Elmar: Leica M EV1 – Next Level M?

[IkarusJohn]

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1 hour ago, SrMi said:

I think it can be argued whether M11 has added "pointless" improvements, as I see all improvements as valuable. I know some disagree, and some agree with me. My impression is that most agree, as the M11 models seem to sell well.

Would it have sold better if it had held to the M paradigm of doing less better?  Drifting towards its competitors dilutes the unique selling point of the M system.  We all speak for ourselves, and Leica will analyse the only reliable data in a way which confirms its decisions.  We all do that.

Leaving aside wild speculation about the success of the Q camera, the M system, particularly the M9 (according to Dr Kaufmann), saved Leica.  If you look back at Leica’s history, it is the cameras that have been grounded in the paradigm of less is more - the M3 used available technologies and perfected them for Leica’s own lenses; the M4-P and more critically the M6 reverted to the basics done well - no fancy-pants overload of information in the viewfinder or anything else which Canon and Nikon offered at the time, just manual lenses, direct aperture and shutter control and the most minimal metering information.

The M10 returned to the basics after the M(240).

Now, you like your M11, I get that.  But the core enhancements of that camera over the M10 equivalent had nothing to do what either the essentials or “nothing more than what the photographer needs”.  I know we’re going to disagree on this, and I’m comfortable with that.  But, let me ask you this - if the M11 had a 40MP sensor with better dynamic range, a faster processor better battery life and an improved viewfinder, would you have bought it, and would you also be saying it sold well?

It’s rhetorical.

[Pixeleater]

On 10/25/2025 at 2:30 AM, rfunnell said:

Nice analysis and wonderful images thanks Elmar .

Being born in 1954 and eyes not quite what they were I'm going to give it a try.  

I love the idea of not having to clean the viewfinder window as well.

 

Same.

[scott kirkpatrick]

On 10/26/2025 at 3:00 AM, elmars said:

 

The M11 with Visoflex is not an option for me. The camera becomes heavy and awkward, and my nose is always in the viewfinder eyepiece. Otherwise, I really like the M11 and the rangefinder; but that's highly subjective, everyone has different preferences. The M EV1 is slower than the M11 when it comes to focusing.....

I'm quite happy with the Visoflex, which I use in sequence with the rangefinder on my M11s with wide angle lenses.  RF for accurate focusing, then EVF for multiple shots as long as the basic environment has not changed.  The EV1 gives up the extra precision of the rangefinder to simplify things by moving the EVF inside the camera body, so really the choice is a question of whether it is inconvenient or feels clumsy to put a Visoflex on top of an M camera.  I settled that some years back by buying a second Visoflex, since I often travel with two cameras and only two lenses.

Edited October 30 by scott kirkpatrick

[scott kirkpatrick]

On 10/23/2025 at 5:24 PM, elmars said:

I think it's a kind of market research for Leica. The investment in the EV1 was probably limited. If the market accepts it, Leica will invest more and there will be innovations. At least, that's what I hope.

I agree that this may be the first of several steps to evolve the viewfinder in M-series cameras.  I hadn't realized that the EVF resolution was so much greater than the resolution of my VF2s, even though I have had the opportunity (very briefly) to try an EV1.  That could make a big difference.  Without that improvement in the EVF, I am reluctant to give up the (optical, thus unlimited resolution) rangefinder window.

[BernardC]

On 10/23/2025 at 9:04 AM, elmars said:

Sometimes, a slight flickering effect helps, similar to the microprisms on old ground glass screens. However, this flickering is not a built-in focusing aid but a physical phenomenon I can't explain. Since it doesn't appear with every subject and is hard to identify, it's unreliable as an aid.

It's a phenomenon similar to moire, or aliasing. You see some flickering because fine details are resolved at the same frequency as the EVF matrix (not the sensor matrix). These details seem to flicker as they move by tiny amounts with each EVF refresh. 

