Jono: A Leica M EV1 Review

[student]

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On 10/23/2025 at 10:56 PM, jonoslack said:

Hah - did you find lines you could read between . . . . but I won't be selling my M11 in a hurry!

Thank you Jono- that is as good a line as any, obviating the need to read between .... the lines!

Fun review; enjoyed it and might even get one of these EVs eventually, though not until the always reliably present but out of sight "bugs" have been found, discussed and dealt with

[Jean-Michel]

Hi,

With a caveat: I do not have nor even seen an EV1 

When it comes to magnification to assist focussing, with any electronic finder the magnification is simply a digital zoom. There is no optical magnification. With TLRs, SLRs and large format cameras one could get an optical loupe to magnify the image on the ground glass. I pretty much had the loupes on my Mamiyaflex and Hasselblads permanently on, and had a couple of loupes to check focus on view cameras. 

The only EVFs I have are the EVF2 for my M-P(240) and my SL2. With the SL2 and an AF lens, there is no need for any magnification, especially if one uses "single spot" or focussing. With the EVF2, I have the camera set to show a black and white image, the 5 or 10 times magnification is useful in confirming focus for static images; and the full view is of course more accurate than the OVF — great for viewing my Ti-Elmar (WATE) shots.

I imagine that the finder on the EV1 is an excellent digital finder, plus an excellent M11 attached to it! But I were to be purchasing a new M, I would definitely go for a regular M and buy an EVF attachment for occasional use or to view wide angle lenses – much more costly but also more useful for how I happen to photograph.

 

[jonoslack]

4 hours ago, siddhaarta said:

I would consider myself somebody who is very much interested in using EVF with manual focus lenses.  Indeed for me, Leica M is as much about rangefinder as it is about using these wonderful jewels, called M lenses (and I would add, the same holds for Zeiss ZM lenses and Voigtländer VM lenses).

My problem is that when I bought the Leica SL3 to use it with M and ZM and VM lenses, my photographing experience with manual focus lenses deteriorated considerably, compared to previous use with Leica SL and SL2. Why, because magnified live view (which is my preferred way of focusing) shows a sort of mushy image and, depending on the characteristics of the lens and light situation, makes it very hard and not joyful at all to focus exactly (and yes I use 60 FPS and not 120 FPS). With the SL2, I knew exactly where the best focus point was, now it is more or less in focus but never really sharp (obviously only in live view, the ex-post review is fine provided you nailed focus). I don't know what causes this deterioration, obviously it is not the EVF as it is the same in SL2, but probably the larger sensor size and internal handling of data and pixels in magnified live view.  I recently made some comparisons between Leica SL3 and Nikon Z5 (24MP and 3,7 Mio EFV) focusing the same M lenses. With Nikon it was easy and a joy and with the Leica SL3 it was not.

In case of SL3 one can argue that this is not its main use case, but it is with the Leica M EV1. If that mushy magnified live view persists with the Leica M EV1 it is not for me (and I fear it does because it is the more or less same 60 MP sensor and same processor). 

Have you any insights and conclusions to this topic?

 

3 hours ago, Lev55 said:

I have also the same problem with the maginfication that the image which is magnified is mushy with the SL3-s. The SL2-S was perfect

Hi There

I have the SL3, but I don’t often use it with M lenses - what I will do tomorrow is to compare the magnification between that and the EV 1 and report back. I seem to remember way back at the beginning of the beta there was an issue - but that it was quickly sorted and is no longer a problem . .. 

I’ll report back anyway, and then if there is a problem I can recognise I’ll see if I can get anyone to listen!

All the best

Jono

[jonoslack]

6 hours ago, Derbyshire Man said:

Dear Jono, excellent review, writing and example pictures, a real labour of love, thank you very much.

As I said elsewhere I handled one yesterday in Red Dot Cameras and thought it was very nice. My personal use case would never be wide angles, I know what they are going to capture to within 95% in my head anyway, I just place the subject in the frame where I want them (centre edge whatever) and expect to crop if it’s a good image, I’m shooting prints not transparencies!

Where it would have a place for me is vintage lenses, some of which can be pretty quirky, I love my pre-asph summilux 35mm but it’s a very naughty little lens! While I can’t get enough of the soul of it, just a little too often the image is in concept and composition perfect but ruined by focus shift or an unexpected flare in the wrong place. This means it ends up being left at home too often as that isn’t going to happen with the 35mm FLE or 35mm APO. I do have a visoflex 2 but the resolution isn’t high enough and frankly it’s an ugly carbuncle on top of a triumph of industrial design, I bit like putting the McDonald’s arches atop the Parthenon. It also then means the damn thing won’t fit easily in my bag with the other cameras/kit. 
 

