Baseplate Forever

[Paulus]

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I just was getting used to handeling the bottom-plate perfectly after two decades : M6,MP,M8,M9,M10.....

Never dropped my camera in changing my batteries or films. ( with the exception when somebody hit me on the elbow during changing the film ).

Maybe I won't miss the feeling, but ...Let's contemplate the good times, before nobody else will, in a decade.🙂

 

[Maarten]

And what about the plastic bottom plate protection? Has anybody considered this? 😉

[Jeff S]

7 hours ago, Maarten said:

And what about the plastic bottom plate protection? Has anybody considered this? 😉

Yes….

Jeff

[RF’sDelight]

My ritual with every M since the M8 after unboxing it… I guess with the M11 nothing will be like before. 😎

 

[rtai]

I am using an Arte Di Mano case with quick access to the card and battery. The M10M fits inside the case without the bottom plate. I prefer it this way like the Q and SL2. I wish the M can be more ergonomic rather than nostalgic. Glad the M11 is moving to that direction. I don’t need it to be pretty.

[mujk]

Let's hope Leica will produce an M11-D with a fake wind lever and a "fake" removable bottom plate 😀 

[setuporg]

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This thread is exclusively dedicated to the baseplate resistance.  Will it be a deal breaker for you?

I have to consider the new camera carefully before switching from M10-R so an automatic trade-up is probably not such a clear option at the moment.

[Steve Ricoh]

Much prefer the traditional baseplate replicating the film M, and always brass top and bottom. 

[Viv]

The baseplate felt cheap and nasty to me.

 

[Tailwagger]

18 minutes ago, setuporg said:

This thread is exclusively dedicated to the baseplate resistance.  Will it be a deal breaker for you?

Nope. My Ms have always sported an RRS anyway, so my Ms lost the base plate 7 or 8 years ago.

[adan]

I've never had any problem using the classic removable baseplate.

I like the one-stop-shopping for handling the "insertables."

And having worked in a camera store, and seen how many digital cameras came in for repair because stupid plasticky hinged SD-card/battery doors had ripped off or otherwise been "buggered," I would not tolerate such really "cheap and nasty" doors as replacements.

However - I don't really have a problem with the Leica pop-out implementation either. No hinges, still "one-stop shopping."

Elegant in the engineering sense.

But frankly, a complete non-issue for me, either way. If Leica were swapping the other direction (from plug-in battery to removable baseplate) I'd just shrug. The issue ranks about 1547th on my list of the 100 most important things to worry about in photography.

 

[fotografr]

13 minutes ago, Al Brown said:

The positive part of not having the baseplate is the potential disappearance of the protective foil kept on the bottom of a Leica forever.

Aaaarrrgh! You mean the bottom of the M11 might get scratched?

[Toastybunzz]

Its sad to see the baseplate go, IMO. The bottom of the M11 looks a bit unfinished with the battery release lever and the fully exposed USB-C port. I would be worried about that getting filled with crud, most cameras have some kind of flap covering it. 

[Edax]

For me the issue is not the baseplate an sich, but the shape of the new battery. A spare battery most probably doesn't fit the "Steve Jobs iPod Nano" jeans pocket anymore.

Edited January 13, 2022 by Edax

[_Alex_]

I always thought the baseplate on the digital M was an unnecessary, but quaint, nod to the camera's heritage. Unlike the optical viewfinder/rangefinder, I don't think it offers any functionality that I'd like to keep. That said, I'll be holding onto my M10-P indefinitely and I may consider an M11P/Reporter or Monochrom in the future. I stopped selling anything Leica once I own it. You can never get it back at the same price again. 

[littlelio]

I am just curious that the exposed USB-port may create some issue to design a third-party plate such as RRS. Yes it is easy to open a hole but for such a small port?

Most of the camera ports are on the side, however there is exceptions. Fuji GFX50R has the DC port at the bottom.

To be honest this power port design is tricky, because there is no lock mechanism, hanging a USB-C plug there while on a tripod seems very... insecure... 

In such context, I think a better design is putting the base plate and move the port on the side, with a locer - my Nikon camera has a locker accessory to 'help' fix the USB plug a little bit tighter.

But I am not the designer for Leica, what do I know...

[rtai]

Not having a base plate will make any black paint version half baked.

[colonel]

So I can live without the baseplate, although I loved its quirky nature greatly

IMHO there is however one key disadvantage to not having it. It is that when I set the camera down, the bottom gets scratched inevitably. With a seperate baseplate, you just pay a small charge any time and put on a brand new one. Now there is no simple way to restore the base of the camera to mint condition.

Well this helps my OCD anyway .....

 

[fotografr]

My first base plate experience came when I bought a pair of M3ds bodies in 1978. Removing the base plates didn't bother me then and it never has since. Has anyone ever actually missed a shot because it took too long to remove and replace the base plate?

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[M9reno]

Ditching the brass baseplate is an important step by Leica towards acknowledging that any digital camera is a piece of consumable electronics with a much shorter intended lifespan than its film ancestors.  Leica has in fact gone further here, replacing brass altogether in the black version of the M11:  whatever the precise environmental reasons for this, it is by definition unsustainable for a digital camera to employ materials that will long outlast its intended working life, and aluminium is not just lighter but more appropriate in this respect.

It has also been pointed out that even the aluminium top plate is reduced in size by comparison to previous M’s.

The attempt, given up with after the M (Typ 240) generation, to replace the traditional incremental nomenclature of each successive M, nevertheless lives on in some of the design choices for the M11.  No baseplate, aluminium instead of brass, less metal.  I think this is actually a big deal for Leica:  attempting to square the circle of a luxury hand-made product that is simultaneously disposable (as all digital gadgets), yet also environmentally aware.  RIP and good riddance to the old misleading marketing spiel of the M9 age, of a digital Leica as a “lifetime companion”.

 

Edited January 13, 2022 by M9reno