The reason you don't see this consistently is the same reason why moire is inconsistent. It only happens when the subject has a repeating pattern that matches the EVF resolution.

The effect disappears if you move forward or back a bit (changing the magnification), and it's only indicative of focus at the EVF's resolution of 5.7MP, not the sensor's full 60MP resolution, but is is a useful way to that the image is in focus when you see it. 

[elmars]

Thank You for this explanation!

[jdlaing]

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Next level M? No. A sideline maybe.

[algrove]

Elmars

Thanks for your wonderful article.

As one who uses the M11+Viso2 almost always I find the electronic stabilization the Viso2 uses helps me. Did you get confirmation that the EV1 uses the same technology to help with stabilization?

[elmars]

Thank You!

The EVF of the EV1 is stabilised - I guess in the same way like the Visoflex 2. 

[algrove]

5 hours ago, elmars said:

Thank You!

The EVF of the EV1 is stabilised - I guess in the same way like the Visoflex 2. 

Thanks for your reply. That is good news.

No one  seems to mention it anywhere.

Edited November 5 by algrove

[SrMi]

1 hour ago, algrove said:

Thanks for your reply. That is good news.

No one  seems to mention it anywhere.

I kept mentioning it repeatedly and B&H lists it as well. Any M-EV1 owner can see it when magnifying. 

Since it is done in the body, not in the Visoflex, it is logical that the camera using essentially the same software also offers it.

[algrove]

1 hour ago, SrMi said:

I kept mentioning it repeatedly and B&H lists it as well. Any M-EV1 owner can see it when magnifying. 

Since it is done in the body, not in the Visoflex, it is logical that the camera using essentially the same software also offers it.

Thanks again.

Yes, but I have been wanting to hear it from official sites. Keep in mind B&H sell the EV1 yet although I see they added the EV1 to their "soon for sale items" and I also see their comments about electronic stabilization of the EV1, EVF. Yeah!

 

Edited November 5 by algrove

[CaliforniTexican]

On 10/23/2025 at 6:04 AM, elmars said:

The Leica M EV1 is something new; it is different from previous M cameras. But is it something entirely different? The name M EV1 might suggest that. EV is likely to stand for the electronic viewfinder it features, and the number 1 probably indicates that it is the first of its kind, with more to follow.

But despite the different name and the electronic viewfinder (EVF), is the Leica M EV1 still a true M? It feels like an M, it looks like an M, and it operates (almost) like an M. So, it must be an M, right? The answer isn’t that simple. Opinions will differ on the absence of the rangefinder. In the following, I will try to explain why the M EV1 might even herald the future of the M. This is a bold thesis, which should not obscure the fact that I have a rather ambivalent attitude towards an M with EVF in general and the M EV1 in particular.

  . . 

 

Thank you, Elmars, for an outstanding evaluation! Your post is thorough, analytical, and thoughtful. I appreciate the fact you examined the Leica EV1 on its merits.

In many EV1 reviews to date, I simply cannot separate the wheat from the chaff. The objective good and bad of the camera seem to get lost amongst all the emotion, Leica and M history, and authors’ preconceived notions about what comprises an "M camera.”

My perspective is different. (I apologize to M fans for any comments deemed heretical in this post — my personal thoughts about this issue come from >50 years of photography as a serious amateur and sometime professional.)

I believe the M EV concept offers Leica a huge opportunity. I believe it presents an opportunity for Leica to get closer than anyone ever has done to making the perfect camera. In other words, rather than looking backwards at Leica M history and searching for how an M EV might fall short, I am looking forwards to what the M EV concept might become.

I take this approach because I believe the M system offers photographers huge benefits. Particularly the M camera's size, shape, weight, simplicity, build, and access to M glass. The opportunity for Leica is to incorporate those wonderful benefits into a camera while leaving behind, IMHO, the one outdated, unduly limiting technology that holds it back:  the RF.

