The Feel of an M

dave lackey

dave lackey

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Yesterday, my daughter-in-law dropped off a couple of rolls of film she came across and gave them to me for me to use now that she is "all digital". She made the comment that she loved the smell of film.;) Guess I have been around film so long that I don't think about it. I still am struck with the taste of film everytime I get a leader wound up in the cassette and have to lick another piece of film to get it out!

But, it coincided with my selling the D40 and pondering some gear adjustments. I have no digital cameras left and I can't say that I miss any of them (all Nikon DSLR's, dating back to 1999 and as new as 2008). I still enjoy the M3 and the R4 as much as the first day I held them. The smell of film being loaded never strikes me but something else does. The camera.

I have four more documentaries lined up and with the completion of the first small town essay, I have a firm grip on the costs associated with producing a book. I have confirmed that there is no way to make any money producing a limited run photo essay in printed form. Regardless of the images being shot with film or digital. The costs of travel, photographer's time, etc. far exceeds anything one can make selling photo essays in book form.

I am looking at a lot of choices in digital cameras but only the M works for me. I may settle on an X1 but I doubt it. I hate not having the M feel. Or the M VF. Or the lens choices. Or a camera similar to the M3 in feel and operation. Or the character of the Summarit or Summicron that I use on my film bodies. And I absolutely HATE, read that as HATE, LCD screens and live view.:rolleyes:

I can pick up a D3 and shoot it as second nature. No problems. No love either. I can pick up the Leica X1 and go insane trying to compose on the LCD screen. Same with any digital compact. But, the M8 and M9, I can live with very well if only I had the cash, not likely any time soon. They feel like a part of me now, that becomes invisible, or more of a natural extension to that entity known as me, the photographer. Maybe that MP is what I really need for half the price of an M9. Or maybe an M8 for a thousand less than that.:confused:

So, there truly is a feel to the M bodies (somewhat akin to the smell of film) but in this case, the format doesn't matter. I appear to have been marked for life....:eek:
 
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I agree Dave. However, that addiction to the feel of a Leica means that you end up spending a lot of cash...
 
jsrockit said:
I agree Dave. However, that addiction to the feel of a Leica means that you end up spending a lot of cash...
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Hence my pain.

I am holding off on my next essay due to the cost of processing and scanning. If I could learn the developing part and get a decent scanner, I would press on with my current gear. But the last essay cost me out-of-pocket about $1100 and I am extremely happy with the results.

So, I am thinking of licensing all of the photos along with one printed copy of the documentary to the City for a lump sum. If that can offset the costs, then I won't need a digital M. Yet.
 
aperture64 said:
Only thing I will add to the 'feel' of the M is the feel of the Barnack cameras. I just picked up another one because I missed the one I sold. They are a bargain now.
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Remarkably, just last night I was thinking about a similar post to Dave's OP -but regarding the Barnack's.

I love my M's, both film and digital -but having recently used my IIIc/f for a "challenge" over at LUF -I had forgotten how much pleasure I get from them!
 
Ridiculous ... it is the feel of a well-designed camera NOT a Leica M you have thus described ... even something as cheap as a Nikon FM will reproduce this feel (or as close to as to not matter) all without having to switch off an LCD ... you may believe in "magic" (and believe a "Leica M" to be it's source - in which case you should know that Satan walks amongst us ... yes there are "Leica M" cameras with LCD's !!), but a more considered stance on your part would better behove your argument and prevent it from lapsing into a mush-riddled inconsistency which could be picked apart by anyone who has studied Logic 101 or ever written a post on DPreview.

PS - The R4 whose virtues you extoll is NOT an "M" camera either !
 
DamenS said:
Ridiculous ... it is the feel of a well-designed camera NOT a Leica M you have thus described ... even something as cheap as a Nikon FM will reproduce this feel (or as close to as to not matter) all without having to switch off an LCD ... you may believe in "magic" (and believe a "Leica M" to be it's source - in which case you should know that Satan walks amongst us ... yes there are "Leica M" cameras with LCD's !!), but a more considered stance on your part would better behove your argument and prevent it from lapsing into a mush-riddled inconsistency which could be picked apart by anyone who has studied Logic 101 or ever written a post on DPreview.

