The Leica M Edition 60 and the deconstruction of the digital camera

[Genn]

I have to say about the M60

What about accuracy of exposure metering? Any tricks or know-how? Frequently I find out overexposured highlights or overall underexposure with M240 meter. There is no negative film shoulder to rely on.

Looking to your images I could guess - you simply moved Highlights recover slider to the right.

How did you solved blown highlights issue with M60?

 

[hamish_gill]

Hi, there is nothing enigmatic, crazy or deconstructivist about this camera.

Enigmatic, crazy or decontructivist are concepts that can be applied to ideas, proposals tambigous enough to produce serious questioning.

This leica move or better said this marketing product is so clear in it´s beginning and it´s end that really isn´t challenging at all.

It´s a luxurious capriccio.

Decontructivist comes to mind when i think about those soviet artists in the middle of a revolution that disappeared hundreds of years in just few months...

...i like leica but leica is not decontructivist...

😀

There is always someone cleverer ... ... 😉

 

[hamish_gill]

Thank you for the link.

I felt your review of the Edition 60 was interesting and very well thought out.

This is one of Leica's recent digital cameras that I have really been attracted to, at the same time that I have been repelled by. Attracted by the camera's feature set (or rather lack of feature set.) Repelled by the high cost (though the argument can be made that the total package is not that high priced.)

At this point my unwillingness to pay the price of entry overwhelms my attraction to the package. Of course, should this camera become part of Leica's everyday offerings at a price consistent with what it is, I may find it very hard to resist.

BTW - I also enjoyed your M-A review which I had not seen yet.

Thanks!

On the M-A, ive read a few of your comments about it on here before, actually in quite close proximity to a link I posted. I remember thinking, "that bloke should read my psot" ... So I'm pleased you have 🙂

 

[hamish_gill]

Great writeup Hamish! I am envious of your opportunity to try this kit.

The M60 seems like the perfect digital camera for the minimalist; I'd hoped my X-E1 would provide some of that experience but in reality it still very much feels like a digital camera. The R-D1 was the closest I've found to the "pure photography" experience on digital- I went as far as to tape the LCD shut to resist temptation- but the IQ is nowhere near the M60 I'm sure.

I can only hope that Cosina/Voigtlander takes pity on those of us that can't afford Leica collectors-edition prices and releases an updated, 135-format digital RF in the style of the R-D1 but perhaps with an "LCD-less" edition? (Stephen, put in a good word for us with your contacts 😉 )

I've always thought that is any brand were to have done it first it would have been them ...

 

[rpavich]

For myself, I'd LOVE a "more affordable" M60; more in line with the current M's and don't bother in including a lens. I love the idea of a digital film camera.

Nicely written article...well done.

 

[kshapero]

Certainly a fine review. After I read it, I went over a cuddled a few of my film cameras. Tactile, flawed and all.
Nice write up.

 

[SDK]

If Leica continues the concept, they should put strap lugs on the next model. It might also make sense to have an EVF connection for close focusing, manual review of pictures in camera, and use of non-M lenses with adapters. This would be optional, so the purest purists would not have to bother with it.

 

[Pioneer]

If Leica continues the concept, they should put strap lugs on the next model. It might also make sense to have an EVF connection for close focusing, manual review of pictures in camera, and use of non-M lenses with adapters. This would be optional, so the purest purists would not have to bother with it.

Hmm...might as well just buy an M?

Looking at the display screen is already optional though the majority can't resist the temptation to look, at least this once. I put tape over the display screen and controls on the back of my M9 a couple months ago and can't say I have been seriously inconvenienced by it. I carry a spare battery and memory card so I can change them out when the camera requires it (as in it quits working.)

 

[SDK]

Conversely, why bother with the making or buying the M60 when you can turn off the screen of the M 240 and ignore it when you don't need it, but then turn it on when you do need it. You don't even need the tape. 😉

 

[rpavich]

Conversely, why bother with the making or buying the M60 when you can turn off the screen of the M 240 and ignore it when you don't need it, but then turn it on when you do need it. You don't even need the tape. 😉

Well..it's just not the same.

