[Leica] New 35mm cropped

[mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)]

> Oh I think the M8 is a "not particularly well thought of" camera already, 
> by
> those who have never used one, or are unfamiliar with rangefinders.
> So is the M9. There is shed loads of stuff on the net from people slagging
> them off, the M9 more or less just as much as the M8.
> OTOH both are highly regarded by the vast majority of people who use them,
> including me.
> I am glad I got the M9 but having had it for a couple of months I am very
> aware that its merits over the M8 are -very- minor, for me.
> Frank


To early to tell but I'm predicting the M9 will be a very well thought of
camera and by Spring you'll see all kinds of articles in magazine about top
shoots done with them by top photographers who never want to put them down.
Stuff you never saw all that much of in the fledgling days of the M8.
The M9 will rule. It will take no prisoners. It will even do catalog work
you'd think the S2 would be preferred for.
I realize its annoying to think of having spent that much cold hard cash on
something which never went down all that well. But all I can say is I'm sure
you got some real viable images with it and there would be no M9 if there
wasn't an M8 to pave the way before it.
Although the M3 came out before the M2 so that's perhaps just a coincidence.

The best camera is always going to be the one you have to work with.
And especially the one you have with you. In hand. Out of the case. Turned
on.
If its at home or just something your dreaming about the pictures you're
going  to get with it are going to be quite invisible.

I look back at my work from 2009 this week rating them and its all 1.5 crop
and the best year of photography I've ever had by far. Far better than the
years I shot Hasselblad and my M6's.
Some of my 2009 cropped shots would have been viable or much better had it
been full frame. Some in plenty of light at a lower iso would not have
mattered.
However if you notice I'm  awake at 4:54AM typing this in the morning and
much of my shooting is done at night. Not high noon.
So I'm sure some third party noise software will save many of these shots
making them viable for a nice sized print or even make them viable for a
small sized upload for people to look at with their laptops.

When I get my D700 and then M9.5 the only cropped format shooting I'm going
to be doing is going to be with a camera which is virtually pocketable. That
fit in my pocket.

Looks like I have 7237 captures saved from 2009.
2003 of them the Auto Stories.
How many have 5 stars with a rosette?
Tell you next week.
But I'm pleased as punch.
Looking at them I'm amazed I shot them.  Had no idea I was that good.
NY* helps. There are pictures everywhere.


Mark William Rabiner
*New York