The M9 Chat Box

[GrahamWelland]

The Leica folks have my sympathy. It seems whatever they do it's a case of "Damned if you do, damned if you don't" ...

I'm feeling pretty happy this morning despite sitting through amateur hour with the Leica AV and webinar. I can forgive the Leica management for the scripted presentation too.

What was interesting was that I'm actually pretty interested in clearing out my various high end P&S cameras, none of which has been a total joy (Ricoh GRD II, Nikon P-6000, Canon G10, Panasonic G1), and give the X1 a try.

In the meantime I'm much more impressed with the M9 in Steel Grey than I thought I'd be. Time to ask the dealer to snag one in grey vs. 'first available' me thinks.

 

[totallynatural]

Unless I'm mistaken, Bryan Adams has been working as a very accomplished professional fashion photographer over the past several years ... I'd certain share your disdain, however, for that awful Robin Hood song though.

Just googled him and had a gander at some of his pics, apologies to Bryan then :angel:

I only know him from his er...'interesting' musical career.

Getting back on subject though. The M9 looks to be an absolutely fabulous piece of kit, hats off to Leica for it.

Glad to see Jono's got himself one, I was wondering how long it would take him to get one looking forward to his pics and comments tomorrow.

 

[jaapv]

14 bit sensor, out to a 16 bit finished file.

If they've managed to make them look like DMR files, I'm one happy photographer

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

Here are my thoughts. I pay my bills with a pair of m8s. I have had more than my fair share of problems with them both, then again they get beat to hell.

i love the idea of the m9 - finally full frame. but i have to ask leica - wtf?? why bring out Seal to introduce this camera? all this says to me, a working pro, is leica cares more about celebrity, brand cult, status, than they do the (albeit few) men and women out there making a living using their cameras.

as tempting as that m9 is...i might just have to pass. not because there is anything wrong with the camera, but the company seems to be moving in directions i no longer support.

damn.

It's marketing. Nothing to do with the camera.

For a year or so, just down the road here, there was a huge board with a photo of David Beckham, the English football player with a can of Castrol motor oil. I don't know if he drinks it for breakfast or what, but I doubt he's a car mechanic. Still, the cars using Castrol don't seem to have more problems than other cars.

Oh, and btw., some of those artists actually know how to use a camera...

 

[mtomalty]

Have they given the camera to any respected photographers who might give a little more insight?

Bruno Stevens has been testing the camera for 3 months.
I'll take his review, once it comes out, over any commercial site
any day of the week

Some of his work can be seen here:

http://www.photoshelter.com/user/U00001NTuupm_Kg4

 

[John Black]

Has anybody opened a M9 DNG (uncompressed) in C1 yet? Curious if it works.

 

[johnastovall]

Here are my thoughts. I pay my bills with a pair of m8s. I have had more than my fair share of problems with them both, then again they get beat to hell.

i love the idea of the m9 - finally full frame. but i have to ask leica - wtf?? why bring out Seal to introduce this camera? all this says to me, a working pro, is leica cares more about celebrity, brand cult, status, than they do the (albeit few) men and women out there making a living using their cameras.

as tempting as that m9 is...i might just have to pass. not because there is anything wrong with the camera, but the company seems to be moving in directions i no longer support.

damn.

If the tool is good what does the company direction have to do with?

Mike Johnson has up a fine essay, "What Does 'Expensive' Mean?"

He sees Leica as a 'Veblen good".

"The market wants a Leica to be a Leica: the inheritor of tradition, the subject of lore, and indisputably a mark of status to own."

I see nothing wrong with that.

 

[nei1]

Bruno Stevens has been testing the camera for 3 months.
I'll take his review, once it comes out, over any commercial site
any day of the week

Some of his work can be seen here:

http://www.photoshelter.com/user/U00001NTuupm_Kg4

Thanks for the information........started looking and didnt stop for an hour.

 

[-M9-]

I want to say thank you LEICA for the M9.

This ist the camera I waited for many years!

I am a longtime LEICA M User.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

See if this works

 

[Ranger 9]

"The market wants a Leica to be a Leica: the inheritor of tradition, the subject of lore, and indisputably a mark of status to own."

I see nothing wrong with that.

There'd be nothing wrong with it if there were any alternative to a "Veblen good."

If there were an Epson R-D2, a Zeiss Ikon D, or whatever, then it would be fine for Leica to be the top of the status tree. It's when Leica is the WHOLE tree that there's a problem.

To ditch metaphor: For photographers who do their best work with a rangefinder camera and who need to produce digital files, it's unfortunate that (a) Leica is still unattainably expensive for most and (b) that there's no realistic alternative.

