- Messages
- 3,287
- Name
- Andy
- Edit My Images
- No
I bought an M9 a couple of weeks back, and have paired it with a Zeiss 2/50 Planar ZM lens (that's a 50mm f/2) and thought you might like to hear how I've got on with it so far.
Just so you know I'm not made of money, I've had to sell loads of my Canon gear to get the cash for the M9 and lens. The M9 and lens cost me £5k.
It's very different to using a DSLR. I sold a 1DIII and still have a 1DIV, plus a bunch of L lenses, so I'm very familiar with the results you get from top-end Canon kit. I've also got a GF1 with 14 and 20mm lenses. The Leica is just very different. It's hugely simplified, from the controls to the menu. It's also quite basic in some areas such as the rear screen and the speed of the processor.
Aside from a simple aperture priority mode where you set the aperture on the lens and the camera sorts the shutter speed (and can auto-adjust the ISO), everything is manual including focus. Focus particularly takes some getting used to. You look through the viewfinder and adjust the focus ring on the lens until the two images in the rangefinder "patch" line up. Once they do, you're in perfect focus. This is OK with practice on stationary subjects, more tricky (!) with moving ones. I'm getting better at focusing. Once you twig to always return the lens to infinity after taking a picture so you always focus "one way" when you take the next shot, things become easier. Also, when you work out which way to move the ring for closer, and which way for further away, tracking movement becomes easier. I'm also starting to work out roughly where the "nub" on the focus ring needs to be by feel for given distances. What's more, you know if you've nailed the focus. You dont have to rely on the camera to do it, think it's got it, and then be disappointed when you get home. You know you've got it, and if you haven't it's your fault and you need to get better. Practice practice practice. The camera makes you work at it.
But all this makes the act of taking pictures much more involving, and to my mind much more rewarding. The camera is beautifully built and very satisfying to use. The shutter gives a very precise "click" followed by a smooth whirr as it re-cocks. I use "discreet" mode so the shutter only re-cocks once I've removed my finger from the button. It's way quieter than my 1DIV which clatters like a load of scaffolding poles being dropped onto a flatbed. The menu interaction is slick and fast, and there are numerous very nice touches especially the manual white balance setting which is very quick & fast.
You need to think much more about your picture, how you're going to take it. The camera draws you in much more. I've tried DSLRs and the GF1 in manual mode, but believe me it's just not the same. They are built to be automatic and the Leica is built to be manual, and that comes through in how you use them. Right tool for the job and all that - I wouldn't use the Leica for football under floodlights for example.
It's much smaller and less conspicuous than DSLRs. I'd read a lot about the way people react to you differently when you use a camera like a Leica (I guess it could be any rangefinder/old camera/Fuji X100) compared to a DSLR, and didn't really believe it, but it's true. I've had far more smiles, engagement and better pictures with the Leica than I've ever had with a DSLR. People don't seem to regard the camera as threatening in the way they do with a DSLR. It's strange, but definitely true.
Image quality. Well, I'm frankly blown away. The Zeiss lens is extraordinarily sharp at f/2. Sharper than anything I've seen before. This is helped by the amazing full frame sensor on the M9 which doesn't have an anti-alias filter on it. Sparkly crispness and smooth out-of-focus transition is the name of the game. I'd love 3 of the Leica lenses, specifically a 24mm Summilux (f/1.4), a 50mm Summilux (f/1.4) and maybe a 90mm Summicron (f/2), but that lot adds up to £10k so it wont happen for a while. However the quality of the Zeiss lens is just superb. Next purchase will be a wider angle for landscapes - probably a Zeiss 28mm 2.8.
Some problems so far though. I had the camera lock up on me a couple of times, both when deleting an image from a memory card. Leica gave me an 8GB Sandisk Ultra with the camera and I've now stopped using it and am using my "usual" Sandisk Extreme III cards instead which have been faultless so far. Battery use is relatively high - 300 shots per charge (I'm used to a couple of thousand on the 1DIV). I've purchased another battery from a "no-name" supplier which the camera initially thought had only 1/3rd charge when fully charged, but having run it down to empty it now calibrates OK which is slightly strange. High ISO is poor versus the 1DIV, only going to 2500 which looks like the 1DIV at ISO8000. But then I knew this when I bought it.
So far, it's a love affair. What a super tool. You could probably get very similar pictures with your DSLR and a 50mm 1.4, but the experience and approach is totally different, as is the "blendability" when taking pictures of people. It's compact, discreet and a delight to use.
I'll add more thoughts as I go along...but for now some pics. Yes, I'm in "lame street photographs" mode a fair bit at the moment, and find that sort of photography very challenging as I like to have permission to shoot rather than just stuffing the camera in someone's face, especially when I'm still learning how to use it. Anyway, here's 6 for you...
