M11 as a reporter camera

[orcinus]

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First, a disclaimer: I used to be a photojournalist long time ago, but haven't really been in that field for over a decade.

That said, as i was taking my usual midnight walk tonight, there was, what appears to have been a weird plane accident of some sort - one piece of an aircraft hit the ground not far from my usual route (accompanied by a couple of booms), no clue if there were other impact sites. I took a detour to see what was going on and took some photos, even though not much could be seen, as the place was pretty well cordoned off by the police and fire department by the time i got there. Luckily, no one seems to have gotten hurt either.

I did it more to see how the M11 would perform as a reporter camera than out of any serious morbid "Nightcrawlerish" ambitions - there wasn't much to be seen anyways apart from a crater in the ground and a huge ruckus surrounding it. I had the 35mm on it anyways - not tight enough to capture anything useful from a distance.

Anyways - couple of observations.
Upsides and general remarks first:

• With how light and inconspicuous the M11 is, it works really well for doing quick documentary snaps
• Leica Men will balk, but LV and screen quality, combined with the lightness, mean you can change angles, focus, and snap away quickly - RF is great for composed, thought through shots, under plenty of light, but try using it at night time with police strobes flashing and see how far that gets you
• I had issues and inconsistencies using advanced light measuring modes during the day, but bizarrely, in the night and with all the flashing strobes, it works great - it might need an occasional EV tweak 1 stop up or down depending on the composition, but there are no wild jumps in measured exposure or any inconsistencies 
• WiFi and Photos is great for posting the shots via social media, instant messengers, emails and such
• Battery life in cold conditions, with lots of LV and WiFi use is... decent. It's not a 1.5kg vertical grip-equipped pro body, after all. Considering its size and the fact this is pretty much the worst case scenario, use-wise, it's acceptable, but do carry a spare battery with you if you're out and about OR you forget to top up and you plan to use it in a scenario like this.
• I still can't wrap my head around focusing Ms vertically.
• Image stabilisation and LV boost when using focus assist are a life saver.
• The last 15% of battery last longer than you might think... much longer. It's almost like R on a car fuel gauge.

Downsides:

• Fotos app and WiFi connection are still a mess. When it works, it works well. The problem is, that's about 1 in 3 cases.
• Firmware stability with WiFi on is a mess. I never had the camera freeze with it off, but with it on, it happens about once every couple of minutes.
• Firmware stability with WiFi on AND using Fotos is an even worse mess. I had it lock up in the middle of a transfer once so badly that i had to pull and reinsert the battery.
• In general, M11 is, as it currently is, not reliable enough to be a professional 21st century reporter tool. Hopefully this improves with updates. I'm, not too bothered by it because - as mentioned before - that's not my line of work (anymore) anyways. Photography is just a hobby for me nowadays.

 

A couple of random OOC Fotos "preview" shots instead of closing words. No artistic value, but maybe someone finds the way M11 deals with harsh sodium + police lighting interesting.

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Edited March 11, 2022 by orcinus

[orcinus]

PS: samples above are ISO 1600 to 6400.

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[Ko.Fe.]

Pictures worked out well, technically. 

Any camera could be used to report. Mobile phones are in use most.  In some regions Sony takes over traditional DSLR.

Back it film days they used film Ms with 1.4 lenses, not for bokeh, but to have enough light.

If you can't focus it vertically, focus horizontally then compose. 

[orcinus]

10 minutes ago, Ko.Fe. said:

Any camera could be used to report. Mobile phones are in use most.  In some regions Sony takes over traditional DSLR.

Canons rule that segment, at least in these here parts.
You can spot the gaggle of white 70-200s from afar.

12 minutes ago, Ko.Fe. said:

If you can't focus it vertically, focus horizontally then compose. 

Yeah, or use the pinky and find a horizontal feature, i know.
Easy to say, hard to get used to, no matter how many times i mess it up

[LEGEND]

I like your review of M11 as reporter camera...
My conclusions are the same, Leica M rangefinder is more than capable for that kind of work as it was before digital times.

I have the Silver Chrome one and some people said to me that it look like I have knife in my hand when I walk around the city.
Again when I had Leica SL camera I asked one police officer about this and he responded that to him my SL looks like a
gun. I noticed how some people look at the camera than at me before they realise that it is not a weapon but only a camera.
I don't use long camera strap because, only a small hand strap for security. I always have my Leica in my hands ready to shoot.
Some time this can work as deterrent for thugs but you can also get shot by someone... We live in the strange times...   