I used RF cameras in the  early’70s. I understand the simplicity of viewing the scene straight through the camera, of seeing what is going on outside the frame lines, of focusing by matching the two images. But when I bought my first camera (from B&H in 1975), I chose an SLR, which in the ‘60s-‘70s was replacing RF technology amongst professionals and amateurs alike. And it was orders-of-magnitude better than RF in so many ways!

An SLR enabled one to see a better, clearer viewfinder presentation, to look through the lens at exactly what it would capture. Same scope (at least 90+%) and same perspective as the resulting image.

The SLR allowed one to change lenses freely (subject only to mount) and it automatically adjusted to whatever lens was mounted. No multiple frame lines. No lacking frame lines. No guessing what would be included in or excluded from the image. No limit on the width of wide lenses or the narrowness of tele lenses. No calibration. No limitation to lenses of predetermined focal lengths that matched predetermined RF frame lines.

When I mounted a long lens on my SLR, the viewfinder automatically became longer as well. So I could see to focus at distance without buying and mounting some sort of viewfinder magnification. Or a separate, external viewfinder for each specific lens. Or “goggles.” The SLR even permitted zoom lenses, and of course the viewfinder zoomed with them.

An SLR split-image screen provided focus confirmation analogous to an RF’s matched images. But the rest of the screen added a second, different focus method, all in one viewfinder.

Thus, the RF always held me back from buying an M. I never could wrap my mind around paying Leica prices to go backwards, to buy a camera with such viewfinder/focusing limitations, or to amass all the accoutrements Leica created over the years to wire around those limitations.

EVs now offer the same viewfinder/focusing benefits I enjoyed in my SLRs. And now that one can use a converter to mount virtually any make or model of lens, it has become even more important not to limit oneself to lenses calibrated and matched to an RF.

So leave the RF behind, add an EV to all the other benefits of an M camera, and I am there. All day, every day. Along with many other photographers.

Unfortunately, I do not yet know whether Leica has made the most of its opportunity in the M EV1. I suspect maybe not, at least not in this first iteration.

On the one hand, I disagree an EV viewfinder is too difficult to focus manually. Too many people manually focus Q and SL cameras, much less mirrorless camera from other brands, to lend that argument credence. In fact, even M owners focus with an EV — in the form of a Visoflex — when they find the built-in RF insufficient for the specific lens or other circumstances.

On the other hand, I certainly would appreciate better EV manual focusing aids than can be found on a Q, SL, or, apparently, the EV 1. An EV equivalent of an SLR split image screen, for example, might be ideal. Or more precise, consistent, and reliable focus peaking. Or some other form of focus assist we have yet to see.

Thus, I really hope Leica brings to the EV space the same creativity with which it develops its lenses. Whether the EV 1 or some subsequent iteration, I now believe I will become an M owner soon.

If Leica can nail the EV technology, I predict the M EV will become the best camera ever.

Edited November 16 by CaliforniTexican
Addition

[elmars]

vor einer Stunde schrieb CaliforniTexican:

Thank you, Elmars, for an outstanding evaluation! Your post is thorough, analytical, and thoughtful. I appreciate the fact you examined the Leica EV1 on its merits.

Thank You very much!

vor einer Stunde schrieb CaliforniTexican:

An SLR enabled one to see a better, clearer viewfinder presentation, to look through the lens at exactly what it would capture. Same scope (at least 90+%) and same perspective as the resulting image.

The SLR allowed one to change lenses freely (subject only to mount) and it automatically adjusted to whatever lens was mounted. No multiple frame lines. No lacking frame lines. No guessing what would be included in or excluded from the image. No limit on the width of wide lenses or the narrowness of tele lenses. No calibration. No limitation to lenses of predetermined focal lengths that matched predetermined RF frame lines.

I understand that. In my review, I also emphasised that, in the long term, the viewfinder technology that enables better visualisation of the final image will prevail.

