how do you know you should get a Leica M?

mojobebop said:
----
why wait?
I would check one out at a local camera store.
you will know immediately.

i knew back in college when i was shooting with
canon ae-1's.

now after nikon d200 i realised something was missing.
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Hmm, wait what? Sorry I dont quite follow what did you mean... If you mean my M4, I've had one for more than a year now and I love it. Its pretty much all I need (though I have Olympus XA as a pocket camera and a 6x6 folder and a Holga with colorflash because I like square format and snapshots also in the dark).

I've tried digital too (very briefly) but there's no point in it for me because I shoot for myself only. I love the look of film photos and I prefer traditional prints and the handcraft - for B&W and colour.
 
Just borrow the one for a day, THEN you'll know you should get one for sure.


If its an M2 an M3 or M4, it makes all the cameras you held in your hands before feel like cheap toys.

There is no match on the planet for the quality feel of a hand fitted M body.

I have held new Spotmatics, FM2n and F3 cameras, the Chinon Memotron CE-II (which I love), Konica Auto S3, Hexar RF, Minolta CLE, and three dozen DSLRs. None were up to my M3s. It's the brass gearing I guess, and the ergonomics in general.

Try it. I dare you 🙂
 
CLE-RF said:
Just borrow the one for a day, THEN you'll know you should get one for sure.


If its an M2 an M3 or M4, it makes all the cameras you held in your hands before feel like cheap toys.

There is no match on the planet for the quality feel of a hand fitted M body.

I have held new Spotmatics, FM2n and F3 cameras, the Chinon Memotron CE-II (which I love), Konica Auto S3, Hexar RF, Minolta CLE, and three dozen DSLRs. None were up to my M3s. It's the brass gearing I guess, and the ergonomics in general.

Try it. I dare you 🙂
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Well, I dared a while ago, both my Hexars and a seasoned, borrowed M4 (my personal high-water-mark for Leica). While I have to say that there's nothing like a Leica ("Nothing Like a Leica"...put that on a t-shirt and say it three times fast, then repeat after a gin-and-tonic...), my Hexen, which feel quite solid in the hand, didn't come out of the comparison tattered. Yes, they do handle differently, but that comes down as much to fundamental design differences as much as personal preference. Of course, there's the other stuff to consider: smoothness of film-wind? Speed of film-loading? Shutter-speed range and accuracy? Flash-sync speed? On a shelf, it's about what a camera is; in the field, it's about what a camera does.

That said, I'd love to have that M4, wonderful in its own subtle ways. (So save those lumps of coal for somebody else, 'kay?) 😉


- Barrett
 
If its an M2 an M3 or M4, it makes all the cameras you held in your hands before feel like cheap toys.
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I dunno- I did get to hold an M4-P and fiddle with it, and it's just like my Canon F-1- smooth, even wind and smooth release. mut much quieter, and short stroke- and the killer wind lever.

funny thing about them brass gears- I have my friend's old FTb (in pieces) and the wind stroke is a bit choppy because the winding gears are brass and have since been bent up a bit.
 
Re: how do you know you should get a Leica M?

This thorny question can be reduced to a simple mathematical equation:

If money > sense, buy Leica.

😉

(I'm senseless, so...)
 
dragunov said:
...I did get to hold an M4-P and fiddle with it, and it's just like my Canon F-1- smooth, even wind ...
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Ah, but the M4-P does not have the brass gears anymore, it was made after Leica gave up on brass gears. The M5 is the last camera that was hand-fitted, the M4-2 and M4-P have been assembled in a different process.

I received an M5 last week and have taken a look inside (I have the tools to disassemble it): the transport-assembly side is at the inside coated with a sort of felt, that will make the whole camera far more silent. My M3s are far less silent, so I got curious... And will definitely coat the other two in the inside to 'shut them up' 😛
 
investment

investment

i never thought of a leica as an investment.

i have no problem with collectors, as they insure
cameras will survive for posterity.

you just know.
if you don't,
then you don't.
 
"I dig low light" and "should I borrow a Tri-Elmar" just doesn't make any sense. It is F4 FFS so I think you have the answer to your question. You must use the 35m F2 Summicron or you will need a flash indoors even in day time.

I just (briefly) scanned this thread and I can't really understand how so many words have been said and no-one has answered this simple question properly for you.

As for which M. It is unimportant really.

Been a long, stressful first day back in the office so please excuse me if I sound a bit ratty 🙂
 
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