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Leica M10 for street photography?


Benjamin Leica

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If you haven’t experienced how to make a shot completely following your own decisions of exposure, focus position, composition and DOF, you might also be able to get great photos with those advanced AF cameras. But you don’t understand how it comes before you press the shutter. Zone focusing, practicing the sense of distance for guessing, knowing the view without viewfinder, pre focus to a distance and immediately compose and shoot, all these things sound so silly if you have an auto cam, but after you learn these, you can shoot great photos at almost the same speed and success rates on a manual cam. And among all the camera providing manual experiences, Leica M-bodies rate the best and spark the joy of photography the most, IMO. 
For me, I don’t rely on auto ISO and auto shutter speed. All metering systems can be fooled by the environment, so I don’t completely trust them. I use my experience to set the exposure, and adjust the shutter speed and other things according to my intentions and limitations of the light intensity. I also use the LV or take a shot to see if the setup is acceptable, attention, not “right” but acceptable, because a 1-2 stops of underexposure are not a big deal on RAW and post processing, so I can use a higher shutter speed to freeze things more easily. I am pretty satisfied with the latitude of the M10-P’s cmos.

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It depends on situation imho. Daytime shooting would allow for zone focusing or hyperfocal distancing that the Ms is well suited, however I argue the Q2 with S-AF would perform just as fast if not faster at lower light situations were iso would be the limiting factor to using zone focusing. This is true with the exception of the M10/Q2 monochrome which has higher usable iso ceiling to still allow for zone focusing even in low light. However everything discussed is for available light and so If one's using flash then it doesn't matter so much and the M10 would be suitable as well.

Using a rangefinder in low light street shooting action is not a fun experience imo, unless you have a monochrome camera and or using a visoflex, by which time it's probably just better to go with a mirrorless with better EVF like a SL2s or non Leica mirrorless FF camera.

Edited by cboy
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I'm not sure what you mean that it is easier to focus with an M-10 Mono. The rangefinder is the same as the M 10. The quality at high ISO is different, of course but that has no effect on the rangefinder.  I use both M10 and M10 Mono and don't find them very difficult to focus in low light, but I have been using rangefinders for a very long time. 

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On 3/23/2023 at 4:47 PM, M Street Photographer said:

The question is a bit confusing, considering that street photography has been used since the beginning of the Leica era.
Apart from motorsport events, which also go with an M, I only think of HCB and the photo "Jump over the puddle".
Either you gain the ability to focus quickly over time, or you use zone focus.
With an open aperture, the DOF is narrow, otherwise it is just faded out.

The much used and praised RICOH GR III also uses the snap mode, the zone focus.
And so every M is ideally suited for street.

Here are 2 older examples with the M9 and the 50 1.4 Summilux.

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Thanks for the info, the pictures are beautiful

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On 3/23/2023 at 11:34 PM, newtoleica said:

I use an M7 and an M10P. The M is ideal for use on the street as it’s small and unobtrusive. There are lots of ways of shooting street in manual focus

1. chose static subjects and learn to focus quickly wide open. 
2. use zone focussing

3. focus on a nearby object/wall/lampost and let your subject move level with it.

4. Street portraiture where you ask the subject to pose for you

i think using MF makes you be totally absorbed in the flow of the street, potential subjects and anticipate things.

I’ve been doing it for decades. Yes you may miss some, but autofocus is so less rewarding in my view. 

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Many thanks for this information :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I love using mine for street, perfect camera for it :)

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On 4/15/2023 at 2:49 PM, Malabito said:

I love using mine for street, perfect camera for it :)

 

 

Great photos. Congratulations.

Lens? I'm asking due to size and/or zone focus options, both important for street photography.

Edited by Cobram
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1 hour ago, Cobram said:

Great photos. Congratulations.

Lens? I'm asking due to size and/or zone focus options, both important for street photography.

Thanks!

Its a combination of many lenses :) I manually focus for all images, i rarely use zone focusing, I do use the distance guide on the lens to bring it close to the position of the subjects but afterwards i end focusing. 

Zeiss 35mm ZM f1.4 -> amazing lens, but huge, i honestly wouldn't recommend it for street, it does feel huge on the m10, but the image quality is superb! I rarely use it for street.

Leica 24mm elmar f3.8 -> small, great image quality, and makes you think the shots more, given you cant just use bokeh to hide everything :)

Leica 28mm cron -> my preferred lens for street, considerably small and considerably fast.

Voigtlander 35mm skopar -> best lens for the $$$, small sharp, and fast enough :)

I also just got a 40mm heliar from voigtlander it hasnt arrived yet :) but i plan to use it for street given the small size. 

Edited by Malabito
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On 4/15/2023 at 1:49 PM, Malabito said:

I love using mine for street, perfect camera for it :)

 

 

Really nice collection of images. 

I have only recently bought into the M system and used it for street Saturday just gone. The smaller setup meant I felt a lot more comfortable shooting and surprisingly I enjoyed feeling more engaged with the process. For my portrait and nature work I’m keep shooting my Sony kit as I’m in a different mindset doing that kind of photography. But for street I wanted a different experience and while its only been a very short time with my M10 so far its been the right decision.

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Definitely a major contender for street photography. M10, Summilux 35mm FLE, prefocussed at 3m, probably f/8.

 

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Am 23.3.2023 um 14:19 schrieb frame-it:

i see more and more people shooting at f8+,auto iso, auto WB..may as well use a phone instead

I see nothing wrong with those settings. In situations where you have to be fast you can not shoot wide open plus all manual. Maybe you are that top specialist and I would like to learn how you do your street settings. 

A fast AF system is certainly better suited for street. Of course an M works as well. But AF is much better when you want to use wide open and 50mm or longer. When I say that then I mean that we want to be fast and the person should not see you while you toke the picture.

Edited by M11 for me
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16 minutes ago, M11 for me said:

Maybe you are that top specialist and I would like to learn how you do your street settings. 

hello Mr M11 Specialist,

the context of what i said was: people keeping everything automatic, and not shooting the full manual way...

as @jaapv said >"Manual focus with some training can be faster than AF.  If you have to ask rent an M camera. They are not for everybody, especially not for those who want the camera to do the work for them."

..whatever

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The simple answer to this question is, if you know what you are doing then yes, the M10 (or any rangefinder) might be the fastest street camera in the world.

if you don’t know what you’re doing, then best to stick to auto focus cameras. But your pictures probably aren’t going to be as good because while the camera is thinking what to auto focus on, moments will be passing by.

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vor 18 Minuten schrieb frame-it:

hello Mr M11 Specialist,

the context of what i said was: people keeping everything automatic, and not shooting the full manual way...

as @jaapv said >"Manual focus with some training can be faster than AF.  If you have to ask rent an M camera. They are not for everybody, especially not for those who want the camera to do the work for them."

..whatever

I am not a specialist. No need to call me that. My question was about how you do your settings. The settings you proposed above seem to me not to be to wrong. On the contrary. 

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