I could therefore see an EV1 being very handy for the vintage lenses collection. In the meantime a higher resolution visoflex which works with the M11 can’t come soon enough but I very much doubt they’d do that! It wouldn’t suppress the urge for an EV1 but it would be handy for the M11D etc. 

Hi There 

Nice to hear from you - I hope you had fun with Ivor - I would like to have been there! I had obviously thought of the issues with badly adjusted rangefinders and focus shift, but I hadn’t specifically though of using it with vintage lenses (not one of my vices, although I do have some of the reissue lenses). 

Thanks for the kind words about the article - I guess it is a labour of love, I sometimes wonder why - but comments like yours do make it seem worthwhile. 

All the best

Jono

[Jeremy Bunting]

Having an EV comes in handy in many instances as nearly everyone will concede.  But for me, I just don't understand why I'd reach for an EV M instead of an M11 with a Visoflex attached to the top. This is a much more practical and versatile setup. I have the rangefinder for quick focusing and all the other benefits of an optical viewfinder, and then the EV when I need it (low light, precise framing, narrow DoF, etc.). The Visoflex's ability to turn to angle up also comes in handy quite often--no such luck with the M EV. And if I really want to say F the rangefinder today, I'll grab my SL3 and also have IBIS.

 

Not for me.

[siddhaarta]

vor 1 Stunde schrieb jonoslack:

 

Hi There

I have the SL3, but I don’t often use it with M lenses - what I will do tomorrow is to compare the magnification between that and the EV 1 and report back. I seem to remember way back at the beginning of the beta there was an issue - but that it was quickly sorted and is no longer a problem . .. 

I’ll report back anyway, and then if there is a problem I can recognise I’ll see if I can get anyone to listen!

All the best

Jono

Thanks for your effort. Much appreciated. Just to clarify my problem. When I press the joystick on the SL3 to activate the live view magnification, the second (middle) of three zoom levels appears automatically (would be interesting to know if the M EV1 also has different magnification levels). In this middle setting, the focus already appears blurry / indifferent, and even more so in the third level. One can change the zoom level using the right setting wheel. My workaround is to change to the first level magnification, which magnifies less but makes it easier for me to find the exact focus point. Unfortunately, the system does not remember this setting, so I have to reset it every time again, which makes the process quite tedious. I haven't been able to find out whether it is possible and, if so, how to change this default setting, which would be helpful and a tip for firmware improvement. Also, the same magnification level on the LCD screen is much better to focus than with the EVF (but not practical for me as I need reading glasses). There seem to be different resolution levels applied by the software in 1) EVF live view magnification, 2) rear LCD live view magnification, 3) review mode EVF and 4) review mode rear LCD. 

[jonoslack]

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21 hours ago, siddhaarta said:

Thanks for your effort. Much appreciated. Just to clarify my problem. When I press the joystick on the SL3 to activate the live view magnification, the second (middle) of three zoom levels appears automatically (would be interesting to know if the M EV1 also has different magnification levels). In this middle setting, the focus already appears blurry / indifferent, and even more so in the third level. One can change the zoom level using the right setting wheel. My workaround is to change to the first level magnification, which magnifies less but makes it easier for me to find the exact focus point. Unfortunately, the system does not remember this setting, so I have to reset it every time again, which makes the process quite tedious. I haven't been able to find out whether it is possible and, if so, how to change this default setting, which would be helpful and a tip for firmware improvement. Also, the same magnification level on the LCD screen is much better to focus than with the EVF (but not practical for me as I need reading glasses). There seem to be different resolution levels applied by the software in 1) EVF live view magnification, 2) rear LCD live view magnification, 3) review mode EVF and 4) review mode rear LCD. 

HI There - I've checked

The SL3 Is sort of shimmery - I can see the issue - and the fact that it doesn't remember the magnification is irritating. I will talk about this to the powers that be.

On the M EV1 it is not shimmery (looks good) and it also remembers the zoom setting from shot to shot.

All the best

 

[jaapv]

On my SL2S I have set magnification to the Fn press of the thumbwheel which makes setting and changing the magnification one smooth movement. 

