sony A7 for ultrawides (SLR type) and long lenses, as it avoids the delay issues & such.

[SMAL]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Ok, so what I get from this convo is, that it mostly comes down to experience and habit. It´s just the way photographing feels natural for most of you, cause you are working for so long with RF cameras. Makes totally sense. When the visoflex wouldn´t look so ugly, I maybe would consider one. I am training hard with the RF right now without using live view. I decided for Leica, cause I wanted a purer more involved way of shooting photos. That´s why I enjoy the rangefinder so much right now.

[Reini]

I also opted for a digital Leica (M240) because of the Rangefinder.

 

Have not looked at any picture (except close-ups) on the monitor.

[db24fps]

While I would naturally have a preference for the viewfinder itself on my M240 when I had one, I think live view was an essential addition to the M to expand its capabilities in certain use. When I used it for some photoshoots for example, I had a lighting trigger in the hotshoe so couldn't use the EVF add on, so instead relied on the live view for my focusing as peaking helped with pin point accuracy when I needed it. In certain other circumstances if I wanted to raise the camera above eye level , or out over a ledge...etc, it proved useful too. Heck, a lot of the time I'd shoot from the hip and zone focus and consequently not make use of any means to directly view and compose at all. There are plenty of ways to use a camera to get the results you desire. As has been said, use it however you want to use it. All that matters is that you get pleasure out of your purchase and that, together, you create a rewarding experience.  There are no rules. 

 

I parted with my 240 a couple of years ago and am really close to coming back to the M system and the M10 (or a P). My approach to usage would be no different than it was with the 240, but certainly if this is early days for you using an rf then give it time. I always really liked it, and I say that as a glasses wearer where, even on the M10 sadly, things are somewhat limited in my barely being able to see 35mm framelines and not being able to see 28 at all.  

 

What I rarely used the screen for was reviewing images. Unless I was in a controlled studio environment, I couldn't see the value in "chimping" as they say as if I missed capturing a moment I missed capturing a moment, it isn't coming back, and I could be missing more if pouring over images and pixel peeping. It was funny admiring an M10-P recently and the sales assistant highlighting the touch screen, which is lovely, but it's something I forget I even have on my Q as even there I don't tend fo review what I have taken outside of a quick check for metering a scene (and similarly with the Q I will alternate between the EVF and the LCD or from the hip shooting depending on what I am trying to achieve. I suppose that reason ought to be enough to sway me towards an M10 vs the P when I think about it, but that's for another discussion. 

[astrostl]

My biggest knock against it is that it's clunky/slow. Makes it a bummer to use wide lenses, because you have awkward choices like the doofy EVF (which makes you take out a thumb grip), expensive-and-bad-with-glasses-focal-length-specific hotshoe viewfinders (also loses the thumb grip), or going clunkmeister with the LCD view. Which is what I usually do, but I'd probably shoot at, say, 21mm a lot more if I either had framelines or didn't hate the LV/VF options.

[250swb]

Hey guys, is it frowned upon using the live view of the M10? Isn´t buying a Leica M, because of the range finder? Or does that all not matter and it´s all about the photos?

 

Fools also frown upon using a digital M camera on a tripod, and it isn't a coincidence this happens to be the time I use LV. 

 

Some people like to be prescriptive, they've bought into a rangefinder myth and like to lecture on all the wrongs others are doing. If you've made the photograph you wanted to make using either LV or the viewfinder there is no right or wrong. But if people are using one or the other contrarily then they probably need that copy of 'Photography for Dummies' they bought but never got around to reading.

[SMAL]

It´s so interesting to read all your opinions and honestly I was convinced that the majority would say that all they use is the rangefinder. I am happy to see that what matters to most of you is simply the result.

[a.noctilux]

M10 and Visoflex 020 is a first class combo with some flaws ( time parallaxe, with some false contacts sometime).

 

I use LV on M10 lately when I "scan some slides" with M10 + BEOON + Focotar : it's very handy and accurate in framing.

When I use with a bellow and flash (not possible to use Visoflex 020) : only LV solution to frame/focus .

Edited September 10, 2018 by a.noctilux

[Marcial]

LV allows for accurate framing with a 21mm and for close up work with the little 90mm macro. One of the many improvements experienced when trading in a M9 for a M10. Prior to that I used a very large accessory viewfinder which I will likely sell as I hardly ever use the 21 on my MP. 

[david.kize]

I use the rangefinder on my M10 almost exclusively. A large part of this is that I learned photography in the 50's through 70's with a rangefinder, and it is very intuitive to me.  I have no problem focusing my 35, 50, 75 and even 135 with the rangefinder.  Conversely, I haven't used the LV enough to be sure that I know what I am doing as to focusing, time delays if any, etc.  As I get more used to LV, I probably will use it more.  I bought my M10 at the end of April, and probably have taken about 4,000 shots with it so far.  I yearn for my DSLR only when I need a telephoto beyond 135.

 

Here's an example: in a recent trip to French Polynesia, I was in a small group in the jungle when someone saw a spider in a huge web spanning between trees.  Everyone else was having focusing problems with their cell phones, pocket cameras, bridge cameras and DSLR's.  I had no problem focusing with my RF exactly on the spider and exactly on the web itself, even at wide open aperture.  I suppose someone who knew what they were doing could have done a good job with the LV, but I am nowhere near familiar enough with it to use it as a tool, especially when I don't have time to experiment.

[Keith_W]

It´s so interesting to read all your opinions and honestly I was convinced that the majority would say that all they use is the rangefinder. I am happy to see that what matters to most of you is simply the result.

 

That is not the norm on this forum, so I am honestly surprised as well. For me personally, I shoot with my Visioflex 020 simply because it works better for me. But I have certainly copped flak on this forum for saying so. 

[Musotographer]

I most enjoy using my M10 with the rangefinder, from 35 to 90mm - but I am hugely grateful that I can also use it with the EVF for my wide angles (15, 21 & 28), my tele (135), R lenses and when I have one chance to get critical focus exactly right (e.g. eyes in portraits). I still love my M9P without LV - but the M10 with its LV is so much more versatile. It's a wonderfully capable tool, not a fundamentalist religion.

[schattenundlicht]

I most enjoy using my M10 with the rangefinder, from 35 to 90mm - but I am hugely grateful that I can also use it with the EVF for my wide angles (15, 21 & 28), my tele (135), R lenses and when I have one chance to get critical focus exactly right (e.g. eyes in portraits). I still love my M9P without LV - but the M10 with its LV is so much more versatile. It's a wonderfully capable tool, not a fundamentalist religion.

+1

[Advertisement]

Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[JAC]

If you prefer using live view, do it!  I only use live view for product photography/macro when getting correct focus is pretty impossible with the rangefinder.

 

For walking around I'll use the rangefinder mechanism and for landscapes I'll just use the DOF scale on the lens - no need for the rangefinder.   

[Stonewall Brigade]

I put long R telephoto lenses on my M10, like my Leitz 350mm (effective 525mm) lens, and I have no choice but to use live view focusing. It works great.