Is There Life After Leica?

[Corran]

For the most part I shoot film for my personal photography and I also shoot a lot of landscape.

While I do own several Leica cameras and often shoot them just for fun while hiking, nothing "serious" I ever shoot is with them.

Quite simply, the Leica and 35mm in general is just a poor medium for specifically landscape photography. The genre that most people gravitate towards it seems for shooting a Leica is street, which I don't do much because I live in a small town that simply has no opportunities for shooting those kinds of images.

Lately I made some really great work though in more of a photojournalism style - but then I used an F2 and Pentax 67.

Either way if I were to decide on just ONE 35mm camera/system, it would be my Nikon SP rangefinder anyway. My first Leica was actually an M9 which I got as an additional digital camera for commercial work. Then the M6 showed up as a way to shoot a "metered" film rangefinder. The only actual Leica lens I own is an old 50mm Elmar.

 

[B-9]

Leica is like a Detroit Street Gang, once you get in, the only way out is in a pine box.

Ive used other cameras, sure.
Ive loved other cameras, fine.

But Leica, I never get bored with, always something new to find, or rare piece to hunt for.

 

[zuiko85]

For me, yes. I came into a Leica late, at 60, and bought it as a retirement present to myself. Part of the reason was the mythology surrounding the classic Leica M. I thought I would really enjoy having a precision, interchangeable lens RF. But a funny thing happened on the way to the party....

I found I'm just not an RF guy!

I was really happy with my reflex cameras. I really like TTL viewing and focusing. I also sat the M4-2 and OM-1 down on the table back to back and size wise, there is not much difference. So......

I recently sold 2 of the 3 lenses I had for the M and now have just the body and a CV 35 f2.5 I cannot sell the body and lens because the 'm' flashbulb sync socket is missing due to a cracked plastic mounting. Although this does not impact function (unless you use flashbulbs, does anyone use flashbulbs with his Leica M?), it lowers the value of the camera too much to sell, so I guess I'll just keep it and use it occasionally. That CV lens is a contrasty little beast, good resolution too.

 

[Godfrey]

I asked this question on APUG earlier but it is as much digital as it is analogue.

Ninety percent of my recent photography has been shared between my very nice Leica M-A and my Rollei Automat. I don't see myself every selling my Leica cameras, but there seem to be such polarizing attitudes toward Leica cameras that I became curious as to whether there are those who have sold their Leica equipment and how they felt about it.

How many of you have moved away from Leica? What caused your move and are you happy with your choice?

In 2002, I knew I had to move up-format and sideways into digital capture work, and at that time it was as yet unknown whether a digital Leica M could ever be feasible. So I traded my stock of Leica M gear for a Hasselblad 903SWC and a Canon 10D kit. Did not regret it, although of course both of those cameras were only with me a few years given the tumultuous changes and rapid advance of digital equipment.

Nine years later, the M8 and M9 had come into being. I'd also run my photo business and decided I could make a better living in other ways, so the pressure to be on top of the digital equipment had dropped away. I didn't know whether I wanted to get back in, but the Ricoh GXR "Camera Mount" unit had been announced and I figured I'd put my toe back in the water. I bought a set of Voigtländer M-mount lenses. Doing that returned me—I bought an M4-2 body a little later, a CL after that, and an M9 in 2012. I've been slowly adding to my Leica gear since and reducing my other gear—and now Leica the basis of my main kit again, with M-P typ 240, X, a nice small kit of lenses, and an MM246 on the way.

I even re-acquired a Hasselblad SWC in 2013 as well. ;-)

G
"All true journeys are circles that take you home."

 

[jsrockit]

How many of you have moved away from Leica? What caused your move and are you happy with your choice?

I've moved away from the M and now user mirrorless / DSLRs. These fit my photography better (better tool for me), but the M will always have the best emotional appeal in my opinion. Once in awhile I think of buying one again, but I know I won't use it enough to warrant it.

 

[ktmrider]

Have owned Leicas and various SLR's (mostly Nikon) since 1974. I have sold the M's numerous times but I keep coming back to them. I still have not decided if I prefer digital or film but I now have two 1959 M2's (one is mint and just purchased from Sherry).

I actually now find that the rangefinder viewing on the M's is my preferred world view. Have a Nikon F and R6.2 for when I need SLR capability.

So, I could see myself selling everything but one M2 with a 35 and perhaps a 90 and an incident meter.

 

[cz23]

I've moved on. The only thing left from my M days is a Voigtlander 25 Snapshot Skopar, which I kept because I love the focus click stops for zone focusing on the X-Pro. And the GR opened me to a more spontaneous way of working that makes Ms feel heavy and slow and cumbersome. Never say never, but I doubt I'll go back to Leica.

John

 

[Ben Z]

The reason I still use Leicas is because I never used them exclusively. Always had other kinds of cameras as well. I've got hammers, pliers, screwdrivers and wrenches in my toolkit. Never seemed sensible to have only one tool in my camera kit either.

 

[traveler_101]

I had to decide whether or not to get further into Leica by moving to an M camera -- and have decided against it.

