The prodigal enthusiast returns...to Leica

[JackieMac]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Back in 2012, I had a total blast with the Fujifilm X100, and I've been on a quest to find that same joy ever since. I messed around with a bunch of Leicas over the years, trying to find "the one." I had fun with the Q2 for a bit, and the SL2 was cool but the AF was awful compared to Canon, et al..

But then I found the Leica M11. It was amazing – and I took some of my best photos ever with it. Sadly, I had to sell it last year to fund another creative endeavor, and I was back to using my Canon R5, which is a brilliant camera, but without any of the inherent joy from using a Leica.

A few weeks ago, I took my R5 to a family wedding, and the whole time, I was missing my M11. It was like a lightbulb moment, realizing how much I loved that camera. Kind of like in those a rom-com when you realize you're meant to be with someone. [groan]

So, I decided to sell my Canon gear and return to Leica. I recently picked up an M11-P and am looking forward to it being the Leica I stick with for the foreseeable future. It took a while, but sometimes I don't realize a good thing when I have it.

Has anyone else had a similar relationship with Leica, in which you left but came back?

[Smogg]

10 minutes ago, JackieMac said:

Back in 2012, I had a total blast with the Fujifilm X100, and I've been on a quest to find that same joy ever since. I messed around with a bunch of Leicas over the years, trying to find "the one." I had fun with the Q2 for a bit, and the SL2 was cool but the AF was awful compared to Canon, et al..

But then I found the Leica M11. It was amazing – and I took some of my best photos ever with it. Sadly, I had to sell it last year to fund another creative endeavor, and I was back to using my Canon R5, which is a brilliant camera, but without any of the inherent joy from using a Leica.

A few weeks ago, I took my R5 to a family wedding, and the whole time, I was missing my M11. It was like a lightbulb moment, realizing how much I loved that camera. Kind of like in those a rom-com when you realize you're meant to be with someone. [groan]

So, I decided to sell my Canon gear and return to Leica. I recently picked up an M11-P and am looking forward to it being the Leica I stick with for the foreseeable future. It took a while, but sometimes I don't realize a good thing when I have it.

Has anyone else had a similar relationship with Leica, in which you left but came back?

Think of the camera as a woman, then you will be better able to explain your actions to yourself😂

[JackieMac]

2 hours ago, Smogg said:

Think of the camera as a woman, then you will be better able to explain your actions to yourself😂

100% what I was thinking as I typed! I was trying to avoid being to ham-fisted about the similarities! 🤣

Edited July 17, 2024 by JackieMac
re-wording

[brickftl]

no, my path was different. I went from Sony to Leica in February and never looked back. Started with a M10 and some great lenses, then 2 weeks ago bought a mint used M11-P. Absolutely love it.

[nameBrandon]

I have never ending GAS, so most certainly have left and come back many times.. I have bought and sold an M9, M-E, M240, M246, M10 (twice), M10-P, M11, Q, Q2 (twice), Q3 (twice)..  Have done similar with the Hasselblad X system, though nothing currently. I still have my Fuji GFX system, and keep my Canon gear (R3/R6ii) around for kids sports.

Anyway, anxiously awaiting my M11-P delivery tomorrow. Have rented the 35 Summilux FLE II to decide if I want to go with the newest or if the FLE v1 that I had previously will suffice.

 

[BWColor]

I started out with a Yashica 35mm, Yashica-Mat 124G and built  a darkroom at the age of 13.  Then it was Nikons and Kowa Super 66.  Then went small with Olympus XA .. a great little camera at a low price and the upgrade to Contax T2, which is till in pristine condition as well as the Contax G2 system.  I then started buying Leica, beginning with a pair of M3.  I picked up a Contax Aria and a pair of RTS.  Next came an RTSIII, which I sent to Japan for a top to bottom reconditioning.  That camera is one of the finest film cameras ever made.  The vacuum assist film holder resulted in some of the best, highest resolution film images I’ve ever made.  I’ll include a high ISO image below taken with Neopan 1600 and Zeiss 50mm f/1.4.  Then kids sports and picked up a Canon 1DMkiii and lots of lenses.  I moved to Sony’s NEX7 and many bodies later A7Rv…and some great lenses.  Prior to purchase, I shot a single roll of Portra 160 on my M6TTL.  This was my first film since 2009.  Three weeks and $50+ later I had some great scans, but sending out film was not for me, so a few months ago I sold all Sony and Canon gear to fund an M11 Monochrom, a few lenses and a Hasselblad X2D/38mm and headed of to Korea, where I now sit, on a very rainy day, in a coffee shop with a great view of Lotto Tower.  The Monochrom is a flat out amazing camera.  The only downside is that I put it away during heavy rains.  I’ll add one image below.  The Hasselblad is also great.  I’ll be hanging some overly saturated prints in the house..one below.