PS - The R4 whose virtues you extoll is NOT an "M" camera either !
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Hmmm, the OP isn't allowed to have an opinion? Are we not allowed to agree that we prefer the M over all other cameras?

Sure, there are a lot of great cameras out there... but to us, there is something special about a Leica M. Unless you are immune to ergonomics, you will prefer one camera over another.
 
Wow. I have some comments and questions. One: I agree with your daughter about the smell of film. I've always loved it. Two: Tell me more about your method of fishing the leader back out of the cassette.
As to the feel of the M camera, I too love the way the M3 "disappears" when I'm using it. after a few minutes, I don't even feel the weight of it. As you say, it just becomes part of you. I've never had a digital camera other than a cast-off from my wife that I use for eBay and the like, but I'll keep shooting film till they stop making it. The feel of the M3 has a lot to with that.
 
P.S. DamenS, If a Leica M doesn't make you believe in magic, you're not doing it right. I've got forty years of this stuff under my belt, with virtually every kind of camera that uses film, and when my kids gave me my first Leica M for my 60th birthday, I spent about a year thinking like you, wondering what all the fuss was about. Then one otherwise insignificant picture suddenly made the lights come on, and I understood the Leica magic. It's there. It just takes a while. But it's not for everyone.
 
well, i don't believe in leica magic...nice cameras but...

the longer i hang out here at rff the less i enjoy gear talk...i know, who woulda thunk it?

i'll always enjoy (i hope) a good camera bag thread, but camera talk is wearing me down lately...i am much more interested in image chat of late.
 
Same boat, Dave. I have partial love (it could never be complete) with the ownership of a NEX 3 and the M Mount adapter, but I do not kid myself, it is not the same.
 
back alley said:
well, i don't believe in leica magic...nice cameras but...

the longer i hang out here at rff the less i enjoy gear talk...i know, who woulda thunk it?

i'll always enjoy (i hope) a good camera bag thread, but camera talk is wearing me down lately...i am much more interested in image chat of late.
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Well Joe I also have moments like you. You know in and out. The Gear, the experience, the photos, to me it is all good.
 
The Feel of an M

The Feel of an M

Vic, I'm with ya man! I got my first M this year at age 61, and have used many others. Favorites for their feeling (& images they can produce):

Leica M's
Deardorff's
Hasselblad's

waltere
 
After picking up an M7, I decided to sell my MP. Was entirely OK with the decision... until I starting taking photos of it for a buyer (with a Canon 50D).

Had to email him back and explain - he was very understanding.

So apparently I like the feel and look of the M so much, I have 2!

And no, even though I use and like my R4A, it isn't the same.
 
I am cold-hearted and cynical about gear acquisition especially -- I've even sold the old XA I bought with loan money in college -- but in the end, a Leica film camera experience is special, and somehow I do indeed get different -- usually better -- photos than I do using a modern auto-focus body.
 
I like rangefinder cameras, and the M9 and the M8 are rangefinders. They use the lenses that I like. Today, I had a new ZM C-Sonnar and a 1939 Sonnar "T" on it. I like using an optical viewfinder to focus and compose.

Is it magic? No- it is 1930s technology transported into the 21st century.
 
the FEEL of the Leica M is the greatest thing about it. The actual experience of using them is so delightful, that it can outweigh the possible (some would say inevitable) problems that you may incounter with the camera.
 
Frank Version Two said:
I am cold-hearted and cynical about gear acquisition especially -- I've even sold the old XA I bought with loan money in college -- but in the end, a Leica film camera experience is special, and somehow I do indeed get different -- usually better -- photos than I do using a modern auto-focus body.
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+10 Frank!:D

If only I could afford the M9, keeping the M3, add an MP and a couple of lenses to fill the hole in front of the other two M bodies, I would be in heaven.:angel:

The R4 would fill the gap for any macro work that I do! Not to mention the super cool Lux lenses that are quite reasonably priced even these days!;)
 
Brian Sweeney said:
I like rangefinder cameras, and the M9 and the M8 are rangefinders. They use the lenses that I like. Today, I had a new ZM C-Sonnar and a 1939 Sonnar "T" on it. I like using an optical viewfinder to focus and compose.

Is it magic? No- it is 1930s technology transported into the 21st century.
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The fact that Leica actually transported it into the 21st Century is an act of magic itself IMO!:) We are all the better for it!
 
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