 

[Artorius]

I just wonder how soon Adobe will have the M9 in ACR for use with Bridge and Photoshop. I'm not a fan of Lightroom and my workflow and color mangement is built around Photoshop.

I have CS3/ACR and they open ok.

 

[Cindy Flood]

Has anybody opened a M9 DNG (uncompressed) in C1 yet? Curious if it works.

I did and the sample .dng that I had looked much better out of C1 than out of Camera Raw (imho). (C1 4.8.2...not the pro version).

 

[JimCollum]

just came back from playing with one at CameraWest. Looks great so far.. i have some test shots from a 50 preasph lux, 35 preasph lux, 21 2.8 preasph, and a CV 12.

The one thing that struck me right away.. it doesn't focus closer than 1M (the .7 of my 50mm is useless on it

 

[mwalker]

Someone on another forum mentioned a M8.2 trade in program....was that wishful thinking?

 

[bradhusick]

M9 impressions...

I just played with one at Glazer's in Seattle. One thing that struck me right away was that reviewing a photo and zooming in was MUCH faster on the M9. Night and day compared to the M8.2. By the way, M9 shots on a card will display on an M8.2 but they won't zoom in all the way. The cutout on the upper left corner is visually pleasing but is too small to afford much of a finger-hold. The soft-release shutter setting is nice - it releases with about half depression of the button. As mentioned elsewhere, the black paint camera has the same rough vulcanit as the M8.2 while the steel-gray will have the smoother texture of the original M8 (not an issue for me as I use the Luigi case).

Tim Isaac (of Thumbs-Up fame) was there and I tried one his new smaller eyecups with a 1.25X magnifier. It's a wonderful product, expertly made.

RAW DNG photos open just fine in Lightroom 2.4. If I can overcome some problem attaching, I will post one for download. They are 34.7 MB each.

 

[Erik Five]

No offense to Seal. He is a great singer, takes nice snaps and has a very nice wife , but I cant understand why they choose him to come up there either. I would be much more impressed if they had a couple of really great Pro photographers that uses Leica. I know David Alan Harvey from Magnum used/uses the M8 for instance. It would tell me that they are actually aiming their products at Pro photographers and not celebrities. I know that celebrities have more money , but it would give the company more cred IMO if they choose someone who actually makes his living from photography. I know that Seal is a genuine Leicaphile, takes tons of photos and loves the company and their products, but still... No offense meant Seal

 

[matmcdermott]

I just played with one at Glazer's in Seattle. One thing that struck me right away was that reviewing a photo and zooming in was MUCH faster on the M9. Night and day compared to the M8.2. By the way, M9 shots on a card will display on an M8.2 but they won't zoom in all the way.

Interesting. On another forum (or maybe another thread here, been switching around so much between them I've gotten confused) someone's experience was exactly the opposite. I wonder what the difference was? Perception, SD card, what?

 

[matmcdermott]

No offense to Seal. He is a great singer, takes nice snaps and has a very nice wife , but I cant understand why they choose him to come up there either. I would be much more impressed if they had a couple of really great Pro photographers that uses Leica. I know David Alan Harvey from Magnum used/uses the M8 for instance. It would tell me that they are actually aiming their products at Pro photographers and not celebrities. I know that celebrities have more money , but it would give the company more cred IMO if they choose someone who actually makes his living from photography. I know that Seal is a genuine Leicaphile, takes tons of photos and loves the company and their products, but still... No offense meant Seal

Part of it may just be presentation. Harvey's a great guy and great photographer but as far as spokesperson for Leica at this sort of event going with someone used to this sort of public self-promotion and with name and face recognition outside of the photo community isn't a bad idea.

I've actually come to terms with Leica not aiming their products at the average pro.

 

[Paratom]

I agree - I didnt like the focus on the special manufacturing and the comparison with good wine etc etc.
I would have prefered if they focus the presentation more on IQ and user interface.
But in the end I dont really care about the presentation - for me its about the camera and how it works for me.

Here are my thoughts. I pay my bills with a pair of m8s. I have had more than my fair share of problems with them both, then again they get beat to hell.

i love the idea of the m9 - finally full frame. but i have to ask leica - wtf?? why bring out Seal to introduce this camera? all this says to me, a working pro, is leica cares more about celebrity, brand cult, status, than they do the (albeit few) men and women out there making a living using their cameras.

as tempting as that m9 is...i might just have to pass. not because there is anything wrong with the camera, but the company seems to be moving in directions i no longer support.

damn.