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The little top LCD debate !


Julian Thompson

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I agree that the frame counter is somewhat superfluous unless one is shooting RAW at 18MP, when the memory card will soon fill up ...however isn't that what M9 users are supposed to do?

 

Personally I like to glance at the battery condition regularly and change it over as it becomes 1/4 full............the idea of going through a menu list ( 3 button presses) to obtain the battery data is in my view not progress.

 

I believe real progress would be to have retained the display but have it backlit, colour and more easily visible in dim light.

 

I personally appreciate when Leica seeks to improve their product, without adding useless functionality I would add. I do NOT like witnessing efforts to cheapen their flagship M camera which has happened with the display and the protective glass cover for the monitor.

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Like other M8 users, I make frequent use of the LCD on top to understand battery level and shots remaining. But its elimination is of little consequence to me. My understanding (my M9 has yet to arrive) is that you simply hit the INFO button to fill the rear-panel LCD with the needed information. That's a single button push and when I think of how I use the camera - holding it with two hands - that operation should be virtually instantaneous.

 

I'm far more disappointed in the dropping of the sapphire cover on the back.

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my bet is that both a new small OLED (S2 style) with some info plus the sapphire cover will be part of the "upgrades" we'll get in an M9.2.

 

Clearly Leica can add them any time, so they were probably left out to cut costs and keep the M9 from reaching the price stratosphere, plus to have something to justify the extra 1500 the M9.2 will cost :eek:

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Im happy with the new display.......

 

BUT this morning as I grabbed my camera off the table at the cafe heading out, I realized that I glanced at the battery/card status just a moment before swinging the camera on my shoulder... I have been shooting with the display taped up, and clearly my mind works fine with this small simple status system. and it is more of a hardware than screen experience. me likes. I would not mind a more hardware ala RD1... well not that much but you get the idea.

 

.

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I like it because when I turn the camera on there is feedback that it is on (or not in case the battery is dead). It gives me information if the camera is in sleep mode or not.

 

How do you judge these on the M9? Do you have to press the info button?

 

Good question. I have asked it in another thread (Wake Up) three days ago and haven't got an answer, yet. I'm beginning to suspect that there is no direct way of telling if the M9 is asleep or not (without pressing any buttons). That would make it the first digital camera I have ever heard of that leaves you in the dark about whether it's going to work or not when you press the shutter release button.

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They should have kept it and added a light meter reading (+/--) so you could meter from the hip w/o putting camera to eye.

 

Great idea! And why not go all the way and put a waist-level finder, à la Rollei, to make it really stealthy for street candids!

(ok, I'm ducking now, purists can start throwing stuff at me... like a 24 lux, or an M9 for example... :D )

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No top LCD and no sapphire screen? Leica are a strange company, to say the least. They go two steps forward, one step backward. They develop a $7,000 + camera only to skimp ont THAT? So, now the M9 has got to be the only digital camera in the entire universe where you can't check both battery and shots remaining AT A GLANCE, no matter the price range. Please, don't give me the «design» BS. Sorry, but I can't fathom Leica's ways.

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but the quick information: Is the camera on, is it working, is there enough power in the battery - all matters of a fragment of a second - will be missing.

 

+1

 

i believe real progress would be to have retained the display but have it backlit, colour and more easily visible in dim light.

 

+1

 

* I don't care for the way Leica elected to set the display into the top plate (flush, small black circle around the plastic). And I don't like the LCD-style grey numbers/battery. Feels cheap.

* I *do* use it all the time to get status at a glance. And it *is* fit for its purpose. :D

* The S2's top info display, on the other hand, looks really integrated and slick.

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No top LCD and no sapphire screen? Leica are a strange company, to say the least. They go two steps forward, one step backward. They develop a $7,000 + camera only to skimp ont THAT? So, now the M9 has got to be the only digital camera in the entire universe where you can't check both battery and shots remaining AT A GLANCE, no matter the price range. Please, don't give me the «design» BS. Sorry, but I can't fathom Leica's ways.

 

Glad I don't seem to be the only one who wonders...

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I'm afraid this camera has had cost taken out of it, I suspect in response to Leica NJ's whining telling Solms they could not possibly sell the camera for more than $7,000. Result, a compromise, a dog's breakfast of a camera.

 

That's why I have one sitting on my desk right now and can't decide whether to break the sealed outer box or just sell the wretched thing.

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Good question. I have asked it in another thread (Wake Up) three days ago and haven't got an answer, yet. I'm beginning to suspect that there is no direct way of telling if the M9 is asleep or not (without pressing any buttons). That would make it the first digital camera I have ever heard of that leaves you in the dark about whether it's going to work or not when you press the shutter release button.

 

No, it's not the first one. The M8 didn't tell you anything, nor did it blink or beep. You just had to press the shutter button a little bit to wake it up - after setting it on "ON" - if it was "Off".

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...The only way is looking through the viewfinder...

 

Can't be true!

 

That would make it the first digital camera I have ever heard of that makes you look through a little hole. On normal digital cameras you just look on an LCD. That's called "Live View".

 

Leica are a strange company, to say the least. They develop a $7,000 + camera only to stay in medieval age?

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