Touched a M9 Today!

[banpreso]

I drove to my local camera store during lunch today and they had a Leica M9 on display and available for play! It's a black model paired up with a 35mm summarit.

A couple of first impressions:
You know... it's really not THAT small! It's about the size of a film SLR. I wouldn't consider it to have a big size advantage compared to a rebel sized SLR + pancake lens. Micro 3/4 cameras are a lot smaller by comparison!

Focus... You can only focus in on what's in the center. and recompose. On my 5D with precision focus screen I can focus at anywhere on the frame.

There's (obviously) no depth of field preview.

The rear LCD could use some work to bring it up to date.

The center focus is really easy to use and the focus ring is so smooth!

It's such a unique nitch product compared to SLRs! SLR screams precision, while rangefiders seem to be a bit more whatevers when it comes to precisely composing a picture and managing DOF.

[hieu1004]

I've never used one, but I've read that composition can be difficult? They seem pretty interesting, but they are so dang expensive.

[clark becker]

I played with a m3 recently, It was amazing. The focusing it so smooth and fast. The viewfinder is beautiful. If feels awesome in your hands. It feels like there is nothing in between me and the picture.

[Rainyday]

Yeah, I got to play with one once, too. They are lovely cameras but honestly, they are too pricey and esoteric for me.

[banpreso]

it's just wired to me that the operations are totally different. i can understand now how rangefinders can be more intuitive and SLR more technical/ mechanical.

the viewfinder really isn't a viewfinder per se, it's just a window with frame lines. so you're really looking down on what's happening and more into the picture.