[Carrot]

On 10/25/2025 at 7:39 PM, siddhaarta said:

Thanks for your effort. Much appreciated. Just to clarify my problem. When I press the joystick on the SL3 to activate the live view magnification, the second (middle) of three zoom levels appears automatically (would be interesting to know if the M EV1 also has different magnification levels). In this middle setting, the focus already appears blurry / indifferent, and even more so in the third level. One can change the zoom level using the right setting wheel. My workaround is to change to the first level magnification, which magnifies less but makes it easier for me to find the exact focus point. Unfortunately, the system does not remember this setting, so I have to reset it every time again, which makes the process quite tedious. I haven't been able to find out whether it is possible and, if so, how to change this default setting, which would be helpful and a tip for firmware improvement. Also, the same magnification level on the LCD screen is much better to focus than with the EVF (but not practical for me as I need reading glasses). There seem to be different resolution levels applied by the software in 1) EVF live view magnification, 2) rear LCD live view magnification, 3) review mode EVF and 4) review mode rear LCD. 

I raised this issue of the joystick press always defaulting to Level 2 (of 3) with Leica over a year ago, but heard nothing back.  If, however, you assign magnification to a Fn Button, it does start at the Level at which you last used it, and I suggested to Leica that the joystick press should operate in the same way.

[jmahto]

Excellent review Jono! Always good to read your writing. 
 

I remember long ago folks discussing EVF only M and I was like “I would love to get one”. And now that we have it, I am happy with my old M240 (with external EVF) and even older film M2!! 

If it had been available when I bought M240 then I would have gone for it. I hope it attracts new customers to Leica world.  
 

Like a gateway drug! 😃

 

[jmahto]

On 10/24/2025 at 2:40 AM, jonoslack said:

Because that would exclude all those young people who fancy an M but don't want a rangefinder . . . . added to which it is clearly part of the M series - it has an M body, an M mount, the M11 processor. etc. 

THIS is exactly the appeal to my younger self 10 years ago! 

[tonybill]

On 10/25/2025 at 10:47 AM, Derbyshire Man said:

Dear Jono, excellent review, writing and example pictures, a real labour of love, thank you very much.

As I said elsewhere I handled one yesterday in Red Dot Cameras and thought it was very nice. My personal use case would never be wide angles, I know what they are going to capture to within 95% in my head anyway, I just place the subject in the frame where I want them (centre edge whatever) and expect to crop if it’s a good image, I’m shooting prints not transparencies!

Where it would have a place for me is vintage lenses, some of which can be pretty quirky, I love my pre-asph summilux 35mm but it’s a very naughty little lens! While I can’t get enough of the soul of it, just a little too often the image is in concept and composition perfect but ruined by focus shift or an unexpected flare in the wrong place. This means it ends up being left at home too often as that isn’t going to happen with the 35mm FLE or 35mm APO. I do have a visoflex 2 but the resolution isn’t high enough and frankly it’s an ugly carbuncle on top of a triumph of industrial design, I bit like putting the McDonald’s arches atop the Parthenon. It also then means the damn thing won’t fit easily in my bag with the other cameras/kit. 
 

I could therefore see an EV1 being very handy for the vintage lenses collection. In the meantime a higher resolution visoflex which works with the M11 can’t come soon enough but I very much doubt they’d do that! It wouldn’t suppress the urge for an EV1 but it would be handy for the M11D etc. 

I agree completely with all the points you make, and more eloquently than I could have done. These are exactly the reasons I have just ordered an M EV1.

[Derbyshire Man]

2 hours ago, tonybill said:

I agree completely with all the points you make, and more eloquently than I could have done. These are exactly the reasons I have just ordered an M EV1.

I’d be really interested to hear how you get on! Having just bought a summicron 35mm apo I’m currently ‘recovering’.

[tonybill]

15 hours ago, Derbyshire Man said:

I’d be really interested to hear how you get on! Having just bought a summicron 35mm apo I’m currently ‘recovering’.

It arrived this morning. Full marks to Park Cameras as I only ordered it yesterday afternoon. I’m liking it already but I’ll report back when it’s had a proper trial.

[LarryLeica]

On 10/25/2025 at 12:42 PM, Jeremy Bunting said:

Having an EV comes in handy in many instances as nearly everyone will concede.  But for me, I just don't understand why I'd reach for an EV M instead of an M11 with a Visoflex attached to the top. This is a much more practical and versatile setup. I have the rangefinder for quick focusing and all the other benefits of an optical viewfinder, and then the EV when I need it (low light, precise framing, narrow DoF, etc.). The Visoflex's ability to turn to angle up also comes in handy quite often--no such luck with the M EV. And if I really want to say F the rangefinder today, I'll grab my SL3 and also have IBIS.

