Will M9 make you a better photographer?

[Benjamin]

boring........

 

[Al Kaplan]

vdonovan is right about the 12 exposure roll of 120. I find that I tend to get more good pictures when I don't shoot a gazillion frames.

 

[mfunnell]

vdonovan is right about the 12 exposure roll of 120. I find that I tend to get more good pictures when I don't shoot a gazillion frames.

On the other hand, I sometimes find that taking multiple exposures of a subject, with different viewpoints and framing is worthwhile. Sometimes I find the first frame I took is the "right" one, with the others "wasted" - but sometimes not. (I'm thinking more in terms of 35mm film here, but the same thing applies to digital; perhaps sometimes to a fault).

...Mike

 

[250swb]

Just taking terabytes of pictures won't make you a better photographer. If it were true, I would tape the shutter release down on my digi SLR and let it fire away.

Taking pictures and learning from them is what will make you a better photographer. To improve, one needs to take pictures but also review them critically, especially with other people. Then take the ideas and lessons from that review and go take more pictures.

So yes in theory taking a zillion pictures will help you become a better photographer if you study and learn from each one. I myself don't spend as much time as I should learning from each roll of 120 (12 shots!) that I shoot. I imagine that the biggest factor to improvement is not the number of images shot, but one's dedication to studying those images, learning from them, and taking the lessons forward.

Clearly, but within the meaning of the quote I don't suppose Arnold Palmer ever thought that he would be successful just by hitting more balls than somebody else. John Szarkowski makes the observation concerning Garry Winogrand that as soon as he stopped processing all his films (and he shot prodigiously) and so stopped reviewing his work Winogrand seems to have lost his drive and talent. So yes, its fairly obvious that taping down the release on a motor drive isn't going to win you anything much on its own because practice isn't the same as quantity alone, practice also requiring critical skills.

Steve

 

[johnastovall]

Not better but it will let me do things differently and give images a different look. Just like when I moved to a FF Canon dSLR.

 

[danz]

It really depends how you define "good pictures".
To me, what film produce, digital can't replace.

 

[JoeV]

Assuming the premise of the OP's two reaons (1) It's digital! & 2) It is a "I got a new camera" inspiration) being valid, this could be said about any newly released digital camera. In that respect it really says nothing specifically about the hypothetical M9.

~Joe

 

[Pablito]

The M9 will make the me the best photographer. It will lift me from mediocrity to stardom. I will revel is the carnal pleasures and intellectual stimulation brought on by my new found success. My photographs will grace the pages of the finest print magazines and websites. I will have groupies and a posse. I will teach the young and innocent at the International Center of Photography, being paid more than you make in a year for a two day workshop. Then, when they release the M10, all will come tumbling down.

 

[starvingjack]

The M9 will make the me the best photographer. It will lift me from mediocrity to stardom. I will revel is the carnal pleasures and intellectual stimulation brought on by my new found success. My photographs will grace the pages of the finest print magazines and websites. I will have groupies and a posse. I will teach the young and innocent at the International Center of Photography, being paid more than you make in a year for a two day workshop. Then, when they release the M10, all will come tumbling down.

lol...nice one. 🙂

but seriously thou, I still can't figure why would anyone shoot a digital leica? just a honest qns.

 

[AgentX]

If the camera doesn't exist, how can photography? 😱

Because it fell in a forest, and I heard it make a sound.

 

[Ricko of Fla]

The M9 will lighten your wallet, so you can shoot better.

 

[Ben Z]

Do you folks think that M9 will help you to take more good pictures?

Absolutely! The M9 will make everyone better photographers. In fact anyone caught with an M8 in six months should be ashamed of himself.


(There Dr. Kaufmann, I said it. I'll expect my free M9 to be delivered to my home by Fed-Ex Next Day AM on Sept. 10th) 😀

 

[leicashot]

lol...nice one. 🙂

but seriously thou, I still can't figure why would anyone shoot a digital leica? just a honest qns.

Easy answer, because it's not FILM.

 

[Al Kaplan]

Film should be banned. Some people get horribly addicted to the stuff, squander the family's food money, lose their homes, just so they can buy more and more film, which in turn leads to chemical dependancy :bang:

Next thing the kids will be begging in the streets barefoot! 😱

http://thepriceofsilver.blogspot.com

 

[AgentX]

lol...nice one. 🙂

but seriously thou, I still can't figure why would anyone shoot a digital leica? just a honest qns.

1. Like Leica, or the idea/marketing of it. (hopefully the former...)
2. Want a digital image
3. Have lots of cash.

You seem to be saying there's something about the Leica which is intrinsically wedded to film. But there's not. No more than a Canon or Nikon SLR was wedded to film.

 

[Roger Hicks]

No more than a Canon or Nikon SLR was wedded to film.

Ummm....

Ever COMPARED a Nikon F to a digital Nikon...?

Cheers,

R.

 

[user237428934]

Of course it makes you a better photographer. Or would you admit that you spent 6000 EUR and the quality of you pictures was the same as before?

 

[samoksner]

An M9 would allow me to make images in digital with Leica glass that I don't make now. I either take them with a Canon 5D or a Leica m6 or not at all depending on the subject matter. (i don't even bother with time sensitive material with the film cameras...)

 

[Turtle]

LOL! It will make you a poorer one for sure. $8k to be precise.

It wont help you at all as far as I can see, because you can shoot lots of images on a M8 or DSLR. New cameras can make you shoot more not necessarily in the way that makes you better!

 

[MacDaddy]

Hmm! Such interesting observations on what is currently a mythical rumor! *o) Presuming that some of the specs being tossed around are at least semi-true and it IS a full frame sensor and that (unlike the M8!) it actually ships as a functional and bug-free camera, WHY would it make you a better photographer than you already are?
Alas, I cannot afford the joys of film shooting at the amounts I want these days, so I'm consigned to using a digital camera. After careful consideration and LOTS of correspondence with Mike Johnson of The Online Photographer fame, as well as a few contributors to his site that shoot these I traded a Nikon D300 (Heresy! I know!) that was constantly getting in the way of my shooting and purchased a Pentax K20D with their marvelous 35mm/f2.8 MAcro Limited lens.
I'm now engaged in the experiment Mike suggested of shooting ONE camera with ONE lens IN MANUAL MODE ONLY for a full year to view, critique and understand exposure, composition and the esthetics of photography. THIS IS JUST MY PERSONAL VIEWPOINT, but I feel this is a far better way for me to "become a better photographer" than investing AT LEAST $10,000 USD in a camera that may or may not exist and a Leica 35mm lens to go with it. Lord knows, I'd LOVE to have the money to buy one IF it actually exists and IF it turns out to be bug-free, but right now I'd love to find a way to shoot film as freely as I can digital and return to the form of photography I truly love—a film rangefinder camera!
Just my 2 cents and YMMV!