Leica Diary - Everything within Reason

Ever since the release of the Leica M9 in 2009 I wanted one of them. But, at the time I didn't have the funds to acquire such a device…. until recent.

Last week I bought myself a Leica M9 (black) along with two Zeiss lenses and an additional battery. The glass of my (second) choice was the Zeiss Biogon 2.8/28mm ZM T* and the Zeiss C-Sonnar 1.5/50mm ZM T*. These lenses were second choice, because I'd rather had the Leica versions of those lenses, but these are kinda hard to get your hands on (extremely long waiting lists).

UPDATE: In the meantime, I acquired a 35mm Summicron-M f/2, and a 50mm Summilux-M f/1.4 Asph. The Carl Zeiss C-Sonnar 1.5/50mm ZM T* is for sale at this moment.

The following posts should represent my experiences with the Leica M system camera, and I hope to address both the good and the bad things about this legendary camera system.

Note that this 'blog' holds the oldest post first. The reason for this is that you can read it in a chronological fashion. So the updates will be at the end.

Entries in M (1)

Friday

Sep212012

The Leica M, and Will I Get One?

Friday, September 21, 2012 at 15:17

Leica MLeica announced the new Leica M rangefinder camera earlier this week. It wasn't named the M10, but just M. The new rangefinder will have:

24Mpix CMOS sensor
Better ISO performance
Live-view with focus peaking
Movie-mode (max. 1080p@25fps)
Better dynamic range
Bigger and better LCD screen
Leica R Lens compatible (with optional adapter)
Optional Electronic Viewfinder
Optional Grip with extra features (external flash, power, usb, etc.)

The price will be around the original M9 pricing (€6800), and available in the beginning of 2013. The price is a steep figure compared to other (dSLR) camera's, but that shouldn't be a surprise. In hindsight, the price is lower what the rumors predicted (around €8000).

Will I want one? Sure, but not before the camera is on the market for at least a year, so that the firmware has matured, and all the annoyances/bugs are fully documented.

With the purchase of a new Leica M, I fear that I have to sell my Nikon gear (along with the current M9 off-course). This is more of a sentimental issue, since I hardly use the Nikon anyway. I use my M9 >95% of the time.

So keep an eye on this blog, to see if I'm really gonna get me a Leica M within the next two years (or so).

Willem |