I noticed that you are in the Zagreb, Croatia if I'm right. Nice to know that some else have Leica M11 here in Balkan.
I thought that I am the only one... Perhaps that is true but only for Bosnia. I live in Sarajevo and in last 20 years I meet 
only few photographers that use Leica M rangefinder system. Perhaps one day if you come here to Sarajevo or me to
the Zagreb we can go to a photo walk in the city, shoot something, drink a coffee and chat a little about Leica...  

Nikola

Edited March 11, 2022 by LEGEND

[pgk]

Whilst no doubt technically capable enough in many situations, there are equally effective cameras for reportage at much lower cost. As a genuine tool for reportage the M11 is unlikely to be cost effective for a photojournalist trying to make a living and having to fork out £15k for a couple of bodies. Perhaps one or two might do so but the very vast majority certainly won't. As can be seen from the news, content is far more important than technical quality for today's required immediacy of reporting. If you happen to be in a situation which requires reporting I'm sure an M11 will do the job for the most part but its cost excludes it from being a tool which will get much traction in a professional sphere.

I used, many years ago, to shoot news stories using Nikons I think. Its pretty immaterial and in any case it wasn't well enough paid to be anything other than part of what I did as a photographer. I did it because it was additional income. Most of the news photographers I knew shot on Nikons back then. I was always amazed that often the cameras would be set to 'P' because all they wanted was the picture!

[Al Brown]

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@LEGEND jarane puna nas mahala
@orcinus The M is your best friend for discrete capturing of all such events where you better remain inconspicuous. As you said, digital M is not reliable enough (thinking old M3/M2/MP reliable) because of many reasons for serious harsh conditions reporting (desert conflict, damp jungle etc.), but it gets the minute job done perfectly.

[cboy]

https://petapixel.com/2021/04/16/the-cameras-that-shot-the-winning-photos-of-world-press-photo-2021/

The M10 and Q were part of the list so the M11 wouldn't be any different in terms of its capability to be used in photojournalism

The Q would be a more reliable camera. Imo for its obvious advantages

Edited March 11, 2022 by cboy

[Al Brown]

1 minute ago, cboy said:

https://petapixel.com/2021/04/16/the-cameras-that-shot-the-winning-photos-of-world-press-photo-2021/

The M10 and Q were part of the list so the M11 wouldn't be any different in terms of its capability to be used in photojournalism

iPhone 6S is on that list too.

[LEGEND]

27 minutes ago, Al Brown said:

@LEGEND jarane puna nas mahala
@orcinus The M is your best friend for discrete capturing of all such events where you better remain inconspicuous. As you said, digital M is not reliable enough (thinking old M3/M2/MP reliable) because of many reasons for serious harsh conditions reporting (desert conflict, damp jungle etc.), but it gets the minute job done perfectly.

Mora da je to neko tajno drustvo ko iluminati jer ja ne znam skoro nikoga ko ovdje slika sa Leicom, bilo profesionalno ili privatno...
Mislim da bi trebali početi jedan thread na LUF gdje bi se Leica fotografi sa Balkana mogli upoznati... Makar nek se zna da i takvih ima 
na našim prostorima... Dala bi se se eventualno i kakva druženja organizirat ili slično da se razmjene iskustva... Mislim da bi to bilo fino...
Svjet je i onako postao sav jadan i lud, vrijeme je da se i malo uživa...  

[Ko.Fe.]

3 hours ago, Al Brown said:

@orcinus The M is your best friend for discrete capturing of all such events where you better remain inconspicuous. 

😄   Ostrich syndrome. 

Once you are pointing any camera at something, you are noticed. With M you are looking more funky than with SLR shaped camera and nothing else.

I was taking pictures with plastic P&S from the distance once during similar gathering and not uniformed idiot with gun came to intimidate me. 

[Al Brown]

Just now, Ko.Fe. said:

Once you are pointing any camera at something, you are noticed. With M you are looking more funky than with SLR shaped camera and nothing else.

I keep my Leica M around my neck on a short neck strap (80cm) and just press the trigger @ hyperfocal, so no real pointing. Nobody seems to notice.

[Herr Barnack]

5 hours ago, LEGEND said:

...I have the Silver Chrome one and some people said to me that it look like I have knife in my hand when I walk around the city.
Again when I had Leica SL camera I asked one police officer about this and he responded that to him my SL looks like a
gun...

Bizarre.

Sounds like a couple of cases of people seeing what they want to see.

[LEGEND]

1 hour ago, Herr Barnack said:

Bizarre.

Sounds like a couple of cases of people seeing what they want to see.

Exactly... Especially in these times... Few weeks ago I put comment on the Facebook where someone asked me what I do for living... I wrote ”I shoot people on the streets and sometime cut their heads and legs of”... Few hours later I got the message from Facebook that that they deleted my comment because it violate some of their policies agains the hate speech and violence or something... Also they sad that because of COVID-19 their are understaffed and if I want to put complain on this I need to wait couple of weeks. And uf course I complained... Let se what will happen...

