Now that all the announcement has gone out, and all of the Internet experts have weighed it, I thought I spare a few sentences here to gather my own thoughts...
Leica M (pre-order at Adorama: Silver / Black)
We are a fickle lot of customers... people complained a lot about the M9 and wished for many modern features, and yet when Leica delivers them in the new "M", we complain about extra buttons, accessories, weight, and size. I think what Leica has delivered here is a more modular system. For the RF purists, just buy the body, turn off the live-view, and you'll have the same optical viewfinder experience that you've always had. Nothing will change if you want it that way, except for improved ISO performance, better framelines, quieter shutter, bigger buffer, faster memory card write speed, longer battery life, and should have better IQ with wide-angle lenses (the jury is still out on IQ). For the others, you'll find all of the additional features to satisfy you so you no longer need another camera to cover the shortcomings of the M9 (you know what those are).
I think the key, still unproven, has be an uncompromising image quality. Many, myself included, love the results we get from our M9's CCD sensor. By switching to a more modern CMOS sensor, they have got to get it to be at least as good, if not better. Everything else is secondary.
Let's talk about the EVF. People seems to forget that many RF shooters already use a bunch of external optical VF for our wide-angle lenses when they complain about the extra "hump" it would create. What we'll get now is one EVF to rule them all. No more needing different VF for different focal lengths, with the added bonus of seeing the exact framing, live-view, and focus peaking. It's also tilt-able when shooting low or shooting on a tripod.
Leica touts the ability to use the old R-lenses with live-view and focus peaking, but what they didn't say is that you can adapt ANY OTHER lenses too (provided a proper adapter is found). A real FF camera that can work with any other lens, as long as the aperture and focus isn't electronically controlled.
Video capability is something I'm unsure of. While I'm sure that it'll work, I'm afraid that it won't be much help to me without autofocus and focus-tracking. You see, I have tried to shoot videos on the Sony NEX5 with a 50'Cron. Without image-stabilization and using only manual focus, let's just say that I didn't get a lot of useful clips. To my defense and the defense of shooting video with MF lenses, I was trying to shoot videos of my son, which was a challenge already for still shots using RF. Some are excited by the thoughts of shooting videos with the Noctilux... I just wish them good luck.
Leica M-E (pre-order at Adorama: Anthracite)
The only thing I have to say is I wished they would have just kept the M9 name, since they are basically the same. Let the M9 prove its longevity, because even though it's 3 years old, it's still one of the best camera out there.
Leica M (pre-order at Adorama: Silver / Black)
We are a fickle lot of customers... people complained a lot about the M9 and wished for many modern features, and yet when Leica delivers them in the new "M", we complain about extra buttons, accessories, weight, and size. I think what Leica has delivered here is a more modular system. For the RF purists, just buy the body, turn off the live-view, and you'll have the same optical viewfinder experience that you've always had. Nothing will change if you want it that way, except for improved ISO performance, better framelines, quieter shutter, bigger buffer, faster memory card write speed, longer battery life, and should have better IQ with wide-angle lenses (the jury is still out on IQ). For the others, you'll find all of the additional features to satisfy you so you no longer need another camera to cover the shortcomings of the M9 (you know what those are).
I think the key, still unproven, has be an uncompromising image quality. Many, myself included, love the results we get from our M9's CCD sensor. By switching to a more modern CMOS sensor, they have got to get it to be at least as good, if not better. Everything else is secondary.
Let's talk about the EVF. People seems to forget that many RF shooters already use a bunch of external optical VF for our wide-angle lenses when they complain about the extra "hump" it would create. What we'll get now is one EVF to rule them all. No more needing different VF for different focal lengths, with the added bonus of seeing the exact framing, live-view, and focus peaking. It's also tilt-able when shooting low or shooting on a tripod.
Leica touts the ability to use the old R-lenses with live-view and focus peaking, but what they didn't say is that you can adapt ANY OTHER lenses too (provided a proper adapter is found). A real FF camera that can work with any other lens, as long as the aperture and focus isn't electronically controlled.
Video capability is something I'm unsure of. While I'm sure that it'll work, I'm afraid that it won't be much help to me without autofocus and focus-tracking. You see, I have tried to shoot videos on the Sony NEX5 with a 50'Cron. Without image-stabilization and using only manual focus, let's just say that I didn't get a lot of useful clips. To my defense and the defense of shooting video with MF lenses, I was trying to shoot videos of my son, which was a challenge already for still shots using RF. Some are excited by the thoughts of shooting videos with the Noctilux... I just wish them good luck.
Leica M-E (pre-order at Adorama: Anthracite)
The only thing I have to say is I wished they would have just kept the M9 name, since they are basically the same. Let the M9 prove its longevity, because even though it's 3 years old, it's still one of the best camera out there.
RSS Feed
