ajramirez
Hall of Famer
- Location
- Caguas, Puerto Rico
- Name
- Antonio
I just don't like DSLRs. And I don't like digital cameras without an EVF. If there were another real digital rangefinder I'd be all over it. But there isn't. I just like rangefinders and I like digital. So I'm bound to Leica, for now. For *me* the usage challenges, the simplicity, the build and most of all the rangefinder is more fun. More satisfying. Mostly with DSLRs I feel more and more disconnected from the image. After 25 years of them I think I'm just sick of looking at everything through a wide open aperture.
Sure the Olympus, Sony and Fuji cameras can be fun for a bit. But they feel a bit soulless, to me. I pretty much know that if a camera has more than one page of menu items it's not going to be something I really bond with. And if it doesn't have an integrated EVF forget about it.
I appreciate that most cameras can produce stunning images. But they don't make me want to carry them everyday like a rangefinder does. Yes. I already know I'm weird.
Gordon
Gordon, if you are weird then so am I, as I feel exactly as you do.
Buying my M9P put an end to camera GAS for me (at least as far as digital cameras are concerned; film is another story). I truly enjoy the view through a rangefinder, and having a camera where the three principal functions (ss, aperture, focus) are at your fingertips at all times is truly liberating. As to IQ, I have not used an RX-1, Coolpix A, or any of the other cameras to which the M has been compared in the posts above, but I have nothing but praise for the M9P image quality. Up to ISO640, unbeatable in my opinion. Above 640, perfectly usable with a judicious application of NR in ACR or Nik Dfine. I have published photos from the M9P taken at ISO 2500. The ability to seamlessly transition between it and my M6TTL is an added bonus.
There are three aspects of the M (240) that attract me to it: quicker writing to the card, higher resolution screen, and live view. Live view would be useful for me because I take a fair amount of museum exhibition hall photos with either my 18mm ZM Distagon on the M9P, or a 10-22 EF-S on my Canon 50D. Framing with the external viewfinder on the M9P is very much hit or miss and getting precise framing usually takes a few tries. I use live view on the 50D for this purpose, but the IQ of the Canon combo is not close to being at the same level, mostly because the lens smears the corners. I believe the new M would allow me to finally put my Canon system to rest.
Other than that, I know I could be happy with the M9P for many more years. Again, since it appears the M will not be available for at least another year, it's a decision I will not have to make for a while.
Cheers,
Antonio