Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/09/15
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]That size and weight advantage has eroded since the SLR tidal wave swept 35mm in the '60s. Compared to the top line professional 35mm SLRs, the Leica M has a size advantage still but it's much less than it used to be. - --- Hardly...Given that the top of the professional line means Nikon F5, a house with a lens on it, the Canon EOS 1n or even EOS 3, houses with lenses, or the new Minolta - I doubt that anyone would call an FM2 a top of the line pro camera by today's standards. As to the F3, it's a great camera, but it is considerably bulkier than the M6... I'd argue that the only SLR that really compares in terms of size is the Olympus Om3/4... - ----- Compared to professional calibre 35mm SLRs like the Nikon FM2n, the advantage is virtually non-existent. A Leica M with 28, 50, 90mm lenses consumes almost exactly the same space as a Nikon FM2n with the same lenses in my camera bag, and the weight difference is mere ounces. - ---- Ounces add up...and, by the way, compare your Nikkor 50 1.4 to the Summilux 50, or the Summicron 50 to the Nikkor 50 f2...or even more to the point, the 35 1.4 Nikkor to the 35 Summilux ASPH.... - -------- I have owned and sold several Leica Ms over the years. I think I understand why I sold them now ... it finally dawned on me why I was unhappy with them. You see, I was trying to think of the Leica M as a more compact Nikon FM with fabulous Leica glass and a rangefinder, just limited to lenses shorter than 135. That's the wrong concept. - --- Right..it is the wrong concept...reflex....rangefinder....two totally different photographic esthetics. Neither is good or bad per se when compared to the other...but if there really wasn't any difference, there would no longer be a Leica M...and that isn't even taking any glass difference into account... - ----- Nowadays, I'm seeing things from a new perspective: "Pick the cameras that do what you want with the most ease." - ------ That's precisely what the perspective should always be... I wouldn't, by the way, get too hung up on the "precise" framing of the SLR...Granted, different people work differently, but I know that I, for one, frame much more precisely with my M than I do or ever did with any Nikon or other reflex, precisely because the M gives me framelines, and therefore reminds me of the importance of framing. I find that with the reflex, I am more intent on the subject per se than I am on the over all composition of the photo, thus when I look at the finished results, I find that my M shots tend to be better composed and framed than do my reflex shots.. - ----- - ----- The Leica M now competes when I want that other kind of flexibility: when I don't want and will not hire the pack mule, when flexibility is defined by using as little as possible to do as much as possible, when freedom is defined as being able to stop thinking about lens choices and concentrate more on what a lens can see. Here is where it competes with the modern generation of compacts on size, weight and flexibility. I'm not talking the $100 PnS cameras ... obviously, they do not have the lens sophistication to compete with Leica RFs ... but in the Rollei 35S, Nikon 35Ti, Minox 35GT-E, Ricoh GR1, Contax T2, Leica Minilux fixed lens cameras, you are approaching comparable lens quality and much smaller, lighter packages. - ---- Hey, if a rangefinderless Minox makes you as photographically happy as an M6, go for it...If you really think that when you by a Minilux you're getting anything close to a "real" Leica, go for it - you'll make the Nomes of Solms extremely happy. Yes, there are some great point&shoots...In fact, I would suggest that some of the cheaper ones you would blow off are virtually everybit as good as the $1000 badge carriers you prefer. Give me an Olympus Stylus Epic in the glove compartment or my briefcase any day. If I want better quality, I'll go with the M, whether or not I want to carry extra lenses... And as was noted on this list yesterday...it's pretty easy to sling an M6 with a lens over your shoulder and throw a second lens and a few rolls of film in a sports jacket or any other pocket.... Cheers.. B. D. By the way, as longer-time Luggers know, I am NOT in any way a member of the Leica Right or Wrong Etc. brigade. I just find that the M is the best tool for what I want to do photographically. My P&S is an Olympus, and my reflex is a 27-year-old Nikon F....