Arrival by Tobers, on Flickr
Stripes (or should that be Hoops) by Tobers, on Flickr
Fishing by Tobers, on Flickr
Waiting by Tobers, on Flickr
Let me in by Tobers, on Flickr
Central Reservation by Tobers, on Flickr
Just so you know I'm not made of money, I've had to sell loads of my Canon gear to get the cash for the M9 and lens. The M9 and lens cost me £5k.
It's very different to using a DSLR. I sold a 1DIII and still have a 1DIV, plus a bunch of L lenses, so I'm very familiar with the results you get from top-end Canon kit. I've also got a GF1 with 14 and 20mm lenses. The Leica is just very different. It's hugely simplified, from the controls to the menu. It's also quite basic in some areas such as the rear screen and the speed of the processor.
Aside from a simple aperture priority mode where you set the aperture on the lens and the camera sorts the shutter speed (and can auto-adjust the ISO), everything is manual including focus. Focus particularly takes some getting used to. You look through the viewfinder and adjust the focus ring on the lens until the two images in the rangefinder "patch" line up. Once they do, you're in perfect focus. This is OK with practice on stationary subjects, more tricky (!) with moving ones. I'm getting better at focusing. Once you twig to always return the lens to infinity after taking a picture so you always focus "one way" when you take the next shot, things become easier. Also, when you work out which way to move the ring for closer, and which way for further away, tracking movement becomes easier. I'm also starting to work out roughly where the "nub" on the focus ring needs to be by feel for given distances. What's more, you know if you've nailed the focus. You dont have to rely on the camera to do it, think it's got it, and then be disappointed when you get home. You know you've got it, and if you haven't it's your fault and you need to get better. Practice practice practice. The camera makes you work at it.
But all this makes the act of taking pictures much more involving, and to my mind much more rewarding. The camera is beautifully built and very satisfying to use. The shutter gives a very precise "click" followed by a smooth whirr as it re-cocks. I use "discreet" mode so the shutter only re-cocks once I've removed my finger from the button. It's way quieter than my 1DIV which clatters like a load of scaffolding poles being dropped onto a flatbed. The menu interaction is slick and fast, and there are numerous very nice touches especially the manual white balance setting which is very quick & fast.
You need to think much more about your picture, how you're going to take it. The camera draws you in much more. I've tried DSLRs and the GF1 in manual mode, but believe me it's just not the same. They are built to be automatic and the Leica is built to be manual, and that comes through in how you use them. Right tool for the job and all that - I wouldn't use the Leica for football under floodlights for example.
It's much smaller and less conspicuous than DSLRs. I'd read a lot about the way people react to you differently when you use a camera like a Leica (I guess it could be any rangefinder/old camera/Fuji X100) compared to a DSLR, and didn't really believe it, but it's true. I've had far more smiles, engagement and better pictures with the Leica than I've ever had with a DSLR. People don't seem to regard the camera as threatening in the way they do with a DSLR. It's strange, but definitely true.
Image quality. Well, I'm frankly blown away. The Zeiss lens is extraordinarily sharp at f/2. Sharper than anything I've seen before. This is helped by the amazing full frame sensor on the M9 which doesn't have an anti-alias filter on it. Sparkly crispness and smooth out-of-focus transition is the name of the game. I'd love 3 of the Leica lenses, specifically a 24mm Summilux (f/1.4), a 50mm Summilux (f/1.4) and maybe a 90mm Summicron (f/2), but that lot adds up to £10k so it wont happen for a while. However the quality of the Zeiss lens is just superb. Next purchase will be a wider angle for landscapes - probably a Zeiss 28mm 2.8.
Some problems so far though. I had the camera lock up on me a couple of times, both when deleting an image from a memory card. Leica gave me an 8GB Sandisk Ultra with the camera and I've now stopped using it and am using my "usual" Sandisk Extreme III cards instead which have been faultless so far. Battery use is relatively high - 300 shots per charge (I'm used to a couple of thousand on the 1DIV). I've purchased another battery from a "no-name" supplier which the camera initially thought had only 1/3rd charge when fully charged, but having run it down to empty it now calibrates OK which is slightly strange. High ISO is poor versus the 1DIV, only going to 2500 which looks like the 1DIV at ISO8000. But then I knew this when I bought it.
So far, it's a love affair. What a super tool. You could probably get very similar pictures with your DSLR and a 50mm 1.4, but the experience and approach is totally different, as is the "blendability" when taking pictures of people. It's compact, discreet and a delight to use.
I'll add more thoughts as I go along...but for now some pics. Yes, I'm in "lame street photographs" mode a fair bit at the moment, and find that sort of photography very challenging as I like to have permission to shoot rather than just stuffing the camera in someone's face, especially when I'm still learning how to use it. Anyway, here's 6 for you...
Arrival by Tobers, on Flickr
Stripes (or should that be Hoops) by Tobers, on Flickr
Fishing by Tobers, on Flickr
Waiting by Tobers, on Flickr
Let me in by Tobers, on Flickr
Central Reservation by Tobers, on Flickr
Last edited:
