[Leica] M9 improvements

[vondauster at earthlink.net (Will von Dauster)]

Hi All,

For what it is worth, I agree pretty much with everything Geoff says  
here.

The M8, 8.2, and 9 are photographer's cameras. I appreciate all of the  
things my D700 can do, especially its low light performance, but as  
for the incredibly complex variations of automation it offers, well, I  
for one don't really need it. Or miss it on my M8. I know how to use a  
camera, and I'm sure everyone on this list, at least, does too.

Articulating screen? Live view? Nice, but the M8's viewfinder is nicer  
IME. If I want to shoot video, I'll use the Panasonic P-system  
camcorder and do it right.

And Leica glass has got me back to shooting wide open first, stopping  
down only when needed as was the case when I used M6s for work.

I thought the lack of a self-cleaning sensor would be a bigger deal  
for me than it has been. I got spoiled with Olympus gear a few years  
ago in this regard, but a little air blower gets it done for me about  
once a month on the M8.

So, after all this, I'm on the waiting list for the next black M9  
coming to town. The price ain't coming down...

Will von Dauster


On Oct 26, 2009, at 6:47 PM, Geoff Hopkinson wrote:

> Nathan this is one of those emotive issues with a range of opinions.
> I don't think that anyone would ever object to better high ISO  
> performance
> (whether we actually need it or just want it). Still anecdotally the  
> M9 is
> reported to be about one stop better than the M8 in that regard.
> Live View and video means a CMOS sensor which changes the character  
> of the
> captured images too.
> At least as expressed by many M users on line (and I agree) it would  
> be a
> mistake to try to change any future M digital design to include more  
> dSLR
> type features.
> The same school of thought suggests that a dSLR is the best tool for  
> people
> that want those other features. M users don't want their camera to  
> become
> more expensive, more complex and larger to acommodate flip out LCDs  
> etc or
> features that they don't want.
> FWIW Stefan Daniel has said that he considers the M9 to be at the  
> upper
> limit of features and complexity  for an M.