Why did you decide to buy a digital Leica M.

[ckuwajima]

Went from digital Canon back to shoot film with a M4 a few years ago. Being fond of the handling of a RF, just wanted a digital M for (a few) situations where film is not doable.

 

[dfdann]

Bought a Digilux 1 when they first came out. It still works by the way. That led to a M7 and
Then a M8. Recently added a new CL which I love.
Cheers, Dan

 

[raid]

OK, so this old thread made it back to life!
The "internal struggle" with choosing between film and digital camera is still present.
The monetary loss is large when you switch from an older digital Leica to a new digital Leica. The "old" film Leica cameras still work like new, even though they may be from the 1950's or earlier. As we get older, time becomes even more precious, and here, a digital camera is the winner for my case. Do I really want to re-learn how to develop and print B&W film? No good photo labs are to be found locally, so film needs to be mailed out for developing and maybe scanning and/or prints. More and more, the edge goes to digital cameras. Whether the camera must be a Leica seems to be another issue.

 

[peterm1]

OK, so this old thread made it back to life!

🙂

You are right Raid....It's Alive

This phrase always reminds me of this....... 🙂

On a more serious note I think I mostly agree with your earlier post in which you said - shown below.

"I had/have lots of Leica lenses, so it made sense to me to try out a Leica digital M camera. You kept the RF in place, and the results look fine to me."

That quote would pretty much represent my thoughts too. Though to be honest if mirrorless technology was as good back then it is now I very possibly would have forgone the M8 option and instead just gone with something like one of the cameras in the Sony A7 series.

 

[raid]

I am still finding it easier and more practical to use a digital camera than using a film camera, but I find it more fun to occasionally use a film camera for smaller numbers of images. It is less costly these days to use a digital cameras than a film camera if you must send out the film for developing and scans. At least we are lucky to get both options available to us, Peter.

 

[Borge H]

In the end, I thought it took too long time to process film to get results. Especially slide color became more complicated as the number of laboratories decreased. Scanning also took very long time!

First I bought a new M9, later I also bought a M (model 240). I might have sold the M9 but I kept it as a spare though it is not used that much anymore. It's new sensor, sad for the old one had nice colors!

Digital images are easiest if you have a task that needs to be quickly resolved, but for my own needs I like to use my old film Leicas. I will not buy M10.

But now it is enough. Now I have the cameras I need for a long time to come.

 

[raid]

Borge, can you detect a difference in the colors from your M9 with new sensor when compared with old sensor?

 

[Borge H]

Borge, can you detect a difference in the colors from your M9 with new sensor when compared with old sensor?

I know a lot of people write that you can adjust the colors in Lightroom so that the images are similar, but I am not so good at Lightroom and have not succeeded. If anyone knows how to easily do this I will be happy!

My own workflow is that I mostly only adjust the color temperature, sharpness and exposure in Lightroom on my dng files. I then found that the images from the M9 with new sensor are more similar to M (type 240) than those with old M9 sensor, the new pictures are more "warm".

I liked the pictures with the old M9 sensor! They reminded me of Kodachrome. But it was not an option to keep it, it had started to become small dots with rings. They quickly became several in the pictures. Leica in Germany changed the sensor and did a service at a small cost.

 

[cboy]

i grew up and learnt photography with a manual film camera. Digital Ms imho is the closest to simulate manual photography experience currently. Simply that...Not every one needs the bells and whistles latest tech, which often distracts shooting experience, and often at times can hinder user control. My two cents...

 

[mnutzer]

Only a digital Leica-M makes it possible to continue using old Leica lenses in almost the same way.
Adaptations to digital cameras from other manufacturers did not convince me.
Therefore, the M8.2 was the digital supplement to the M3 and M6 for over 10 years until it was replaced by the M10-P.
Probably the last investment in a digital Leica-M, since my eyes, which are getting worse, will require an autofocus system in the future.

 

[Tom R]

I purchased a used M8.2 about eight years ago. At that time, I was having films processed by a lab and was not in a position to easily re-establish a darkroom. There was also a lot of "talk" about film going away, etc. To hedge my bets, I purchased that camera which was a relatively inexpensive (using that term for anything related to Leica is problematic) hedge against an uncertain future.

I continued to use my film cameras for panchromatic films and switched to the M8.2 for color work. I also thought that I could use the M8.2 as a "sketch pad" to quickly and inexpensively test out ideas.

All of this worked fine. More recently, I've reestablished a working darkroom (modulo wet printing) and use the M8.2 less and less. In fact: I purchased this camera with 75 clicks on the shutter--if I recall correctly. When I last checked, I had fewer than 7,800 actuations on that same shutter. Comparing these numbers with the volume of negatives I've scanned and used I would gladly replace the M8.2 with an M4 and just use any quality compact digital camera for "color" shots. Now, I know that this might sound wrong to some, but that's how I see it at this time.

 

[ptpdprinter]

I purchased a digital Leica M to make all the guys in the photo club jealous. I still can't figure out where to put the memory card. Also, autofocus doesn't work. Is that a sensor problem?

 

[jsrockit]

Cynics aside, I bought one again (M240) because I missed using a rangefinder and I prefer digital to film.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I bought the M8 when Kodak got out of the film developing business. Got it in Jan 2010 for $2500, case, two batteries, UV/IR cut filters, and 400 clicks- complete with the sales receipt from Oct 2009. Liked it, bought the M9 a year later mostly because it has uncompressed DNG.
Bought the M Monochrom in Dec 2012 because I called Kodak in 2009 and asked them to make a monochrome version of the M9.
I still have and use all three. I use Raw mode with the M8 to get uncompressed DNG files. Leica made a huge mistake in not including an option for it in regular operation.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Borge, can you detect a difference in the colors from your M9 with new sensor when compared with old sensor?

The S8612 glass used in the original sensors has 10% higher transmission in Visible than does the BG55 glass used in the revised sensor. The Revised sensor also uses a "gen2" color dye in the Mosaic filter. There is a slight difference, but it is subtle. If anyone had a color chart photographed using the old version and the new version of the sensor, it would be easy to write software to do a color transform to map the new colors into the old ones.

 

[ptpdprinter]

Cynics aside, I bought one again (M240) because I missed using a rangefinder and I prefer digital to film.

Not so much cynicism as satire. I thought a lot of the posts sounded like satire, so I thought it was okay. Certainly, rangefinder focusing is the primary reason to get a Leica.

 

[jsrockit]

Not so much cynic as satire. I thought a lot of the posts sounded like satire, so I thought it was okay. Certainly, rangefinder focusing is the primary reason to get a Leica.

I see your humor often and understand. That was my humor. 😉 I mean, I felt silly buying a 10 year old digital camera for too much $ just because of how it focuses when I have plenty of cameras to use already. However, I will use it.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Several people that know me say "Still using those funny old cameras, I see." A couple of times asked about it, and was disappointed that it was not a film camera.
But- after using the M9 for some of my Daughter's events, one girl walked up to me and said "You take the best pictures!" I thanked her.

 

[ptpdprinter]

Someone once told me my photos were better than those of Henri Cartier-Bresson. Obviously he had no idea what he was talking about. I mean I don't even own an M9.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Someone once told me my photos were better than those of Henri Cartier Bresson. Obviously he had no idea what he was talking about. I mean I don't even own an M9.

Typical obnoxious response that I expect out of you.
I really don't know why you post here- nothing good to say, nothing to contribute.
This is an older forum, and has lost many members that get tired of people like you.