Leica M-D: Pure for the sake of . . . purity?

[Godfrey]

If you have money to burn then go for it, it looks like a fun concept and kind of sexy sleek with all the crap removed, I rarely use the LCD on my A7r and could easily live without it and I'm always set on Manual and using a Manual lens.. but 6k is way too rich for me, like many have said it would have been nice if they made it thinner.

... like many have said it would have been nice if they could have made it thinner. Of course, but they can't.

To me, it's really not a matter of simply being without an LCD. It's the whole camera concept ... The M-D is basically an M7 with a digital sensor. You think of using it, handling it, in exactly that same way. No options, nothing to distract you from the moment at hand. Set exposure, focus, frame, make picture. It's biggest advantage over said M7 is that you can adjust sensitivity on a per-frame basis. And of course, no film to process, scan, etc, saves a lot of time that you can put into making photographs, same as any other digital camera.

Saying "if you have money to burn" is somewhat irrelevant. Obviously, you shouldn't buy one if you can't afford it. If you can't afford Leica lenses, you shouldn't buy them either. If you can't afford an A7r, you shouldn't buy that either. So what? 🙂
G

 

[Fraser]

... like many have said it would have been nice if they could have made it thinner. Of course, but they can't.

To me, it's really not a matter of simply being without an LCD. It's the whole camera concept ... The M-D is basically an M7 with a digital sensor. You think of using it, handling it, in exactly that same way. No options, nothing to distract you from the moment at hand. Set exposure, focus, frame, make picture. It's biggest advantage over said M7 is that you can adjust sensitivity on a per-frame basis. And of course, no film to process, scan, etc, saves a lot of time that you can put into making photographs, same as any other digital camera.

Saying "if you have money to burn" is somewhat irrelevant. Obviously, you shouldn't buy one if you can't afford it. If you can't afford Leica lenses, you shouldn't buy them either. If you can't afford an A7r, you shouldn't buy that either. So what? 🙂
G

Thats the way I handle all my cameras be it film or digital, I can see your point its like shooting film without the hassle but on the other hand thats like every other digital camera.
For me I think the best thing about digital is seeing what you've just shot, I still remember the days in my first job working for a local paper shooting film it was not a nice experience wondering if you had something that could be used.
Good luck and enjoy the camera and the experience of taking pictures.

 

[Godfrey]

Thats the way I handle all my cameras be it film or digital, I can see your point its like shooting film without the hassle but on the other hand thats like every other digital camera.
For me I think the best thing about digital is seeing what you've just shot, I still remember the days in my first job working for a local paper shooting film it was not a nice experience wondering if you had something that could be used.
Good luck and enjoy the camera and the experience of taking pictures.

Thank you! I am enjoying it immensely. 🙂

There are times when an instant review is so compelling as to be essential. And that's when I pick up any of my other digital cameras. But for a good bit of my photography, I'm much more interested in what I'm going to photograph next rather than what I just photographed.

However, the main reason why I now pick the M-D over the M-P is because physically it is a much easier camera for me to handle. Like the SL, the M-D body is generously sized with respect to places to put my fingers without pressing on a button, or grabbing the LCD, etc: it handles like a film M and is far more comfortable to use, for me. It is a small thing that, in the end, I find very important.

G

 

[Vince Lupo]

Temporarily working on my laptop, so these may need a bit of reworking once I get my desktop back:


York4 by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


York3 by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


York1 by Vince Lupo, on Flickr

 

[Highway 61]

The third one is so good that having posted the other two might be kind of an editing mistake. 😉

 

[Godfrey]

All three are well done, but the last is terrific!

G

 

[Godfrey]

Leica M-D + Summilux 35mm f/1.4 v2
ISO 1000 @ f/4 @ 1/15

enjoy! G

 

[mcfingon]

Love the "communicating" couple Godfrey and the man outside the shack Vince.

 

[Vince Lupo]

Many thanks guys - I'm hoping to find a couple more in the mix from that afternoon's little photo excursion.

Hate to say it, but I'm preferring to use the M-D over my Monochrom 246.

 

[Vince Lupo]

York5 by Vince Lupo, on Flickr

 

[Godfrey]

Love the "communicating" couple Godfrey and the man outside the shack Vince.

Yes, thank you for the comments.

I have the same 'problem' as Vince: I'm preferring to use the M-D over the M-P. It's simply the right camera for me. 🙂

G

 

[mcfingon]

Yes, thank you for the comments.

I have the same 'problem' as Vince: I'm preferring to use the M-D over the M-P. It's simply the right camera for me. 🙂

G

That's maybe a little like my current preference for shooting film in my Leica III rather than my IIIf, M2 or M3. Less frills more thrills.

 

[Emile de Leon]

Seems that people are really digging the M-D..I have to get down to NYC to see one soon..
But you guys are in the "honeymoon" phase right now..
Lets see in 6 mos to a year...if the love continues..

 

[Lss]

Seems that people are really digging the M-D..I have to get down to NYC to see one soon..
But you guys are in the "honeymoon" phase right now..
Lets see in 6 mos to a year...if the love continues..

I don't see why it wouldn't. It must be a good camera.

 

[Vince Lupo]

Seems that people are really digging the M-D..I have to get down to NYC to see one soon..
But you guys are in the "honeymoon" phase right now..
Lets see in 6 mos to a year...if the love continues..

You're definitely right -- while I'm still enamored with my Monochrom 246, the M-D is threatening to make it my #2 camera. Hopefully a year from now I won't be lusting after yet another Leica. An M-D Monochrom perhaps?

 

[Vince Lupo]

WOW, 'york5' is just Great
reminds me of Tmax, so Smooth and Beautiful in Tones... Perfect PP for my eyes, ok well maybe a hint more light/midtone but Really it's Beautiful

Many thanks Helen -- I've been working off my small laptop for the past week, as my desktop has been out for service. I'm sure the recent photos will all need a bit of tweaking after things get back to normal around here. Photos processed via my laptop have a general tendency to come out a bit dark (despite my many screen calibrations).

 

[Godfrey]

Perhaps what Emile is getting at is that most folks embraced digital, at least in part, for its ability to provide instant feedback. The M-D still offers relatively quick feedback when compared to film. I'll be interested to see if all of its other pleasures outweigh this one feature over time. I doubt they would for me. Now, if I could own two digital Ms....

While it's definitely the 'honeymoon period' regards the time I have had the M-D, I have to say that it feels much like when I acquired the SL last November: it just felt "right" immediately, far more so than either M9 or M-P, and I find myself wanting to carry it all the time. The controls are just right, it seems to work extremely well with all my lenses, and so forth.

(bolded) My own take on this might be a little different from the average due to my personal history. I was already very familiar with the capabilities of image processing and how much more I could achieve with it based on the several years I spent working at a custom color lab and then doing digital image processing at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. What I wanted from the beginning has been a Leica M6 or Nikon F3 with a digital sensor replacing the film and little else.

I'm happy to have the SL instead of the F3 as I do use most of its features, even if only occasionally, but for my daily shooting desires the M-D is just about the perfect digital camera, for me.

G

 

[mcfingon]

It seems to me it's taken at least sixteen years for the best digital camera designers to admit that the best film camera designers had it right in the first place. Adding buttons and an LCD to an M7 does not make a better camera.

 

[Godfrey]

Leica M-D + M-Rokkor 90mm f/4
ISO 320 @ f/5.6 @ 1/1000​

enjoy! G

 

[Godfrey]

Thank you, Helen! Another ...

Leica M-D + Summilux 35mm f/1.4 v2
ISO 320 @ f/4.8 @ 1/2000​

Enjoy!
G