When the ability is there...it "feels" different.

This is the same as when folks say "shooting with a fixed lens camera is freeing...no thoughts of changing lenses...just pure shooting" and then someone will say "but you don't have to change lenses...just leave one on"

but it's not the same, not mentally anyway. There IS a difference.

 

[willie_901]

Conversely, why bother with the making or buying the M60 when you can turn off the screen of the M 240 and ignore it when you don't need it, but then turn it on when you do need it. You don't even need the tape. 😉

This is exactly what I'm thinking. Just about any digital camera can be used without image review. Even my iPhone only shows a minuscule thumbnail image unless I decide otherwise

 

[Godfrey]

As rpavich said, "... it's just not the same ..."

When I walk with my M4-2, I have no way of seeing exposures I've made and there is no decision to not look at them: they're simply unavailable until sometime in the future. So I'm thinking in the present and the future. The past is not accessible, there is no decision to make.

With the M-P, I know that I can check any exposure I've made on my walk at any time, check my focus setting, check my DoF setting, etc. If I choose not to that's another decision to deal with. Past, present, and future are all accessible.

I'm comfortable with either, but there are times I wish I had the technical capability of the M-P with the M4-2's freedom from the past.

G

 

[Kwesi]

Just think of the M-P as an M4-2 with built in film, then proceed as normal

 

[Lss]

Conversely, why bother with the making or buying the M60 when you can turn off the screen of the M 240 and ignore it when you don't need it

For me, this is not the point of the camera design nor the implications to usability that one should consider.

The bulk of cameras today have a big screen on one side and a lens or a lens mount on the other side. The screen is usually surrounded with several tiny buttons and some buttons, wheels and switches are scattered here and there wherever some free space was found. The Leica M Edition 60, on the other hand, deviates from this screen-centric digital camera design. This is a digital camera design where traditional photographic controls are prioritized and simplified. It does not actually appear all that revolutionary as it looks like a hybrid between a film Leica and a digital Leica (which very much resembles a film Leica anyway). But I don't think the idea was to be revolutionary anyway; the idea was simply to go back to a purely capture-centric approach to photography which has been replaced for many users by a capture-and-review type of approach. (No need to argue merits of either, it's not the point.)

Leica have chosen to put a large ISO wheel on the back, a very traditional choice but one that is also very practical to many users. It can be argued that ISO setting is not a similar exposure parameter as shutter speed and aperture. Rightly so. However, people often use it as such, and this is probably another way digital photography has affected camera use. I certainly like the direct availability of the ISO setting, and it is a feature that is in most of my photography more fundamental than a screen that takes a whole lot of real estate on most cameras. I would use the ISO control, I don't really need the screen in most of my photography.

While the LCD screen on the Leica M8 is pretty much useless for many review needs, it is actually quite a manageable size for not compromising the design too much. The M8 design in this sense is however flawed, it offers no ISO control outside of the menu. Today, it would probably be difficult to introduce a camera the size of the M8 with a tiny little screen on the back, even if it was top-specced. I would however like it.

Note that Leica also makes the T system (well, a camera and a couple of lenses), which is a very screen-centric design. Actually more so than pretty much any competition. The iPhone, which is often called the most popular camera out there, is an example of taking that design approach to extremes. While I like the traditional approach, I also find it very interesting what is happening in this part of the market. The Leica T was for that reason one of the most interesting product launches in digital cameras in the past couple of years.

 

[Pioneer]

Conversely, why bother with the making or buying the M60 when you can turn off the screen of the M 240 and ignore it when you don't need it, but then turn it on when you do need it. You don't even need the tape. 😉

I know it's silly for a grown man to put tape on the back of his $5,000 camera. But...it is my camera and my tape.

If Leica ever does come out with an Edition 60 that is not an outrageously priced limited edition then I will know if I really could live with it.

Who knows? Maybe I'll decide in the end that I don't need to buy a new camera after all.