I quite like the M7's AE lock feature as it is. Much easier to half press and hold the shutter release button than fiddle around searching for another button to press with your thumb while framing.
Leica MP and M7, Ten years on
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I quite like the M7's AE lock feature as it is. Much easier to half press and hold the shutter release button than fiddle around searching for another button to press with your thumb while framing.
kingqueenknave
Well-known
I think losing the DX reader would make the M7 just about perfect.
Sumolux
Established
Have to agree, but for me M4.
With my BP M4, I cannot imagine anything really better....The grip of the covering, weight, feel, sound - this camera is like sex to use, and has never disappointed.
The only issue indeed is the metering aspect. I often just wish I could have a built in meter for quick reactions to a passing subject. The MP feeling comes up....
Then I think again about how inaccurate meters can be in difficult situations, giving no promise of perfect results, and the MP feeling slips away and gets forgotten.
My current solution is to use the new Ricoh GR for the quick stuff (travel pics for home, friends and such) and the M4 for anything else where a little more time is available.
The MP is a fine machine, but for the slight improvements it offers over the M6, I find it hard to justify the price, and the GR is great for everything that needs to be done fast and easy...
Sumolux
kingqueenknave
Well-known
I'm glad my MP bodies allow me to take pictures without thinking about sex.
sc_rufctr
Leica nuts
Lauffray
Invisible Cities
I once read something about that, apparently the higher shutter speeds would put too much stress on the cloth curtains or something like that. The digitals go higher than 1/1000s
Harry Lime
Practitioner
I really dislike how in the ZF finder the RF patch remains stationary, while the frame lines move to compensate for parallax....
Harry Lime
Practitioner
Well, the whole point of having AE is not having to do that in a fast moving situation...
I would like a AE lock button. It would store that meter reading until you took another one. No need to hold it down.
Pioneer
Veteran
Hey, it is no problem. While framing stick the thumb of your right hand directly against the side of your head, then press it against the camera. I hit it every time. 🙂 Once set, it stays that way for 20 seconds.
Of course, the fact that you cannot find the AE button is probably not the reason you prefer using the M7. 😀
Harry Lime
Practitioner
Yes, until you need to take another shot of the same subject and miss the moment because you are retaking the reading you just took a few seconds ago. So you end up not using the AE, when you should be and in that case you may as well have bought an MP.
You would have trouble finding a button that is under where your thumb is already resting, when you are holding the camera? Really?
It's a serious design flaw on the part of Leica. The solution they came up with works for one off shots, but it's seriously flawed if you need to take multiple shots. You know, like if you are doing documentary work, which is one field they say the M7 with its AE is so ideal for.
kingqueenknave
Well-known
It's more of a design choice than a design flaw. What you're addressing hasn't been an issue for me while using the M7. For the most part, the camera, especially the AE and AE lock, functions brilliantly.
Pioneer
Veteran
Most design flaws were actually choices made by someone when the camera was being designed. Doesn't change the fact they are a flaw.
THAT would be a big improvement!
Pioneer, you lost me there.... are you talking about the ZI? 😕
I actually prefer my ZI over my now sold M7 😀
Your thumb must rest in a different position from mine because I find the AE lock button on both my ZI and FM3A ergonomically awkward.
Lauffray
Invisible Cities
Harry Lime
Practitioner
If you are taking a single shot and then move on, it works fine.
If you are shooting a static object, it works fine.
If you always frame the object you are using to take your 18% reading center frame, then it works fine.
If you are taking a series of frames and reframing away from your metering area, it doesn't work, because you need to reframe to what you were initially using for your 18% reading every time you want to take another shot.
That's why almost every other camera ever designed with AE has a button to lock the reading.
You read your 18% area (face, grass in sunlight etc), lock the metering, take a few shots and move on to another reading.
With the M7 Leica designed a one shot metering system.
kingqueenknave
Well-known
Is it flawed if it works exactly as designed? I don't think so. For example, the original seal on the MP eyepiece was a design flaw, as it was designed to keep dust out of the finder and failed. The M7 AE lock was designed to lock exposure values and it does so perfectly, and most users never complain about the location of the locking mechanism. How is it then a design flaw? Is the M3 flawed because it doesn't have 35mm frame lines? Is the M2 flawed because it doesn't have 28mm frame lines? Is my V35 enlarger flawed because it can't enlarge MF negatives? I doubt it. All of these things work as designed.
Harry Lime
Practitioner
I agree that on the ZM the button could be closer to the advance lever, instead of dead center. It could also be a little bigger. But at least the ZM has a button..
I don't see how the FM3a gets this wrong? Where else would you put the AE-lock button?
Harry Lime
Practitioner
Just because something works exactly as it was designed, does it mean that it is a good design. They are two different things.
That is an actual design flaw. As the seal was designed, it failed to serve it's purpose.
The AE system only works half the time.
If you are taking a single shot it works perfectly. Meter, recompose for subject (optional), take shot, done.
If you want to quickly take a series of shots with the same reading it reveals its design flaw, because the meter reading is not stored and you need to take another reading after each shot. If you do not the M7 will expose for whatever it is pointing at on the next shot.
As it currently is:
Meter 18% area, recompose for subject, take shot, recompose to 18% area to retake metering, recompose for subject, take shot, repeat.
What it should be:
Meter 18% area and lock reading, reframe for subject, take sequence of shots with stored meter reading, move on.
So, Leica designed a perfect one shot metering system, that fails completely when you attempt to shoot a sequence of images.
No, those are feature choices on the part of the designer, not design flaws.
If you shoot 28/35 and buy an M3 then that is a poor purchasing decision on the part of the consumer.
The v35 was never intended to support medium format. It's a 135 format enlarger. It would only be a design flaw if they had poorly implemented MF support.
Just because something works exactly as it was designed, does it mean that it is a good design. They are two different things.
kingqueenknave
Well-known
Perhaps you used a poor choice of words when you originally referred to the M7 AE lock as a design flaw. Maybe the debate should be centered around good design and bad design, something that's clearly subjective.
Did Leica design and implement a multi-shot AE lock for the M7? If not, the current AE lock seems like a design feature, a lot like the various features found on the M2, M3 and V35. The M7 AE lock is only truly flawed if you intend to use it in a way it wasn't designed to be used in.
Harry Lime
Practitioner
I don't know. I studied industrial design and it sure looks like a design flaw to me. I once pointed it out to a Leica rep and he did not exactly give me an argument that it is...., quirky.
Leica is not perfect. They produce great cameras, but everyone stumbles every once and a while.
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