[Leica] M

[Herbert Kanner]

My M (240) arrived Friday. Of course, unpacking a new arrival from Leica is a great adventure. It will be hard for me to discard all those lovely box compartments.

Unlike the excellent manual that came with the M9, I think this manual is an atrocity. I speak as a former professional. In my second year (of ten) at Apple, I decided to write a manual for a piece of internally-developed software with a totally incompetent one-page description. Because I had to use the software, I had to figure out how it worked by trial and error.

Those were the days when managers could be imaginative. My reward for this manual was three bottles of wine a month for a year. And, I was appointed editor of the release notes of this department’s product—three releases a year. The notes grew to some 350 pages.

So I speak from experience when I call the M manual an atrocity. The biggest fault is a failure to explain clearly the two function of the “Set” button: a) to establish a choice among alternatives, and b) to provide a supplementary menu of stuff that one wants to access quickly, such as ISO or Exposure Compensation.

Other than that, It is a most lovely camera, a clear improvement over the M9, and I’m delighted with it.

Herb

Herbert Kanner
kanner at acm.org
650-326-8204

Question authority and the authorities will question you.