Shooting experience of the M EV1 vs SL3 with M Lenses

[FlashGordonPhotography]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I am finding blue to be the best, for me, on the EV1. I also have it set to low. In90% of my shooting this seems to work fine and I don’t need magnification often at all.

Gordon

[Einst_Stein]

No one found sensor shift in SL makes better image?

[FlashGordonPhotography]

No more than any other M camera.

Gordon

[Hanno]

On 10/31/2025 at 9:28 PM, IkarusJohn said:

And the nice thing is, with exposure simulation on, metering and the unnecessary plethora of modes becomes redundant.

Metering modes are relevant only for those working in automatic or semi-automatic. 

On that note of using the EV1 fully manually (metering in addition to focusing), I wish I could assign ISO when turning the back wheel, so that by turning the back wheel ISO can increase/decrease. At the moment I have to click on the back wheel and then adjust. One unnecessary step for manual metering. 

Hopefully, a future FMW can address this.

[Elliot Harper]

2 hours ago, Hanno said:

Metering modes are relevant only for those working in automatic or semi-automatic. 

On that note of using the EV1 fully manually (metering in addition to focusing), I wish I could assign ISO when turning the back wheel, so that by turning the back wheel ISO can increase/decrease. At the moment I have to click on the back wheel and then adjust. One unnecessary step for manual metering. 

Hopefully, a future FMW can address this.

You need a real M not that fake M. In real M, we have a dedicated ISO button 🫠

[FlashGordonPhotography]

7 hours ago, Hanno said:

Metering modes are relevant only for those working in automatic or semi-automatic. 

On that note of using the EV1 fully manually (metering in addition to focusing), I wish I could assign ISO when turning the back wheel, so that by turning the back wheel ISO can increase/decrease. At the moment I have to click on the back wheel and then adjust. One unnecessary step for manual metering. 

Hopefully, a future FMW can address this.

This was a completely natural to me as I have my SL cameras and my Hasselblads set up for rear button push for ISO. I basically don’t think about it. But it should be available as a dial function for those that want it. Setting ISO via the M11 dial is far far slower. I don’t mid that either though I don’t use the M that way much (fast shooter) like I used to.

Also I am using manual with auto ISO quite a bit now and having EV comp on the wheel is my preference.

Gordon

Edited November 2 by FlashGordonPhotography

[algrove]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

On 11/1/2025 at 4:57 PM, FlashGordonPhotography said:

I am finding blue to be the best, for me, on the EV1. I also have it set to low. In90% of my shooting this seems to work fine and I don’t need magnification often at all.

Gordon

Do you have your live view in color of B&W? Wish Leica had cyan like the X2Dii.

[Kiwimac]

If I needed a body today that had an EVF (and ignoring the fact that the EV1 isn’t in shops here yet) I’d buy one of the SLs. 
 

A couple of generations along in the EV1’s development then that might be different. 

[jaapv]

17 hours ago, algrove said:

Do you have your live view in color of B&W? Wish Leica had cyan like the X2Dii.

WalterLeica has a blue screw-in eyepiece for M cameras which works quite well. (gold and Coral too) - highly recommended. 

https://walterleica.com/walter-contrast-lenses/

[tonybill]

On 11/1/2025 at 8:57 PM, FlashGordonPhotography said:

I am finding blue to be the best, for me, on the EV1. I also have it set to low. In90% of my shooting this seems to work fine and I don’t need magnification often at all.

Gordon

I've been using red, but just changed to blue at your suggestion and I agree, blue with low sensitivity seems to be best, thank you. I still use magnification, sometimes without any peaking.

[FlashGordonPhotography]

23 hours ago, algrove said:

Do you have your live view in color of B&W? Wish Leica had cyan like the X2Dii.

Colour mostly. I intend to set up a custom view for B&W though.

4 hours ago, tonybill said:

I've been using red, but just changed to blue at your suggestion and I agree, blue with low sensitivity seems to be best, thank you. I still use magnification, sometimes without any peaking.

