This is a *very* interesting thread. In my case, I did buy a digital M, the M8, about 7 months after the release, after the "gotchas" were known. I bought it because I'd been shooting Leica since about 1970. I had the essential lenses and wanted to shoot them digitally. At that time, Leica said that a full-frame digital M was impossible. Silly me, I believed them. I have not upgraded since, because the M9 didn't seem enough of an upgrade to warrant the loss of selling the M8 and buying again. So I'm still using it.
I don't regret my decision to buy an M8. With hindsight, I might have been better off waiting for the M9, where I could use my 50mm lenses as "fifties." Or at least I thought so until the M9 family's sensor delamination issue came to the forefront recently. Now my M8 is looking pretty good. I've gotten many great pictures with it, and I know it well enough to work around its shortcomings most of the time.
One aspect of Leica has not changed since the M3: A Leica M-anything focused by a well-practiced human is probably the best camera to capture fleeting human expressions in ordinary room light or dimmer conditions. There is no EVF lag, no autofocus delay, no evaluative exposure delay, and no mirror blackout. You look directly at what you're photographing, and you see the shot as you take it. Leica lenses render beautifully--both the classic lenses and the modern ASPHs, each in their own way.
The problem with buying a digital Leica is that what we *think* we're getting is not necessarily what we're actually getting. Digital has fundamentally changed some things. What we thought was true isn't necessarily so any longer.
The legacy of film Leicas and their role in the golden age of photojournalism can cloud our judgement. The film M was the ultimate available light camera. The M8 and M9 are not. They are still (technically) better than film, but a noisy shutter and noisy sensor mean that other digital cameras play better in that arena. Which is frustrating, because the other cameras are still less good at capturing "decisive moments."
The M8 and M9 produce stunningly good photos in good light. But we now had to deal with focus shift, which nobody but Noctilux owners had ever had to think about before. The mechanical Ms just worked and worked, could be easily fixed and adjusted by repair people who truly knew what they were doing, and would last a lifetime. The digital Ms, not so much. Considering how much they cost, that "not so much" is a deal-breaker for many. If I didn't have a lifetime of Leica shooting and a bunch of lenses, I wouldn't dream of getting into the system today.
The M240 has finally solved the noisy shutter issue, and both it and the MM have solved the high-ISO issue for most reasonable people. Those cameras interest me, but new prices are stupid-crazy. I had to really stretch to reconcile spending $5,000 on an M8. Today, with "digital rot," it's worth less than half that, and they come out with $7,000 and $8,000 models. My head says, "No [adjective] way." My heart says, "Well, maybe, if prices go down, maybe if I can find a decent deal..." And then the delamination issue surfaces. And I'm reminded that every digital M has had some major issues for which there's little excuse at the price point. I've been lucky so far. If you're one of the unlucky ones, Leica has smaller resources than Japan, Inc. That often means long repair periods when you're without your camera.
The Fuji cameras are not rangefinders. They are modern, "fly-by-computer" autofocus mirrorless digital cameras with some aspects of the RF form factor. They are wonderful general-purpose cameras, their high ISO capabilities leave the M8 and M9 in the dust. But most RF shooters I know who've tried them are not satisfied if they need to shoot the fast and fleeting. Too slow to focus. My "other" camera is on Olympus E-M5. I love it. It's versatile, small and light, great prime lenses, does decent high ISO (way better than the M8, quite usable up to 3200). But I have lost more shots of fleeting expressions than I care to remember, because of EVF lag, shutter lag, or autofocus confusion. Yes, I could pick up one of the Canikons, but I don't like big DSLRs, and "mirror blink" and slap add issues of their own.
Re. B&W film, I feel like it's the Garden of Eden. Nothing else looks like it. It has a beauty all its own. I still shoot my M6 some of the time. But digital was like eating the apple. I can visit, but I can't go back completely.
--Peter