I bought a IIIf and that camera is still a romance--I love it; I will never sell it; but it is limited and I wanted to try a M. When I finally got my hands on a M6, I was impressed by the quality, but there was no love: it felt big and heavy in my hands. The costs of the cameras and the lenses are also uncomfortable: I am not serious enough to warrant that kind of outlay.

I changed course and just recently got a Voigtlander Bessa-R for $200 teamed with a pair of Voigtlander 35mm lenses. I also have a Bessa-T as well as the IIIf. I have six screw mount lenses (only one is a Leica).

I am not going further into 35mm film. And so I guess I will never have a 'proper' Leica. I could see moving into medium frame, however - at some point.

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

Sold all my stuff a few years ago and used an X100 for a while, mostly because I was spending more time making music and needed some recording equipment. But I bought an M6 last week. I missed Leica a lot. Ms are fun and feel better to use than other cameras, for me anyway. Would like to get back into Leica digital too, if some money comes my way. But for now, film.

 

[Ljós]

Is there life after Leica?

Is there life after Leica?

Existence, yes. Life, no ;-)

Do miss my M2 a lot. Will get one again, eventually. At the same time I realize and appreciate that my Oly OM-1 is "better" in some instances than the rangefinder. Still, miss the M2.

Greetings, Ljós

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

Also, hi, Helen, good to see you again!

 

[Darshan]

Sure.

I had an M4 and a few M/ltm lenses a few years ago. I didn't really bond with the RF focusing and its size/handling. Despite wanting to like it a lot, it just wasn't for me. I liked looking at it but couldn't stand >$1500 invested in gear that I didn't prefer using. I then acquired an OM2n with a 50 & 28 and it's been great so far. Love it's handling and the giant VF. Best of all, it cost me <$200 and I don't think I have seen any deterioration in the quality of my photographs. It's built is very solid and I haven't had any issues in 4+ years of using it. Sold the M4 and lenses and I am enjoying it.

 

[CK Dexter Haven]

Sold my M7 because I found I really didn't like composing and focusing through a rangefinder. Shortly thereafter, bought another, because the call to use those great lenses was so strong. So that M7, for the same reasons. Frustration over seeing 'extraneous stuff' I. The vf, and not being able to focus on moving stuff or off-center.

Bought an Ikon thereafter. Still - those lenses and the legacies of rf photogs in history brought me back. But, again, that was not a long experiment. Sold the ikon about six years ago, and I've been happy to not rely on rangefinders ever since.

It helped that Leica switched to being a digital company and my interest in Leica/35mm rangefinders was always about a 'classic' FILM rendering. I have no interest in paying 8 grand for a digital body that isn't 'medium format.'

I like SLRs.

And still, whenever i see a picture of an M4 or an MP, either pristine or beautifully worn, I get the pangs again. But I'm more interested in the beauty of the camera design than in actually looking through one.

 

[BillBingham2]

Yeah, but it wasn't the digital thing that did it in for me. I loved my Ms for many year but then I held a a Nikon S2. It's not that I don't love the M series, it's that I REALLY love the way a nikon blends into my hands.

It's still a thrill holding an M, but it's a MUCH BIGGER THRILL to hold a Nikon RF.

B2

 

[johannielscom]

Sure.

I had an M4 and a few M/ltm lenses a few years ago. I didn't really bond with the RF focusing and its size/handling. Despite wanting to like it a lot, it just wasn't for me. I liked looking at it but couldn't stand >$1500 invested in gear that I didn't prefer using. I then acquired an OM2n with a 50 & 28 and it's been great so far. Love it's handling and the giant VF. Best of all, it cost me <$200 and I don't think I have seen any deterioration in the quality of my photographs. It's built is very solid and I haven't had any issues in 4+ years of using it. Sold the M4 and lenses and I am enjoying it.

Can relate to that. In my case it was a Pentax MX kit that did the last little Leica III-syn in: even smaller than an Olympus, 3 lenses and under EUR 100.
Recently I even sold the MX kit to fund an old Telle Rolleiflex.

 

[Nokton48]

Sold all my Leica stuff and moved on. Quite a lot of gear.
Believe it or not, I prefer the Minolta SRT system (my first good SLR).
I've used just about everything at one point or another, I'm comfortable.
The glass is fantastic. No wonder they hooked up with Leitz.

 

[Bob Michaels]

Did anyone have a life before Leica?

 

[dave lackey]

Why would I ever sell my Leica?

The thing is cheap, doesn't eat much, and needs just a little exercise so upkeep is no big deal. I reckon I will keep it.😛

I guess I can't answer the question.

 

[efirmage]

I sold my Leica gear a few years ago. Bought a Nikon d800, which produced fantastic images, but no fun in shooting it. I'd consider one again if I was relying on a camera for a livelihood. As that wasn't the case, I sold it for an X-E1, which I haven't bonded with. It has the potential to be a great camera, but the images I get from it require too much post for me to love it.

I recently bought an M6 which is just gorgeous, and I'll be starting with a 35mm Biogon, then adding the 50mm Summicron, to get back to where I was before I sold things off. As I don't have as much time as I used to, I'll pay to get the images scanned and try to make each image count.