Define a serious photographer! 😛
Equipment wise… The M9 is my first 'serious' digital camera
😉 Not just that it costs 'serious' money
😱 , but the RD-1 I had and the D-LUX 4 I have are fine/good/great digital cameras, but not in that 'serious' category to me :angel:
(I have too much fun with my photography to consider it 'serious' these days and I don't use it for work anymore, even 'serious-fun' seems a contradiction to me, and love to be non-serious then I hear that word
🙂)
I'm still on a learning curve with digital and getting my work flow established. Having fun with that, but I just don't feel the need to post, show or publish at this time till I am reasonably comfortable with the whole process (new software, new computer, new storage HDs… ) and up to speed with my new M9.
As for the 'serious' photographer (just because I have an M9 its not how I would describe myself)… I've been using M-serious since I was 16, and going on 4 decades, for work, art, and pleasure. It was an expensive system to get into back then, and not any more or less now. I got the M9 because it works naturally for me, the easiest transition to digital I felt in how I work with my camera and lenses. When my mother once asked why I used such a ['seriously'] expensive cameras back when I was in my 20s, my father just said in my defense its "what I use". Meaning, its the system that I feel most comfortable with, its a 'bonding thing' to me. With the FF M9 its the first camera I felt I could take a next step with. The usual perception is that the more expensive equipment you have the more 'serious' you are. But its not a matter the cost, you can be 'serious' about your art with a Kodak Brownie as was once suggested to me. And age sometimes comes into play, but my 6 year old looks pretty serious (always with a grin on his face) when he gets a camera in his hands too
😀
As for why rangefinderforum doesn't get much discussion about the M9… myself I look over at LUF more often for actual use-ful M9 info because it just seems there is more (not all of course) helpful information there. Why RRF doesn't get more M9 users is a bit puzzling. Maybe the cost/buying-power has something to do with it. More than a few RFF members sometimes seem to look down on high cost 'new' Leica equipment users (and 'collector's) in subtle and not so subtle ways, and they gravitate elsewhere. (Although I considered an M8 at the time I bought an M9, I don't need to hear for the umpth-tenth time the M8 is just as good or better ["for the money"] than an M9, or that "I could have taken that shot better with my M2 and…". The LUF has a dedicated M9 forum and you don't get so much cross-over talk).
BTW: I always look forward to hearing (for example) what Roger and jaap have to say about the M9 because they enjoy their M9s and have reasonable things to say about it. Maybe if there were more folks like them to start and contribute to M9 discussions it would generate more 'chatter'.
