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"Goodbye, Leica"

fotografz

Well-known member
The guy not taking the lens cap off and missing a shot is the camera's fault?

That is a hint in itself :ROTFL:

-Marc
 

ustein

Contributing Editor
>The guy not taking the lens cap off and missing a shot is the camera's fault?

Lets say the camera is not sophisticated enough to detect it. Could happen to me :). This all is from using digital only cameras for too long and before SLRs.
 

charlesphoto

New member
That's why we have UV filters.... lens caps are meant to stay in the closet.

Slow? I shot a Pearl Jam concert two weeks ago with my two M9's with everything from a 24 to a 135 and rarely missed focus out of 800 plus shots. Dude just has to practice a little....
 

ashwinrao1

Active member
Agreed with Charles...I have shot 30 plus weddings, a good chunk wiht the M9, and haven't had any issues....
 

Stuart Richardson

Active member
>The guy not taking the lens cap off and missing a shot is the camera's fault?

Lets say the camera is not sophisticated enough to detect it. Could happen to me :). This all is from using digital only cameras for too long and before SLRs.
I would say the photographer is the one who is not sophisticated enough to detect it! ;) The camera does tell you...it flashes 32" or the underexpose arrow.
But while Leicas and rangefinders are not for everyone, none of these criticisms really resonate with me at all...sure, things could be better -- a nicer screen, a faster processor. But I don't notice those things very much in my work...
If he can't shoot at 1/60th of a second or below and cannot reliably focus, then it's not the camera for him!
 

fotografz

Well-known member
>The guy not taking the lens cap off and missing a shot is the camera's fault?

Lets say the camera is not sophisticated enough to detect it. Could happen to me :). This all is from using digital only cameras for too long and before SLRs.
As mentioned, it DOES tell you. Besides, if one were to go to shoot a decisive moment shot with a digital Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Sony, etc. ... or a M camera ... with the lens cap still on, you'd miss the shot even if the camera told you in a booming loud voice. :rolleyes:

However, I think it is reasonable to say that a M camera can be a PITA for some types (or styles) of shooting. I've used Ms for 40 years, and not for one second do I think the M is generally faster than a modern Canon/Nikon/Sony DSLR ... and focusing has become more difficult to nail with the M9 and the crop of new fast optics IMO.

What is deemed to be "well focused" does seem to be somewhat subjective these days ... but the DSLRs (not all of them), have generally raised the bar on quick and accurate focus.

-Marc
 

jklotz

New member
I can't disagree with anything the guy complains about. It's all true. If only my Canon gear could inspire the same passion as my Leica gear, then I'd do the same thing. But as a friend once said:

"If it's for a big job with a truck load of lights, it's medium format with a DB.

If it's a quick job with a limited budget, it's Canon (or Nikon).

If it's for me, it's the Leica"
 

ptomsu

Workshop Member
the M is generally faster than a modern Canon/Nikon/Sony DSLR ... and focusing has become more difficult to nail with the M9 and the crop of new fast optics IMO.

-Marc
What CROP are you relating to? There is no crop in the M9 anymore - thanks god!
 

Terry

New member
Crop was not written as in crop sensor. It was written as a synonym to batch. So, the sentence could have read M9 and the batch of new fast optics. Crop is used to denote a bunch of new lenses that came out around the same time. Like harvesting a crop.
 

Terry

New member
Signs your lens cap is still on...

Your exposure meter says 32" - in broad daylight. ;)
Yes, but I will say I'm guilty and have indeed done it. I'm sure whether you will admit it or not everyone has done it as sometime. If you are in Aperture priority in broad daylight looking at the shutter speed is not something you always look that carefully at.
 

MGrayson

Subscriber and Workshop Member
I'm about ready to give up on Leica. Yes, it's all my fault for being an insensitive myopic clod. Fine. But I do keep missing the shot. Sometimes it's focus, sometimes it's not noticing that the aperture depends on the lens, and thus can change when I change lenses. Sometimes it's inability to see the frame lines in the viewfinder. At least the blinking 32" helps with the lenscap on problem.

But I no longer care what the reason is. It's not fun and the results aren't there for me after 10 months with this system.

Matt
 

charlesphoto

New member
It's very true that rangefinders (not just Leica) aren't for everybody. They take a lot of work, and good/quick hand/eye reflexes. The point being made is that it's not the camera's fault. They take years of practice - my first rf was an Olympus XA back in 1982 or so. And I've shot Leicas, Mamiyas, Fuji's etc since then, along with slrs.

The story I like to tell people considering an M is when an old girlfriend bought her father an M6. He'd fawned all over mine, and she said he'd always talked about owning one. Well, she presented it to him on a family vacation we were on in Italy. I watched in sadness as he slung it over his neck and then proceeded to take pics the rest of the time with his taped up Minolta p&s. He maybe shot two frames with the Leica. I'm pretty sure it went onto a bookshelf and there it lived. No matter how much I tried to help him it was just too much camera for him. I think we should have bought him a Contax T2 or Leica minilux.

So don't feel bad and just use what works for you. I recommend people buy a used M6 and Voigt lens and see if they even like the rf way of working before plopping down $10k on an M9 and lens.
 

Mike M

New member
The goodbye letter and following comments are an interesting read. Many of the opinions expressed are echoing a lot of what Stefan and I were talking about in the end of tolerances reached thread.

Film photography is a mechanical medium and digital is an electrical medium. Mechanical mediums reduce tolerances by simplifying and this is the purist approach. The original Leica M is an archetype of the purist approach. It does a handful of things really well, but it is not a multi-tasker.

Digital mediums reduce tolerances by constantly integrating and multi-tasking. This means Leica digital cameras are always going to be expected to have everything (and the kitchen sink) that the other digital cameras have. IF auto-focus, video and live view are standard on most digital cameras, then over time, the audience for the digital M is going to expect it to be the same way.

The digital M is a hybrid between mechanical and digital mediums. The original audience for Leica is made up of purists and they imagine a simple digital camera (similar to an MP with a sensor instead of film.) but the new audience for the digital M is going to increasingly reject the purist mentality and start making more demands for features that are on other digital systems.

I'm not trying to be controversial or make value judgements, but I do think that the purist mentality of mechanical is eventually going to lose out to the integration mentality of digital when it comes to digital rangefinders. It's just a matter of time.
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
The guy not taking the lens cap off and missing a shot is the camera's fault?

That is a hint in itself :ROTFL:

-Marc
Depends on what people are used to. After I started using cameras with EVF, I've tried to take photos with DSLR cameras that aren't switched on several times. There's s picture in the viewfinder, so I assume it's on :loco:
 

MGrayson

Subscriber and Workshop Member
So don't feel bad and just use what works for you. I recommend people buy a used M6 and Voigt lens and see if they even like the rf way of working before plopping down $10k on an M9 and lens.
I tried rangefinders and knew thy were hard. I bought the M9 knowing there was a steep learning curve. It was the quality of the output when everything did go right combined with portability that made it worth the effort. Recognizing that a Canon 1D is a better camera for me is an important step in deciding where to go from here.

Best,

Matt
 
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