An afternoon meeting with Claus to check out his latest acquisition, a Leica M 240. He had been shooting with an M8 for some time and had recently upgraded, so I was eager to have a play.
A Leica really is like no other camera on the planet and you have to hold one, use one, to appreciate it. It’s an impressive block of solid engineering. If it was a car it would be a Porsche. The feel of it, the heft of it, the smoothness of the controls, the sound of the shutter; it’s all rather special. Which of course it bloody should be given the price.
Claus has seven Leica lenses, three of which are along for the ride on his latest trip; and they live together in a very smart leather bag.
The thingie on the left is an attachment for the macro lens to adjust the rangefinder window. Stick it all together and it is an interesting sight.
Obviously I couldn’t compete on quality, so my only response was quantity and I brought along 3 Kievs, a Yashica and the E-M5. The classics got together for a chat:
We spent a pleasant couple of hours talking cameras, playing with cameras, photographing cameras and eating apple pie with ice cream. After a brief play, I had mixed feelings about the M.
There is no denying the quality and the pure tactile pleasure of using it; and those Leica lenses are something else. If I had the sort of cash that let me drive a Porsche, then I would probably have the Porsche of cameras along with me. But for me, the price is just too much for what you get. The lenses are sublime; but the body, however well made, is still playing catch-up.
The rangefinder is a different way of focusing and it brings joy to many; but the M also offers a plug-in EVF for $575. This is exactly the same as the Olympus VF-2 EVF which Olympus sells for $249, although it does say “Olympus” on the front rather than “Leica”. To me, this was a more efficient way of focusing. But, in the real world, my E-M5 viewfinder offers better resolution and Olympus already have a new viewfinder, the VF-4, on the market which vastly improves the EVF experience. The automatic zoom for manual focusing is the same as my E-M5; but you can only use this in the centre of the frame on the Leica, as opposed to anywhere you choose on the E-M5. The sensor in the M is competent; but probably no better than the latest Sony full-frame sensors in cameras such as the Nikon D800. The rear screen is not as crisp as some other cameras; etc. etc. Overall, I had the feeling that the M body is a less flexible and competent tool than many others out there; even if it is built like an item of robust jewelery. This feeling was further reinforced when Claus snapped a few shots of my cameras with the Leica and I just fired off some shots with the E-M5. The astonishing E-M5 stabilisation meant that I could hand-hold this shot and get a reasonably sharp image at 1/3rd second exposure:
Beat that Leica (or any other camera on the planet).
Leica are lucky that they inhabit a unique space, a full- frame mirrorless camera with a marvellous lens collection, in a package size that is substantially smaller than the Canikon bricks. Add the history and caché of the brand and you have something that people are prepared to pay for.
But the Sony RX1 is an early fixed-lens, full-frame warning, as is the expanding range of beautiful Fuji APS-C bodies and lenses. Before too long, someone is going to offer a full-frame mirrorless, interchangeable lens camera with similar dimension to the Leica, with a range of lenses from a reputable manufacturer (Fuji, Zeiss, Olympus?). The build and lens quality may not be up there with Leica; but the prices will be much lower and the bodies are likely to be more flexible in operation.
So are Leica doomed? Of course not. They may lose some sales as the mirrorless market invades their space; but Leica will always be special; indeed, if I had enough spare cash then I would find it hard to resist the pure pleasure of a Leica M and a Summilux 50mm F1.4. And a Porsche.
Photos: E-M5 with Summilux 25mm or Voigtlander 25mm.
Comments 🔗
2013-06-27| robin saysLet me put it more succinctly. Leica cameras make no sense. Rangefinders are limited by principle, and Leica have been extraordinarily slow to adopt any sort of enhancement that makes sense for the photographer. Not to mention that their products could be sold at half the price with no compromise. The EVF and their Panasonic partnership point-and-shoots demonstrate this. Anyone who thinks they are the only ones to make good glass haven’t tried Olympus, Pentax, Zeiss, etc. Leica is all about conspicuous consumption. End of story.