 

Not for me.

That's fine. I don't expect the EV1 to appeal to everyone.

I think that for those of us who sold all of our Leica gear because of vision problems, like me, we would appreciate the higher resolution of the viewfinder in the EV1. 

Is there a reason why I should go back to frustrating myself with the optical viewfinder?

I loved black and white film photography with my M6 and M7, so, I am also considering a purchase of the M11 Monochrom and Visoflex 2. Of course, I would really like a Visoflex 3 with a resolution of 5.7m. Will we get one? 

[LarryLeica]

59 minutes ago, tonybill said:

It arrived this morning. Full marks to Park Cameras as I only ordered it yesterday afternoon. I’m liking it already but I’ll report back when it’s had a proper trial.

I'm looking forward to your experience report.

[charlesphoto99]

1 hour ago, LarryLeica said:

Of course, I would really like a Visoflex 3 with a resolution of 5.7m. Will we get one? 

Wait for the M12. Leica will need some extra gizmos to sell, and I would expect one to be an updated Visoflex. 

[LarryLeica]

2 hours ago, charlesphoto99 said:

Wait for the M12. Leica will need some extra gizmos to sell, and I would expect one to be an updated Visoflex. 

I hear you but I'm not going to live forever, lol. It doesn't seem like the M12 will arrive until 2027. That's a long time to wait. 

I am confused by this link saying that the M12 will be like the M10. What does that mean? I dropped out after owning the M9 so I don't know much. 

https://www.overgaard.dk/Leica-M12-digital-rangefinder-camera-Thorsten-Overgaard-review.html

I suppose I could always sell the VisoFlex 2 and upgrade to a VisoFlex 3 to use with an M11 Monochrom. 

I am still interested in getting the EV1. I don't see a reason to get a camera with the optical viewfinder because that caused me to sell my Leica gear in the first place. 
Am I missing something?  

[Stef63]

3 hours ago, LarryLeica said:

I am confused by this link saying that the M12 will be like the M10. What does that mean?

The only reason for this page about the M12 is that search engines would pick it up and direct traffic to his site. He has no clue about the M12… just like the rest of us. 

[Advertisement]

Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[tonybill]

On 10/30/2025 at 11:04 PM, Derbyshire Man said:

I’d be really interested to hear how you get on! Having just bought a summicron 35mm apo I’m currently ‘recovering’.

Some preliminary thoughts on the M EV1 having had a couple of outings with it.

I am used to using a rangefinder on the M11, with previous experience with the M9 and M10R, and mostly have no great problem focusing with it, but as an ageing spectacles wearer I sometimes struggle with viewing the framelines for composition. For that reason I normally use the Visoflex 2 on the M11 – typically I focus with the RF and compose with the VF.

However, I don’t like having a big ugly lump on top of such a beautiful camera, it doesn’t fit so easily in my bag, and sometimes it doesn’t reliably switch over from the screen to the VF. It can also feel a bit “clunky” to be switching between the two.

Using the EVF on the M EV1 works quite well for me but I do understand those who say it’s not as quick as the RF. With the RF you just turn the lens until the two images align, and there is no ambiguity. With focus peaking you can’t be sure if you have reached “peak peaking” until you are past it, so there is a degree of iteration, making it slower. Most of my photography is static subjects, landscapes, architecture etc, so I can take my time and it’s not a problem. I am also used to FP on Fuji, Sony etc. Nevertheless, some form of focus confirmation would be welcome in future. Sometimes I find it easier to turn the FP off. I’ve yet to try changing the FP sensitivity.

I always use the automatic magnification so it zooms in when I start focusing the lens. That works well enough.

Focusing on “messy” subjects like foliage at medium range is also easier than with the RF. 

I also like to use some older or “character” lenses and it’s good to see through the lens when focusing, particularly when there is focus shift as with my favourite Zeiss C-Sonnar 50/1.5.

I’m not sure I see any massive improvement over the VF2 viewfinder image, but both work fine for me.

Ideally it would be great to have some sort of hybrid RF/EVF in future models, but I’m not sure how feasible that would be in the available space envelope of the M bodies.

To those who say why not just use an SL with an adapter for M lenses, it’s a lot heavier and generally not as desirable as an M (for me at least).

Anyway I have now sold the VF2 and the M11 is on the market.

If I want the RF experience I still have my M9!