M9?

I'm having alot of fun with the A7 and I will keep it, but tonite I bit the bullet and bought an M9, which just had it's sensor replaced by Leica.

Knock on wood 🙂

After looking at many many images, the M9 seems to be unbeatable 28 and wider, by anything.

Congrats! The M9 has a number of areas that it's unbeatable. You're gonna like it.
 
I'm having alot of fun with the A7 and I will keep it, but tonite I bit the bullet and bought an M9, which just had it's sensor replaced by Leica.

Knock on wood 🙂

After looking at many many images, the M9 seems to be unbeatable 28 and wider, by anything.



I'll be curious to hear your honest opinion of the camera once you've had it a few weeks. It's a camera that could appear in my future due to the fact that I will not pay the asking price of the MM and I have some beautiful Zeiss lenses in the cupboard that are pining for a full frame RF.
 
Congratulations. A great camera. Mine's been with me every day for nearly two years. Code those lenses as 21 2.8 pre-ASPH. The ZM 18 finder is great but expensive. Given my use of that lens almost entirely for architecture, often on a tripod, I can just check the last shot and adjust. I am hardly using my wide finders at all. Love the SHOOC for the 135 and the SVGOO for the 90 though.
 
TY so much for tips

after some research I may break down and get a frankenfinder for use with my zm18 and CV 21.

But I'm also reading a thumbs up is really nice. Which thumbs up model for use with frankenfinder, and does this effect the finder?

Also looking for case and strap recommendations 🙂

Love the SHOOC for the 135 and the SVGOO for the 90 though.

I need to look into these, as I want to use my TE90 and Canon LTM 135--or other 135 if I can afford one 🙂
 
Case: a more than usual nuisance.
Thumbs-up: people say it is a necessity, with some reason. I simply refused to encumber the camera in that way. I want it as compact as possible. And I often hold the camera with the back to my palm and my thumb on the shutter release button for candid shots and a thumbs up would get in the way. Similarly, carrying it on my chest would be uncomfortable. I loop the strap around my wrist and the camera can hang from there making it easier to hold onto.
Frankenfinder: you'll hate it.
 
This is another of "would you buy" threads. I am still primarily a film shooter with the only digital I own being an X100. I have an M6 and M2 with five M mount lenses. I am traveling to SE Asia for 30 days in February and then around the world with my daughter in the summer.

I think about traveling with film and I think about traveling with just the X100. I am about equally torn with the tech advantage going toward digital (but hate carrying the charger, extra batteries etc) but for some unknown reason, I don't mind carrying film.

I would enjoy using a couple of my M mount lenses (21/35/90 or 21/50/90) so am thinking of a used M9 or Sony A7. I know the used M9 still costs double the A7. There are no camera stores in El Paso so I must get to one to try the A7 with some of my legacy lenses before making a decision.

I have used Leica M's since 1975 and enjoy the rangefinder but have also used my share of SLR's which I imagine is similar to the A7 and saving a couple thousand would not be a bad thing.

So, in your opinion is an used M9 worth $4000? M9 or A7 or Nikon DF or a film M with a couple lenses?
Get the M8 instead.
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I first got a used M8, followed a year later by a used M9. I mostly take photos of my family and of the subtle colors of the beaches and the ocean. Both cameras do great for such situations. Both are bargains when bought used.
 
Congratulations. A great camera. Mine's been with me every day for nearly two years. Code those lenses as 21 2.8 pre-ASPH. The ZM 18 finder is great but expensive. Given my use of that lens almost entirely for architecture, often on a tripod, I can just check the last shot and adjust. I am hardly using my wide finders at all. Love the SHOOC for the 135 and the SVGOO for the 90 though.

The Zm finder is also misaligned because Leica has a different position for the accessory shoe. You might as well get the Leica finder.
 
I'll be curious to hear your honest opinion of the camera once you've had it a few weeks. It's a camera that could appear in my future due to the fact that I will not pay the asking price of the MM and I have some beautiful Zeiss lenses in the cupboard that are pining for a full frame RF.
Keith, of course many people are, and have been, in this position. Back in February I had decided to buy a new M-E (for color), when a dealer in Paris (where I was at the time) offered me a new M9-P that was still available at the Leica promotional price that had expired on the previous December 31. That means I got the new M9-P for a couple of hundred euros more than the price of an M-E.

At that time I had an M-Monochrom for B&W and was shooting color with the Ricoh GXR M-Module. While the GXR M-Module is a very good camera, I found that I [1] really wanted to use my Leica lenses with a full-frame camera to get the full characteristic of each lens, [2] disliked using the focus peaking system although it worked well, and [3] found that I could only get near the type of color rendition that I wanted by using Raw Photo Process (RPP), but that required long, extensive and careful processing of almost every shot.

What pushed me over the fence to decide on the M-E (and to buy the M9-P) was a statement by Charles Peterson, a Seattle photographer who had showed me his personal color work that I found to be outstanding: he wrote that the he felt that the color rendition of the M9 was more like that of color slide film while that of CMOS-sensor cameras was more like that of color negative film — and that is also what I saw in his personal color work. Since then he also wrote the following, which I think is spot-on: I do think that the higher iso's on the M9 are vastly underrated, and in general much prefer the image quality of the M9 to the M240. The M9 (and Monochrom by de facto) imo are truly two of the most unique digital cameras out there when it comes to the quality of the image. Not the "best" on paper but they have a look, an "umami" as the Japanese might say, that no other 35mm digital camera, comes close to.

