Why did you decide NOT to buy a digital Leica M?

[38Deardorff]

I ultimately made my decision to stay with film when the M8 came out. The price at the time $5000+ USD bought an awful lot of film and paper. The same is true today at $10,000 for an M11-P. I understand why other people adopted digital imaging. I just never caught on to it & prefer darkroom printing.

 

[qqphotos]

I have been using Leica gear since the 1970s, as well as Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, Canon, Hasselblad, and a few others. I've had various and sundry cameras from all of them need service from time to time. Without being part of any professional association with any of the manufacturers, I have seen very very little different in terms of service turnaround for all of them. Leica USA, unlike any of the others, has done me a favor or two now and then (like grandfathering in a warranty service to my first X2 when the four-way controller got flakey two months past warranty...). Only two of my digital Leica cameras have ever required a service ... that X2 and the refurbished M10-R that had definitely been knocked or dropped when I bought it, throwing the rangefinder off.

Over the past 15 years, I've owned digital Leica cameras (various Ms, SL, CL, X2, etc), most bought with a spare OEM battery. Despite at least 50,000 exposures between them, I've never once had a bad battery or seen battery performance drop to the "must replace battery" point.

I think there is way too much entitlement going on with most of the complaints I see on these various camera forums. These are robust, durable cameras with very low percentage numbers showing problems requiring service or repair. I've had more issues with other camera brands, several cameras of which required more than one trip to service to have a problem taken care of. That's not happened with Leica cameras, for me anyway...

G

You can't, afaik, buy a spare OEM battery for an M9, M10 or M11. I've borrowed an M9 and an M10 with their batteries from friends, and had to carry around a bag of original batteries that were good for maybe a half hour's use each. I think it's a bit rude to call it entitlement to find that annoying. I don't have that problem with any of a whole selection of older digital cameras.

 

[Godfrey]

You can't, afaik, buy a spare OEM battery for an M9, M10 or M11. I've borrowed an M9 and an M10 with their batteries from friends, and had to carry around a bag of original batteries that were good for maybe a half hour's use each. I think it's a bit rude to call it entitlement to find that annoying. I don't have that problem with any of a whole selection of older digital cameras.

That's news to me. I bought two spare OEM batteries for M10-M and M10-R cameras, one in January and one in March of this year. The contact I spoke with at Leica USA said that they were in short supply—too few in stock to list on the web store—but that they had supply on hand. (I don't know about M9 or M11 batteries...)

G

ps: He also told me, when I spoke to him in January, that their stock of batteries had been decimated at a date that was closely aligned with the discussion on this and other Leica oriented forums where the scare of "no batteries available" was promoted. So forums like this one do actually affect how much stock the distributors have on hand ... Panic buying en masse does no one any good.

 

[Darthfeeble]

I switched to Sony, the A7Cr, smaller, lighter, WAY less expensive, Full frame 61mp sensor and for me the more important auto focus. I kept a few LM lenses and was surprised to find that they are easier to focus on the Sony than they were on the Leica. I'm old you know and the small VF and Focus area of the manual focus M10 wasn't getting it done for my old eyes anymore.

 

[qqphotos]

That's news to me. I bought two spare OEM batteries for M10-M and M10-R cameras, one in January and one in March of this year. The contact I spoke with at Leica USA said that they were in short supply—too few in stock to list on the web store—but that they had supply on hand. (I don't know about M9 or M11 batteries...)

G

OEM are occasionally available but shockingly expensive, and 3rd-party are mostly not possible because the firmware forbids it. At any rate, in keeping with the thread's original purpose, I was just sharing my reasons for avoiding these cameras. I don't feel any need to argue anyone else into any particular position. I suppose I've learned now to step away from threads where brand loyalty is likely to be a factor.

 

[Godfrey]

OEM are occasionally available but shockingly expensive, and 3rd-party are mostly not possible because the firmware forbids it. At any rate, in keeping with the thread's original purpose, I was just sharing my reasons for avoiding these cameras. I don't feel any need to argue anyone else into any particular position. I suppose I've learned now to step away from threads where brand loyalty is likely to be a factor.

Digital Leica M batteries have always been expensive ... about $185-$200 per ... and that has been true since 2012 when I bought my first digital M (M9). The ones I bought this year were $210 each. That's about twice as much as what I paid for my Hasselblad 907x/CFVII 50c spare batteries. But, eh, there are lots of "shockingly expensive" things in the world. 🤷‍♂️ If I can't afford them, I don't buy them, or the things that require them.

G

 

[Freakscene]

You can't, afaik, buy a spare OEM battery for an M9, M10 or M11. I've borrowed an M9 and an M10 with their batteries from friends, and had to carry around a bag of original batteries that were good for maybe a half hour's use each. I think it's a bit rude to call it entitlement to find that annoying. I don't have that problem with any of a whole selection of older digital cameras.

M9 and M10 Leica batteries are back in stock most places. The M11 batteries have never been out of stock. M9 and M10 third party batteries are readily available from a range of vendors. Nothing for the M11 yet.

 

[rfaspen]

Nothing for the M240 series yet either ☹️