Thank Nick Rains of Leica Australia. He suggested it to me. I found pushing the lever (toward the lens) quicker than pulling so I've set magnification to push, which seems to work pretty well for me. Peaking is set to pull. I do wish I could set the lever to toggle through the peaking intensities.

Gordon

[algrove]

I mostly use BW Mono HC and find it works best for me-luminance levels.

[tonybill]

24 minutes ago, FlashGordonPhotography said:

Colour mostly. I intend to set up a custom view for B&W though.

Thank Nick Rains of Leica Australia. He suggested it to me. I found pushing the lever (toward the lens) quicker than pulling so I've set magnification to push, which seems to work pretty well for me. Peaking is set to pull. I do wish I could set the lever to toggle through the peaking intensities.

Gordon

That all makes sense. It will be interesting to see what improvements firmware updates bring in the future.

[cnguyen]

M lenses are optimal for their performance when mounted on an M body including M EV1.  SL2/SL3 are cheaper bodies BUT does not yield corner to corner sharpness as M body with M lenses. There has to be something to do with that air gap/ M-L adapter.  I tried my 50mm f1.4 summilux on my m11 and sl . 

Leica M EV1 new $8500 ------ Leica SL2 used body $1800 as cheaper alternative if you can live without the corner to corner sharpness.

Food for thoughts.

 

[hdmesa]

On 10/26/2025 at 8:46 AM, SrMi said:

…newbies will not realize that you cannot precisely focus with the aperture stopped down.

Or wide open in the case of slow lenses like the 28 Summaron. 

[Jon Warwick]

10 hours ago, hdmesa said:

Or wide open in the case of slow lenses like the 28 Summaron. 

It was that lens that I used as my first effort at trying out the EV1 in store, because that’s what the Leica rep decided to put on the camera at that instance. I had very little idea what I was focusing on. A ballpark guess was pretty much all I could get to unfortunately.

[MRJohn]

Some update on an earlier post of mine in this thread: the EVF is a pretty similar experience with both cameras. Initially I had the feeling that the M EV would flicker more in artificial light, but it is the same with the SL3-S. Handling with M lenses depends a bit on the size of the lens. I find the small ones out of balance on the SL-3, and the "aesthetics"  of most M lenses just don't mingle well on an SL in my view. The image result of M lenses however is quite good on the SL3-S (though probably not on paar with native SL lenses). Coming from an M10 and having skipped the M11 RF, I am quite amazed by the low light image quality of the M EV, certainly on par with the SL3-S (all subjective). I also think that IBIS is for most of my use cases not really needed (IBIS cannot compensate for the movement of subjects), I was surprised by that because it comes up so often. Would probably be great to have IBIS on the M but the high ISO capabilities let you often compensate with shutter speed, even when using the 135 Apo Telyt. Btw, the shutter sound of my M10-D seems a bit softer than the M EV, not sure what has changed. - I am disappointed by the slowness of the camera startup (vs SL or Q) - not that I missed any shots, lack of state-of-the-art software manual focus aids (like Nikon has for manual focus), lack of tiltable screen (like SL, Q or Fuji X100). I also think a Fuji X100-like small joystick would have been great. If you have an SL3(-S) and the form factor doesn't bother you, it works just fine with M lenses. On the other hand, the M EV could be your only camera if you don't need SL autofocus or the trained focusing speed or experience of a RF.

I guess if the M EV1 had come out 4 years ago, I would have been more happy. Now as an end-of-the-line-lifecycle extension it was probably bad timing as the expectations of many people have moved with the market evolution. I think they should have introduced one a little later on an M12 backbone with presumably a Maestro 4 processor.

The M EV1 is in my view a NewOldCamera (stealing that name from the store in Milano), works fine, looks great, but feels lacking useful contemporary capabilities at a price where you could expect them, actually where you could expect that the camera sets new standards.