 

Looks like I reached my upload limit for this post.  RTSiii image..next post.  Model was my youngest daughter.  The Korean trip is a high school / college graduation gift for youngest/oldest daughters.

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!

Edited July 18, 2024 by BWColor
Correction of auto correct

[BWColor]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

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!

[Stevejack]

Similar experience, but I'm lucky to be able to keep a couple of cameras for different situations. If I had to choose only one, I would stick with my Sony because it can do things the Leica can't. 

The majority of my personal work these days (kids etc) are taken with the Leica. When the kids were young I started shooting birds in flight on Sony mirrorless, but I also loved the tracking + AF because the kids could run around flat out and I would nail focus every single time, in any lighting condition. With basically unlimited ISO and eye-AF I could freeze the action at a shallow DOF and nail focus on the eye all day long. 

But I didn't love that 'look'.   I stared to realise that my brain was rejecting those images because they didn't look like how a photograph 'should' look in my mind.  If a subject is running towards the camera, why would it be 100% in focus? If the light is dim, why would the image be shot at a high shutter speed? My brain was used to seeing motion blur, and subjects slightly out of focus, and long shutter speeds in low light... 100+ years of photographic history has primed my brain for that.  And what I was producing was too 'hyper real' for my tastes. So that changed my view completely and rather than relying on the latest tech to push the limits of what can be captured in a photograph, I focused much more on enjoying the tactile experience of using a manual Leica along with enjoying the imperfections that came along with it.

Yes I can get the same result shooting on manual focus with my Sony, but the experience of using the cameras is very different. One feels like using a computer, the other feels like a machine. It's a big difference, pretty much the same as riding an old motorbike versus driving a brand new automatic sedan. 

 

[Almizilero]

Not quite the same, but similar. I was a Minolta and then Sony user for decades and then the Q drew me down the Leica hole. I now massively enjoy using the SL2-S and the M. Something I never felt when using any Sony Alpha, which were just tools. Incredibly capable tools, but still just tool. And now I sometimes find myself working on a job with the SL2-S and thinking “What am I doing, this could be much easier if I had an Alpha again!” But then I remember how the Alpha did all the work with its crazy AF system and a million pics per second. Where's the fun in that? Also, once I review the pictures, I also remember how much work it was to get the Alpha pics to my liking and how good the SL2-S pics look straight from camera.

So yeah, I sometimes look back (grass always greener on the other side and all that) but never for long.

And I think this is something many (tech oriented) people will never understand. For all the stupid comments I get on spending a ton of money on an inferior camera when a Canon/Nikon/Sony gets you so much more technical advances (mostly from people whose equipment is way more expensive than mine), I can look them dead in the eye and say “Yeah, but do you ever see your camera sitting on the shelf and think, wow, what a beauty, I need to go out and take photos with it RIGHT NOW!”

They may always be a generation or two behind regarding the technical stuff, but Leica knows how to make cameras that make you want to use them! And that's something money can't buy. Or ... in this case ... it can.

 

[brickftl]

17 hours ago, nameBrandon said:

I have never ending GAS, so most certainly have left and come back many times.. I have bought and sold an M9, M-E, M240, M246, M10 (twice), M10-P, M11, Q, Q2 (twice), Q3 (twice)..  Have done similar with the Hasselblad X system, though nothing currently. I still have my Fuji GFX system, and keep my Canon gear (R3/R6ii) around for kids sports.

Anyway, anxiously awaiting my M11-P delivery tomorrow. Have rented the 35 Summilux FLE II to decide if I want to go with the newest or if the FLE v1 that I had previously will suffice.

 

can I recommend the 35/1.4 summilux steel rim reissue. Wide open it creates a glow that I'm obsesses with, then stop down past f2 and it becomes tack sharp. Only disadvantage is min focus distance is 1 m. Happy to provide wide open samples on request.

