Leica M EV1 First Review - It's Bad

[Ken Ford]

As my eyes slowly slide off the cracker (to mix my metaphors) I find EVFs easier to work with - so I’ll be looking at these or the next iteration. It would require selling off my M-P240 and M246, though.

 

[LCT]

Interesting note about the flickering, was the ISO set to auto? That might have explained the finder behavior. Mine did something similar in high-contrast situations. My SL2 does the same thing. Manual ISO: smooth as a quiet lake, even in proximity to LEDs.

M11 owners might clue me in here: the EV1 seems really savvy at auto-detecting NON-6bit lenses, like my old 21 or 90. M10 doesn't do this. Does the M11? Pretty cool.

Got flickering issues with the MEV1 too. Setting Exposure preview to Off or Shutter Button Half-Pressed did fix the issue, don't ask me why. As for uncoded lenses, neither M11 nor MEV1 can detect them automatically. They just iD uncoded lenses as if they were the last lens manually coded in the camera.

 

[bjorke]

Got flickering issues with the MEV1 too. Setting Exposure preview to Off or Shutter Button Half-Pressed did fix the issue, don't ask me why. As for uncoded lenses, neither M11 nor MEV1 can detect them automatically. They just iD uncoded lenses as if they were the last lens manually coded in the camera.

Re flicker: I have seen flicker when the shutter speed is set high (say, 1/500) but it vanishes when I reduce if to 1/60 or so.

As for the auto-sensing: it's the darnedest thing, I thought it was pulling from my favorites, but it might have been illusory.

Then I started thinking with my engineer's hat: how *could* they do this? And realized that since the camera has a gyro and a list of lenses and an always-on image processor, you could calibrate image changes with known rotations in real time, detecting field of view and mapping that back to the closest available pre-chosen lens. It *could* be possible... but if it were being done, I'd think they'd be trumpeting it, considering it does little to sell *new* lenses.

 

[Obphoto]

I’m a perfect target for this camera. I’ve got the M262 and Q2 Monochrom. Used to shoot with an M6. Also have and use the Fuji X100 (original version which is slow as shit but such a great film like quality to the images), Fuji X-Pro2. I’m moving from part time to full time true documentary wedding photography. Small, discreet to move around easily and blend in to capture real, authentic images. Leica M bodies fit this perfectly. I tested out the EV-1 with a 90mm f2 and WOW! It was crazy easy to nail the focus many times faster than I ever could with the rangefinder patch.

In my opinion, this is the perfect camera for me and my clients who are after the product I produce.

 

[Freakscene]

Re flicker: I have seen flicker when the shutter speed is set high (say, 1/500) but it vanishes when I reduce if to 1/60 or so.

As for the auto-sensing: it's the darnedest thing, I thought it was pulling from my favorites, but it might have been illusory.

Then I started thinking with my engineer's hat: how *could* they do this? And realized that since the camera has a gyro and a list of lenses and an always-on image processor, you could calibrate image changes with known rotations in real time, detecting field of view and mapping that back to the closest available pre-chosen lens. It *could* be possible... but if it were being done, I'd think they'd be trumpeting it, considering it does little to sell *new* lenses.

There is approaching zero chance that the M11 processor has the computational power to do this in real time, let alone that Leica would use all that processing power to code legacy lenses that they want you to replace. My M11M definitely has no idea what uncoded lens is mounted on it. It simply reverts to the last lens code used.

 

[JoeV]

Lumix cameras also have a “shutter speed preview” function that will give you similar annoying flickering under certain exposure conditions. It’s a feature I never use.

 

[bjorke]

There is approaching zero chance that the M11 processor has the computational power to do this in real time, let alone that Leica would use all that processing power to code legacy lenses that they want you to replace. My M11M definitely has no idea what uncoded lens is mounted on it. It simply reverts to the last lens code used.

Yeah, I sorted out how that illusion occurred, some time ago.

I do think it's possible by comparing the gyro to live-processed images, but not with the stuttering Maestro processor, as you say.

Meanwhile, I've found it's a great camera, and while the dark finder is odd during startup, it's actually faster to power-on and be click-ready than my M10-R. I use them as a pair and they're both great even in really cold conditions. Lightweight too.

EV1, 35 'lux