M11 as a reporter camera

[Olaf_ZG]

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Whole day I hear the news that a russian drone went through three countries and crashed in my town. Army and Nato where to surprised to react. The drone came either from UA or RU.

most funny is, that while browsing this forum, the news was here already!

and it seems a m11 is in town too, not bad…

[pgk]

45 minutes ago, adan said:

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.

Its not about making it pay,  for most lesser mortals its about buying a tool for the job which works. There are many viable alternatives for a lot less money. Yes a privileged few will use Leica M11s but the cost is way beyond the perfectly good alternatives avaialable. Much as I like my Leicas, I could not see paying ot £15k for a couple of bodies if I was working as a reporter these days. Too much money tied up and too expensive to insure. Whilst they would work, the alternatives make much more sense for a working photographer/journalist.

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[GFW2-SCUSA]

Both Peter and David Turnley are posting every day on their individual  Instagram pages from the border of Poland and Ukraine.  One picture of David show him with a pair of Leica Ms on his chest. I assume Peter has his trusty M10 and 35mm Lux with him.  He went into Ukraine yesterday. They seem to trust Leicas to get the job done. 

[Jeff S]

4 minutes ago, GFW2-SCUSA said:

Both Peter and David Turnley are posting every day on their individual  Instagram pages from the border of Poland and Ukraine.  One picture of David show him with a pair of Leica Ms on his chest. I assume Peter has his trusty M10 and 35mm Lux with him.  He went into Ukraine yesterday. They seem to trust Leicas to get the job done. 

Post #18

Jeff

[LEGEND]

2 hours ago, orcinus said:

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".

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

My explanation is that if you have camera on a strap around the neck you look perhaps like a tourist or something. Especially with a Leica M rangefinders. 
Some time people that notice me shooting come and ask if is analog camera. It happens more than you think. 
But if you use large DSLR with huge lens even on your neck this technique does't work. I have a friend who walks through the city with huge Nikon DSLR and
70-200 zoom. I told him everybody will notice him from 200m but he insisted that he will look “professional“ with this setup. Some times he walk with second 
DSLR and large zoom lens on it. I am sure this is how professional photographer looks like...  

But there is also aspect of psychology in this as you said. It is in our nature to react on fast moving objects because of this hanged our survival in the nature.
Perhaps I should try this with a neck strap as you said. Will see if they react different. 

Znam, i ja sam imao ponuda za Leica objektive od nekih ljudi odavde. Nije da nema Leica fotografa nego su rijetki, makar koliko ja znam...
Valjda neće da se hvale...  

[LEGEND]

6 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.

You can set your camera on interval shooting and just walk through the town, looking here and there...
No need to touch your camera... When you come back home you will have a so many photos that you can make a movie. You just need full battery and large SD card.
I think I will try that when the weather get little bit better. Now is cold and not that many people on the streets. At least nothing interesting...   

[pgh]

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Leicas can do it, but there is reason most people in the profession choose otherwise. Truly a poor business decision on all fronts. You have to have the cash to spare and really, really care about having something that feels nice to hold. I was in the profession for years - working for some well known conflict photographers and doing assignments on my own (not conflict) later on. Leicas were owned mostly for fun, if they were owned at all. Very rarely for the real work. Leica is a luxury jewerly brand that makes nice cameras but their market has not been working photographers for a damn long time. In most work situations bringing a Leica is like wearing dress shoes to a track race. 

[Ko.Fe.]

9 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.

 

Paying 10K for camera and pressing shutter blind is the looser, not a reporter thing. 

[Paulus]

Am 11.3.2022 um 02:22 schrieb orcinus:

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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Moderators, maybe we can merge these threads? 
 

 

[Al Brown]

9 hours ago, Ko.Fe. said:

Paying 10K for camera and pressing shutter blind is the looser, not a reporter thing. 

The use of this technique was debated regarding extreme situations, maybe 0.5% of the cases.
And yes, it is kinda looser, whereas holding the camera to your eye feels much tighter 😏.
 

Edited March 12, 2022 by Al Brown

[Spohndre]

I know I'm late to the party on this thread but;

Most of my work over the past couple of years has been for a small(ish) city daily paper. Metro population 300,000, Circulation 35,000 print.

I was lucky enough to pick up an M11 along with a 35 'lux FLE and a 21 SEM a couple of months ago.

I've ended up using it for everything that isn't a high school sporting event.

It is an amazing bit of kit for daily newspaper work

 

 

[MyLeicaWorld]

2 hours ago, Spohndre said:

I know I'm late to the party on this thread but;

Most of my work over the past couple of years has been for a small(ish) city daily paper. Metro population 300,000, Circulation 35,000 print.

I was lucky enough to pick up an M11 along with a 35 'lux FLE and a 21 SEM a couple of months ago.

I've ended up using it for everything that isn't a high school sporting event.

It is an amazing bit of kit for daily newspaper work

 

 

21sem and a m11 is the only thing a photographer needs on this world ..

[jakontil]

Regarding wifi issues, have tried to set wifi band to 5Ghz, instead of 2.4Ghz? Sorry if i missed it..

but i found the former is quite reliable and connection never been a problem, as well as transferring raw files.. but i use ipad pro though

[DenverSteve]

Well, the Leica M, (in all its forms) since the earliest M days,  has been used extensively for reportage photography.  The M11 is the most capable M to date.  It is no less capable than the multitude of Leica Ms that have produced Pulitzer-award winning photographs under the best, and worst, conditions possible.  Yes, it's more than a capable news/reporting camera. 

Edited February 13, 2023 by DenverSteve