[ldhrads]

I learned on a Kodak Retina iiic, so from early on I've been very comfortable with rangefinder shooting. I didn't get on the Leica bus until about 15 years ago, and I've been hooked hard. Have gone through two M6's two M7's, M8.2, M9, M9-P, M10-P, Monchrom, M10-M, SL and now I've kept the M10-P but moved on to the M11-P which is an amazing camera, absolutely the best so far. I haven't really left since I started with Leica, but for me it was a long road getting there. I've now gone back and repurchased an Olympus XA (2 of them) and I shoot these as well as some Minox. 

[jdlaing]

Been with Leica since mid 1968. Never really left but shot other makers and still do.

[lct]

No return since i never quit Leica for 40+ years but i always used other makers for my job too. Canon, Nikon and lastly Sony plus other brands like Sigma for fun.

[dpitt]

No return, but after shooting Nikon for 30 years, I bought my first Leica in a quest for smaller and lighter bodies with equal or better results. That was a used Leica Digilux 2 (5MP fixed lens) almost 20 years ago. From that moment on, the Leica M8 was on my radar as the top in compactness and IQ combined. 

When I bought my first Leica M (Leica M2) it felt like coming home... Not only the IQ that I expected to find but so much more... I never had so much joy shooting any SLR and I am now addicted to the IQ and character that I get from my set of Leica M lenses, and most of all the shooting experience of the Leica M. It covers 90% of what I like to shoot and is so unique in its handling that I probably never want to go back to SLR again.

I love macro and long tele from time to time, so I will always need an other system camera for that. My journey started with a used Canon 5D to use with my Leica R lenses. Nikon was not an option because you cannot use R lenses with a simple adapter like you can with Canon. Over the years I tried quite a few FF and cropped systems from other brands, but I never found an equal 'brother' for my Leica M of that time. I tried system camera's from Canon, Nikon, Fujifilm, Lumix ...
Then I found a Leica R8+DMR and now recently a Leica SL and TL2  that are also used almost exclusively with M and R lenses through an adapter... I suppose this is going to be my second home for the years to come. 

[nameBrandon]

On 7/18/2024 at 12:28 PM, brickftl said:

can I recommend the 35/1.4 summilux steel rim reissue. Wide open it creates a glow that I'm obsesses with, then stop down past f2 and it becomes tack sharp. Only disadvantage is min focus distance is 1 m. Happy to provide wide open samples on request.

Would love to see some samples! II have seen some on other forums, and wasn't inherently interested, as I did own a Titanium pre-asph 35 lux for a while. I enjoyed it, but started to sour on it after 6-7 months of having my wife ask why all the photos of our daughter were "blurry".. She was not a fan of my explanation about the Mandler design ethos and asking her to refer to them as 'painterly' and not 'blurry'....  I think it may be worth a rental though just to double check before ignoring it completely..

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!

[Knorp]

A lens wide open may be soft, you can appreciate that (or not), but this 'glowing' is definitely not to my taste.

I had the black Steelring 1.4/35mm and it was fine when stopped down by quite a bit.

[brickftl]

1 hour ago, nameBrandon said:

Would love to see some samples! II have seen some on other forums, and wasn't inherently interested, as I did own a Titanium pre-asph 35 lux for a while. I enjoyed it, but started to sour on it after 6-7 months of having my wife ask why all the photos of our daughter were "blurry".. She was not a fan of my explanation about the Mandler design ethos and asking her to refer to them as 'painterly' and not 'blurry'....  I think it may be worth a rental though just to double check before ignoring it completely..

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!

here are a few

[JackieMac]

On 7/18/2024 at 1:28 PM, brickftl said:

can I recommend the 35/1.4 summilux steel rim reissue. Wide open it creates a glow that I'm obsesses with, then stop down past f2 and it becomes tack sharp. Only disadvantage is min focus distance is 1 m. Happy to provide wide open samples on request.

I'd love to see some samples

just noticed that there were some!

Edited July 20, 2024 by JackieMac
didn't see subsequent post

[Derbyshire Man]

I love my 1977 pre-asph wide open but only for monochrome. Modern summilux FLE at 1.4 for colour. 

[Advertisement]

Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear