Your next camera: M9

[setuporg]

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With all the expectation building up for M11, I've just obtained a new M9-P (checked, certified, re-sensored, re-leathered, re-packaged and warranted by Leica).  The CCD interest was building up since I got the M9M last year (after M10M) and saw the crisp and unique rendering for myself.  The last straw was @Stuart Richardson's thoughts in the Best Digital Leica of 15 Years thread here.  I'm also a Leica S fan, as Stuart, and was considering S 006 for the same rendering.  However, with the future of S uncertain and travel easier with the Ms, and only one new M9-P left in the world, it was a time to try.  I must say the difference is striking.  The difference between M9 and M10 is much more than M10 and M10R.  

Since M11 will bring new bells and whistles, perhaps the controversial EVF (boo), but not CCD rendering, I think M9 after M10 is much more revolutionary than the evolutionary path up.  This forum is famous for valuing such aspects as Leica look, and I submit that the variety of the Leica look that an M9 brings is more than anything that M11 will.  And here people like screenless and monochrome cameras, again quite unique in the world.

So you don't always have to go up.  You can go down too!  As I was standing on a platform at Princeton Junction one day years ago, a Princeton freshman asked me, "Which way is the city?"  To which I, a Philadelphia fan, answered, "which city"?  Even when everyone is headed to New York, Philadelphia has its charms.  Similarly, M9 may be "smaller," but small is beautiful (Unix philosophy).

 

M9-P with 50mm Summilux 

 

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[ianman]

I’ve always said that digital M cameras following the 9 and siblings is a sidegrade rather than an upgrade. That comment always brings out the flame throwers.

The difference in sensor is so fundamental it cannot be ignored in favour of any other improvements. Some people needed a CMOS for one legitimate reason or another and that is fine, but when others seem to believe that every newer camera is automatically an upgrade it shows a complete misunderstanding.

[setuporg]

Really a different sensor is a different kind of film.  Leica is the only company that pulled of the trick where old digital is old but gold.  The M lens compatibility, rangefinder similarity, etc., makes it all a part of the legacy where you can use several generations of Leicas for different purposes.  I find that all of them find good use for me -- M9P/M9M, Edition 60/M246, M10R/M10M.  (I could part with M246 except it's the only rangefinder making B&W videos in history.:)

There are luminous aspects to each, and it's great we have a palette of choices.  With so much digital output it's important that photos come out well OOC.

[Jeff S]

25 minutes ago, setuporg said:

With so much digital output it's important that photos come out well OOC.

I want all the ‘data’ there; but the final look has always been up to me, just as I prefer.  Otherwise we’d all produce the same looking pics. I’d quit photography if that were the case. I’ve never made a final print, film or digital, that didn’t require some form of editing. Digital PP is far more flexible and convenient for me than darkroom days, where it was even more critical that my negs were satisfactory, otherwise requiring intense work.  My picture count, per outing, is also quite similar, film and digital.

I still own both the M9 Monochrom and M10 Monochrom, choosing to now use the latter for reasons that have little to do with IQ; rather for the benefits of the M10 platform. I can make prints (given my typical subject matter, shooting style and conditions, print size, etc)  that are not distinguished by camera used, which viewers don’t know or care about. I also don’t waste my time shooting the same scene with two cameras for scrutiny; either the picture/print resonates or not.

Jeff

[ianman]

43 minutes ago, setuporg said:

Really a different sensor is a different kind of film.

Yes that’s a reasoning I’ve used before, usually to counter arguments that the viewfinders are marginally better or the shutter is as quiet as a gnats fart which seem trivial to me compared to the image produced. Don’t get me wrong, although I have a preference for the 9s images I’m not saying it’s better, just very different. And we all, happily, have different tastes

[lucy63]

The M9 is a wonderful camera.

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[lucy63]

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[setuporg]

1 hour ago, Jeff S said:

I also don’t waste my time shooting the same scene with two cameras for scrutiny; either the picture/print resonates or not.

Jeff, I know you put a lot of work in each print, and that's how it should be.  Alas not everyone has the time to process each image, in fact very few get developed in reality -- at most you can apply bulk presets.  So if one uses photography to document life, you can end up with 0.6M DNGs in the Adobe Cloud as I do, so I can see them all on my ipad/iphone, rank/review and share from there.  In my flow they all get imported and uploaded.  In that setup I get to appreciate OOC look more than anything else.

 

1 hour ago, ianman said:

the shutter is as quiet as a gnats fart

The thread was worth it just for this!

[lucy63]

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[setuporg]

Great portraits of dogs and people @lucy63!

[ianman]

3 minutes ago, lucy63 said:

The M9 is a wonderful camera.

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It certainly is when put in the hands of capable photographers as you have just demonstrated in the most beautiful manner!

[lucy63]

 

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Edited August 26, 2021 by lucy63

[shanefking]

M9 remains an excellent camera.

 

If anyone is hunting for one I have one for sale that is looking for a forever home (old sensor, with corrosion, but not noticeable at f1.4).

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[ianman]

2 hours ago, Al Brown said:

they *do not want* to change or upgrade.

That’s good because there is no upgrade path from the M9.

[Marac]

I have the M9M with replaced sensor and an M9 that is away having the sensor glass replaced. I hope the replacement glass will not affect the IQ. I shoot RAW most all of the time so it shouldn't make a difference at all. The M9M is such a fantastic camera, great ISO performance and full of character. I also have a CL so at some point I will have to make a decision either to sell CL or M9 or just keep them bboth and convert the CL to Infrared.

Definitely the CCD sensor has a following, I still own but seldom use, a Mamiya ZD Medium format CCD digital DSLR style camera that goes to 400 ISO maximum but the images at base ISO are jaw dropping.

[crony]

Hi, I am happy with my M9s. - The black one I bought in 2010, the silver one last year, used. Its previous owner bought an M10, and he told me, he misses the M9 CCD rendering.

There is a lively discussion of the desiderata of M11 features. - We shall see ... ---

If I want AF, high ISO, high res, live view, tilt screen, 1/8000 shutter speed, I simply take my SONY A7R2. And if I need high AF performance, I take my NIKON D800.

I like using my M9s (with my 31 Leica M mount lenses). - In car terms, I would see them as a MORGAN, or an old DEFENDER.

Here they are :

 

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[Stuart Richardson]

They are great! I hope you enjoy yours, Alexy! If I could snap my fingers and have one back, I would. In general, however, I have not needed an M much lately, as I think I like them best as a high quality travel camera, and I am still not really going anywhere due to Covid.  I will certainly look at the M11 when it comes out to see if it can tempt me back, but for the moment the SL2 is doing well for me. I think it has really good color, if not quite as good as the M9 or S006, and I find its combination of features, ergonomics and lens flexibility works great for me. Being able to put an M lens on there for compactness and lower weight in a light kit, or to pull out the S lenses or SL lenses for a larger kit...

In any case, the M9 will long hold a place in my heart. I had it at a good time in my life, shot a lot of pictures with it that I really like, and along with the S006, I think it will always be a camera where Leica really knocked out of the park, given what was available at the time. They are both cameras that just get out of the way and let you concentrate on photographing.

I also think photographers consistently underrate the importance of "straight out of camera" results. Of course most important photos are going to need to be adjusted before presentation, but I think that if the camera you are using has unappealing results, it can be both frustrating to work with and make it more difficult to edit. If every time you open up a new photo, you look at it and think it looks bad, it can make it hard to evaluate whether or not you even like the photo. Not to mention all the wasted time editing just to get it to a nice starting point. There are solutions to some of these problems with respect to profiles and presets, but they rarely work in all photos. Personally, having a camera I don't have to fight against is more appealing than one that is perhaps slightly technically better, but with which I do not mesh.

 

Edited August 27, 2021 by Stuart Richardson

[setuporg]

1 hour ago, Stuart Richardson said:

for the moment the SL2 is doing well for me

I now understand why you like SL2, and can put finger on it: it feels punchier and closer to M9 that way than to M10/R or S 007, which are more aerial, so to speak.

[win-win]

Where’s possible to buy a new Leica M9?

 Thank you 

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[setuporg]

1 hour ago, win-win said:

Where’s possible to buy a new Leica M9?

There were a few that Leica checked, updated sensors, and releathered, sold through KEH.  They are all gone now (I got the last one).  However there are quite a few mint ones on ebay and occaionally they come up on fredmiranda, where you can trust fellow photographers to describe them well.  A new sensor with a service date certificate is a must of course.

In our recent Overgaard workshop Thorsten brought his original M9, bought right after the announcement on 09/09/09, and wuth 200,000+ shots it's doing just fine.  So I guess that "winding" noise does not signify fragility.  They probably will last for a long time...