Anyone bought a Leica M (any digital model) then sold it? Why?

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justin44

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OK, it’s my 50Th birthday soon and i’m Looking to get my self a treat, I have Leica Q and love it so i’m Thinking “this is the one time I will be able to justify the expense to the wife” shall I buy a Leica M. Now it’s quite an investment and I’m looking to hear some negatives to balance up pros and cons.

Has anyone here bought a Leica M digital and then sold it because they just don’t get on with it? What’s your story.

Thanks for taking the time.

Justin44
 
I had an M9, which I loved but I really struggled with the rangefinder focusing, I persivered with it for a while but just couldnt nail it, so sold it.

I have since (3 weeks ago) bought a used Leica SL and the Leica SL - M adapter, so I can now use the M lenses on the SL, and benifit from focus peaking and magnification, all i can say is im loving it, plus you have the option of using AF lenses. the image quality is fantastic, I cannot see me ever going back to an M.

Hope that helps.
 
Just a suggestion: see if you can handle a M3 and decide what you think of the viewfinder / rangefinder. In my opinion the M3 shows how it should be done. I gave serious consideration to a M9 until I tried one out.

It wasn't for me.
 
I may be wrong, but the M3's finder is huge compared to the M10 (I'm assuming the M10 here) which is more like an M6's finder.

Mark has probably hit the nail on the head. If you don't get on with rangefinder focussing, it's probably not for you. I don't know if the Q is MF or AF, but if you're sticking at 28mm you could probably zone focus a fair bit. Personally, I would suggest rental, or take a memory card to a shop and try one before splashing the cash. There are some niggles that get me even though I love my rangefinders... Sometimes I block the rangefinder patch window when I go portrait orientation (it's just how I hold the camera) which makes swift focussing & shooting very difficult (to the point where I often just don't). In poor light, I also find it hard to focus (my eyesight is going to be different to yours though).

I love my M3 and the viewfinder. For my 50th I decided to treat myself to an M6 and whilst it has a built in meter, and framelines for 35 & 28mm, I still prefer the M3 because of the bigger finder (and nicer ergonomics). If they ever make a digital M that's closer to the M3, that might prompt me to sell the children, but personally, I think they're still a few years away from a proper decent digital M. I'd rather get an X100 (but I'm also a 35/50 shooter rather than 28 or wider).

I spent a lot of time considering an M10 for my 50th and ended up getting an M6. Partly because it was cheaper but also because I just wasn't happy parting with that much money for a camera that wasn't quite up to "worth it" for me. Many of the reviews have niggles but end up finishing with "...but you're getting a Leica" which is often the ultimate reason people pay that much for the camera. I'm much happier with my M3/M6 combo and very much feel as though I got my money's worth. Especially with the M3 which you could pick up relatively cheaply and sell on for the same money if you didn't like it. To be honest though, you could do that with the M10.

Sorry this ended up being a bit of a ramble and welcome to the 50s. Where everything hurts and you make sex noises every time you get out of a chair.
 
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This is turning into the 50th thread, as I just purchased the Leica SL for my upcoming 50th in October...
I have never used any of the film Leica Ms as film is just not for me,
the SL for me totaly fits the bill, especially with how it handles the M lenses,
the M digital series would have to change massively for me to even consider one in the future.
 
Harlequin565 said:
I love my M3 and the viewfinder.
Click to expand...
If they brought out a digital version of the M3 with the same viewfinder and rangefinder I could well be tempted to put my plastic in the machine but the M9 just didn't do it for me. :sulk:
 
I've never had a Leica but have had a couple of film rf's so don't know if my comments are welcome or not but I'll comment anyway... RF focusing isn't for everyone and I wouldn't go back, not when I've had mirrorless that can focus or allow you to focus very accurately anywhere in the frame. I can see the appeal of Leica lenses and to a lesser degree their rf cameras too but maybe they lack something now against mirrorless kit with excellent af and mf focus that stands up to pixel peeping anywhere in the frame.

IMO Leicas make the most sense when bought with the heart not the head and when looked at as cameras to give you a warm fuzzy feeling rather than viewing them as competitive tools to take spot on pictures every time so anyone worried about rf's or out of focus pictures should maybe buy something else. For luxury and the manual focus experience I'd rather choose a ff mirrorless and a well made manual lens with which you can use zone, hyperfocal and Merklinger methods if you want or use peaking or if you have time mf very accurately with the magnified view.

Sorrh to intrude as a non Leica owner :D
 
justin44 said:
OK, it’s my 50Th birthday soon and i’m Looking to get my self a treat, I have Leica Q and love it so i’m Thinking “this is the one time I will be able to justify the expense to the wife” shall I buy a Leica M. Now it’s quite an investment and I’m looking to hear some negatives to balance up pros and cons.

Has anyone here bought a Leica M digital and then sold it because they just don’t get on with it? What’s your story.

Thanks for taking the time.

Justin44
Click to expand...

I have an M6, three M lenses and several LTM lenses with adapters. I've looked at the various digital M bodies quite a few times, but haven't yet made the jump. Summary:

M8 - Not full frame, now pretty old (no longer generally carried by the major dealers), and needs special IR cut filters because of colour shifts with wider lenses.

M9 - Solves some of the problems with the M8 and has a CCD sensor with something of a cult following. Not great at high ISO and has a rather poor, low resolution LCD screen. Has a major issue with flawed sensors that had a tendency to self-destruct over time. Leica used to have a free replacement program, but this has now ended. Early sensor replacements still at risk of degrading. Later replacements had upgraded sensors where this issue was fixed, but they can be hard to identify (a specific factory firmware indicates an upgrade, but this may have been written over if the user installed a later firmware).

M240 - New CMOS sensor that some people like less than the M9 sensor, but better at high ISO and has higher resolution. Better LCD screen and can accept an EVF. Unlike the M9 and M10, can shoot video. The bulkiest of the M bodies.

M10 - Slimmed down body close to the size of a film M. Very expensive, even secondhand.

All the Leica digital bodies take expensive proprietary batteries that have never been made in large numbers, which makes me worry about long-term availability (for several years it's been very hard to find batteries for Leica's Digital Modul R, discontinued in 2007).

As others have said, not everyone gets on with RF focusing. You also have to consider how much you want to invest in lenses - a set of 3 secondhand M lenses may well cost more than a used M240 body.
 
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