Nevertheless, the rangefinder has its merits and many fans. You just happen not to be one of them.

vor einer Stunde schrieb CaliforniTexican:

On the one hand, I disagree an EV viewfinder is too difficult to focus manually.

I agree. I never claimed the opposite.

vor einer Stunde schrieb CaliforniTexican:

Unfortunately, I do not yet know whether Leica has made the most of its opportunity in the M EV1.

That was precisely my point. There could and should be a better focusing aid, at least in the EV2, which would raise the whole thing to a level comparable to that of a rangefinder.

[algrove]

On 10/23/2025 at 5:20 PM, elmars said:

It's more my neck that has suffered. Thank you for your sympathy.

Wonderful images!

Strangely, it would be the M11+Viso2 over the EV1 which is the perfect setup for ceiling photos due to the Viso2 being able to to open up for 90 degree use, thus saving the neck.

And you would not smear the LCD since you would be far away from it with the Viso2 opened at 90 degrees.

Edited Tuesday at 02:08 PM by algrove

[S Maclean]

I love the concept of the ev1, but it should just be that, a D lux is a D, a Q is a Q and S is and S, an SL is an SL and an M is an M.

the EV1 does not have the best EV cameras bring to the table. No autofocus, no IBIS, nor the best M experience ( rangefinder) 

it just does not land anywhere for me.  If it had IBIS, and had a better fast focus system it would. But as it is. No.

[elmars]

vor 16 Stunden schrieb algrove:

Wonderful images!

Thank You! Ultimately, it's all about photos. That's why I'm particularly pleased about the compliment.

vor 16 Stunden schrieb algrove:

Strangely, it would be the M11+Viso2 over the EV1 which is the perfect setup for ceiling photos due to the Viso2 being able to to open up for 90 degree use, thus saving the neck.

And you would not smear the LCD since you would be far away from it with the Viso2 opened at 90 degrees.

Absolutely right. But I had to test the M EV1; my neck was the victim. But he survived quite well.

[bcaslis]

13 hours ago, S Maclean said:

I love the concept of the ev1, but it should just be that, a D lux is a D, a Q is a Q and S is and S, an SL is an SL and an M is an M.

the EV1 does not have the best EV cameras bring to the table. No autofocus, no IBIS, nor the best M experience ( rangefinder) 

it just does not land anywhere for me.  If it had IBIS, and had a better fast focus system it would. But as it is. No.

Sorry I just don't understand comments like this. It's like the M EV1 has to be the best camera ever made to be worthwhile. It is exactly what it says it is an M11 with an EVF. Expecting IBIS for this version is not realistic. It's not the best specification EVF but it's really nice. I've tried a lot of EVFs in different cameras and the one with the best specs often don't work that well. For example every Canon EVF I have used shows clear distortion when viewed either barrel or pincushion depending on where your eye is looking. The EVF in the M EV1 is clear, flat image with enough resolution to focus accurately. Sometimes I use magnification to 100% sure but often I'm finding I can get accurate focusing without needing to do this. Have you tried one before passing judgement?

[mboerma]

16 hours ago, S Maclean said:

I love the concept of the ev1, but it should just be that, a D lux is a D, a Q is a Q and S is and S, an SL is an SL and an M is an M.

the EV1 does not have the best EV cameras bring to the table. No autofocus, no IBIS, nor the best M experience ( rangefinder) 

it just does not land anywhere for me.  If it had IBIS, and had a better fast focus system it would. But as it is. No.

Have you tried it?

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[charlesphoto99]

4 hours ago, bcaslis said:

It's like the M EV1 has to be the best camera ever made to be worthwhile. 

For $9k and lenses that start at $3k, yes, perhaps it should, at least for the basics. No it's not going to be a Z9 (nothing is), but it needs to be cutting edge for what it does when it's entirely based on technology at that price point. The one thing about the optical viewfinder is it will never be outdated. Never.