Strange world...

[SrMi]

6 hours ago, Al Brown said:

@LEGEND jarane puna nas mahala
@orcinus The M is your best friend for discrete capturing of all such events where you better remain inconspicuous. As you said, digital M is not reliable enough (thinking old M3/M2/MP reliable) because of many reasons for serious harsh conditions reporting (desert conflict, damp jungle etc.), but it gets the minute job done perfectly.

Prepuna :).

[orcinus]

3 hours ago, Al Brown said:

I keep my Leica M around my neck on a short neck strap (80cm) and just press the trigger @ hyperfocal, so no real pointing. Nobody seems to notice.

Interestingly, neck strap around the neck is, for some reason, percieved as less threatening than a hand strap, or a neck strap worn diagonally or over a shoulder.
At least from my street/travel experience.

My guess is the psychology is - camera hanging around the neck is seen before the shot, and not perceived as "sneaky" once the shot is taken, whereas whipping out a camera that's hanging to the side or off a wrist is seen as a "surprise attack", or a "hidden weapon".

6 hours ago, LEGEND said:

Mora da je to neko tajno drustvo ko iluminati jer ja ne znam skoro nikoga ko ovdje slika sa Leicom, bilo profesionalno ili privatno...
Mislim da bi trebali početi jedan thread na LUF gdje bi se Leica fotografi sa Balkana mogli upoznati... Makar nek se zna da i takvih ima 
na našim prostorima...

Ima ih još, uključujući filmaše.
Kupio sam stari kanadski tele elmarit od jednog, M240 od drugog...
Samo ne troše vrijeme na forume

[adan]

8 hours ago, cboy said:

https://petapixel.com/2021/04/16/the-cameras-that-shot-the-winning-photos-of-world-press-photo-2021/

The M10 and Q were part of the list so the M11 wouldn't be any different in terms of its capability to be used in photojournalism

The Q would be a more reliable camera. Imo for its obvious advantages

Leica M9 (plus 15% Canon 5DII with Leica R 180 and 400mm), 2012 Pictures of the Year International.

https://www.poy.org/69/34/second_01.php

Leica M8, 21mm lens - when I was working for a newspaper full-time (2008). Sorry for the intrusion into the M11 arena, but I'm sure the M11 would have worked just as well (if not better). I can produce dozens of other examples, produced with M8/9/10.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

There is also this interview with David Turnley on the scene in and around Ukraine (for Getty Images) - with two (uhhh!) Leica M's draped on his chest.

Edited March 11, 2022 by adan

[Jeff S]

11 minutes ago, adan said:

Leica M9 (plus 15% Canon 5DII with Leica R 180 and 400mm), 2012 Pictures of the Year International.

https://www.poy.org/69/34/second_01.php

Leica M8, 21mm lens - when I was working for a newspaper full-time (2008). Sorry for the intrusion into the M11 arena, but I'm sure the M11 would have worked just as well (if not better). I can produce dozens of other examples, produced with M8/9/10.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

There is also this interview with David Turnley on the scene in and around Ukraine (for Getty Images) - with two (uhhh!) Leica M's draped on his chest.

As usual David’s twin brother, Peter, is photographing with his Leica M gear at the same troubled location, now covering the Ukrainian border exodus. Mike Johnston at TOP is communicating with him and is currently publishing some of his pics.  
 

This 60 Minutes segment describes the brotherly competition…

Jeff

[LEGEND]

2 hours ago, SrMi said:

Prepuna :).

Svašta, nebi nikad rekao a ono mi sve infiltrirali... Kažem, iluminati...  

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Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[adan]

8 hours ago, pgk said:

As a genuine tool for reportage the M11 is unlikely to be cost effective for a photojournalist trying to make a living and having to fork out £15k for a couple of bodies

Pretty much a red herring.

Some people can make a Leica M pay for itself in a couple of months. Amortized over 5-10 years of "free photography" thereafter.

And some people probably can't even make a smartphone's camera pay for itself - ever.

And everything in between.

I bought my M9s when I had no visible means of support (unemployment dole expired, not old enough for retirement pensions/benefits) - because I knew that over their lifetime, they would produce net income. While also providing me with operational benefits (manual RF focusing, lighter weight, smaller (but metal-built) lenses, quieter shutter) no other camera could (yet) provide. (Mirrorless otherwise was in its infancy.)

M11s - if I get them - may take a little longer to "pay for themselves" - but not that much. A year or so for two bodies - again followed by years of "free pictures."