At that point I had seen some of the color owing out of the M240, which I found troubling, and decided that I would get the M-E while they were still available. Currently, I don't know what's happening to used M9 prices although they have been low. Once I started shooting color with the M9-P, I never looked back...

MITCH ALLAND/Bangkok
Download links for book project pdf files
Chiang Tung Days
Tristes Tropiques
Bangkok Hysteria
Paris au rythme de Basquiat and Other Poems
 
traded all my Fuji gears for an M9 and am really happy with my decision.
I love the color that comes out from this camera, most of the time all I have to do is adjust the tone curve.
The price may be a little high, but at least I know that all my M lens will work perfectly on both my digital and film Leicas.

My 2c between the A7/r and M9.
Buy the A7/r if you want an inexpensive FF digital camera, buy an M9 if you want a FF digital range finder camera.
I played with the A7/r for a couple of minutes at The Camera Store and did not like it one bit.
Horrible shutter sound, body not comfortable to hand hold, even with grip, shutter button in the wrong place (IMO it should have been where the front dial is).
Price and IQ is good so if you can live with those cons, then it will be fantastic camera.
 
Case: a more than usual nuisance.
Thumbs-up: people say it is a necessity, with some reason. I simply refused to encumber the camera in that way. I want it as compact as possible. And I often hold the camera with the back to my palm and my thumb on the shutter release button for candid shots and a thumbs up would get in the way. Similarly, carrying it on my chest would be uncomfortable. I loop the strap around my wrist and the camera can hang from there making it easier to hold onto.
Frankenfinder: you'll hate it.
That's why I love this place. LOL

Love the input.

How careful with M9 do you need to be in the rain?

The sony A7 is a great camera, and has inspired me to take alot of pics lately. I think the M9/A7 combo will be killer. A7r is native beast only IMHO. Even my 50 elmar had no edges at f/8. 35/2.5 CV unusable. But the plain A7 is much much better, but still not in league of M9 with RF 35 and below, CV 35/1.2 excepted which is OK on R and great on plain A7.

I ride around in the backcountry alot shooting landscapes. I'm hoping to use M9 with small lenses, like the CV 21 and 35/2.5, 50 cron CV 75/2.5, all of which I have. The M9 size put me off, but the A7 has me used to it now, and I can't wait to see those tiny CVs really work. Also I have a 28 cron, coded. That, I really can't wait to see.

I appreciate all the insight, 🙂
 
The M9. Great camera. I hear there's a fine one for sale in the classifieds. (OK, it's my own, but it's still a great camera.)
 
They (Leica Solms) say the moisture from condensation (out->in) is not good for the cam.... wrap in plastic bag for warming up, maybe, if it is very cold outside.
 
Keith, of course many people are, and have been, in this position. Back in February I had decided to buy a new M-E (for color), when a dealer in Paris (where I was at the time) offered me a new M9-P that was still available at the Leica promotional price that had expired on them previous December 31. That means I got the new M9-P for a couple of hundred euros more than the price of an M-E.

At that time I had an M-Monochrom for B&W and was shooting color with the Ricoh GXR M-Module. While the GXR M-Module is a very good camera, I found that I [1] really wanted to use my Leica lenses with a full-frame camera to get the full characteristic of each lens, [2] disliked using the focus peaking system although it worked well, and [3] found that I could only get near the type of color rendition that I wanted by using Raw Photo Process (RPP), but that required long, extensive and careful processing of almost every shot.

What pushed me over the fence to decide on the M-E (and to buy the M9-P) was a statement by Charles Peterson, a Seattle photographer who had showed me his personal color work that I found to be outstanding: he wrote that the he felt that the color rendition of the M9 was more like that of color slide film while that of CMOS-sensor cameras was more like that of color negative film — and that is also what I saw in his personal color work. Since then he also wrote the following, which I think is spot-on: I do think that the higher iso's on the M9 are vastly underrated, and in general much prefer the image quality of the M9 to the M240. The M9 (and Monochrom by de facto) imo are truly two of the most unique digital cameras out there when it comes to the quality of the image. Not the "best" on paper but they have a look, an "umami" as the Japanese might say, that no other 35mm digital camera, comes close to.

At that point I had seen some of the color owing out of the M240, which I found troubling, and decided that I would get the M-E while they were still available. Currently, I don't know what's happing to used M9 prices although they have been low. Once I started shooting color with the M9-P, I never looked back...

—Mitch/Bangkok
Tristes Tropiques [Direct download link for 46 MB PDF file]



Thanks for that Mitch ... definitely some food for thought there! 🙂
 
OMG, just got my new M9 and took a few test shots. I'm in heaven.

Unpacking is turbo apple in presentation.

A real manual!!!

Menus simple and easy.

Shutter? Soft and discreet is awesome.

Hit my focus with RF and my glasses. (diopter coming).

Maybe in the end I will curse it, but for now it's teenage love/lust 🙂
 
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