Questions on Leica M

Maybe some of you would know. I was checking the price of Leica M Monochrome and it is the same 7700 USD, more or less. The sensor is rather ancient and well behind modern Canon, Nikon or Sony products. ISO performance cannot be even compared. How is it possible that these cameras sell at this price tag? I would assume professional photographers do not use them. What is the main purpose of people buying a Leica? Is it because of the lens - ultra good and small?

The Monochrome only shoots in B&W, not color converted to B&W, so it's already an apples-to-oranges comparison. Other than that, yeah - some of their lenses are very, very nice and render in ways that are more appealing to me than many (most?) Canon lenses (I would say the same of some Zeiss lenses and some others). Why not take a look at Steve Huff's site? He shoots and loves Leica, and it may provide you with some insight as to why some people really love them, if that's what you're really looking for.

It's the only digital rangefinder available, to the best of my knowledge. A rangefinder is better than a dSLR for some things and a ton worse at most others. If your photography is best served by a rangefinder and you want to work with some of the best lenses anywhere, the Leica is for you.

It is also true that while the Leica lenses are excellent, the name does command a hefty price premium. And you will also find some fans that gloss over the weaknesses (like sensor performance) in their enthusiasm.

I'm kind of ambivalent. I get the appeal, but I also think the pricing is too high. Part of me would love to have an M9 and three primes, part of me just isn't willing to part with the money for what would only be useful for about 30% of what I shoot. I would still need a fairly complete dSLR kit.

The price of all of this stuff is to high. It's no more expensive than the top of the line Canon and Nikon and it is a top shelf camera. I love mine. It's sharper has more DR than the Canon 5DII and the 5DIII. In fact the sharpness because there is no RGB has been compared to the 36 MP Nikon d800. If you shoot B&W street or candids of any kind with normal or wide angle lenses there really isn't a better tool. I am complete switching to Leica M even for my professional work in the next year or so. I have had my Monochrom since Nov 2012 and I love it more now than the day I got it.
A couple of places you might want to check out
http://www.getdpi.com …-feelings.html#post5858​37

http://www.rangefinder​forum.com …s/showthread.ph​p?t=123460

A lot of my street stuff is in here
http://www.rangefinder​forum.com …s/showthread.ph​p?t=127307

Just got excepted into a juried show in New York. Opening is July 1 if you are going to be in the big apple.
I was selected for this exhibit at the Soho Gallery in New York. It was a juried show and only 40 images were chosen from over 2000. The opening is July 1.

Heres the info..
http://www.sohophoto.c​om …te/competitions​/national/

This is one of the top photography galleries in the country and this is a very prestigious exhibit.

And here is the photograph that they selected.

I have the M -typ240 (the new 24mp colour one) with a 50 f2.5 summarit (one of the cheaper lenses in the leica range)

In the leica world, lens price buys you speed, the f2.5 summarits are reasonably priced, but very good lenses, as lenses get more expensive, they just get faster, up to the 11k f0.95 noctilux.

The gear is beautifully made too, it feels really nice to use. I know it sounds odd, but the gear just get out of the way, and lets you take pictures, and if something doesnt work, it all falls back on you - no AF or AE modes to blame.

I am also a professional photographer - i use the leica when i can, but also use a pair of 1DX for stuff that it doesnt suit (macro, long lens, high fps etc)
If i get a chance i will shoot some comparison pics with the M and 1DX for you to compare

Although its a small camera, it is a professional grade camera, and is priced accordingly.

I guess I just need to find a way and rent a camera somewhere. This was always a mystery for me when I was looking at pictures...I was not able to see anything that I could not do with 5D MKIII, but maybe this is experience. There must be a reason why it is so expensive

Just thinking....if I would post this picture and say that it was taken with Leica?

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light_pilgrim wrote in post #16940843
Maybe some of you would know. I was checking the price of Leica M Monochrome and it is the same 7700 USD, more or less. The sensor is rather ancient and well behind modern Canon, Nikon or Sony products. ISO performance cannot be even compared. How is it possible that these cameras sell at this price tag? I would assume professional photographers do not use them. What is the main purpose of people buying a Leica? Is it because of the lens - ultra good and small?

Lots of professional street photographers use Leica M's. They are the best at photojournalism and street. Cost is a relative thing really. Sensor performance is actually pretty great compared to Canon and Nikon.

J_TULLAR wrote in post #16941768
Lots of professional street photographers use Leica M's. They are the best at photojournalism and street. Cost is a relative thing really. Sensor performance is actually pretty great compared to Canon and Nikon.

Yeap, I was thinking that maybe street photography is where Leica is great. On the sensor side, it is interesting. Nikon, I think, is using Sony sensors....but I can be wrong... You think Leica is ahead of Nikon and Canon when it comes to sensors? This is something I would love to dig deeper and read somewhere. My impression was they are really behind when I saw ISO performance of M compared to my MKIII

light_pilgrim wrote in post #16941778
Yeap, I was thinking that maybe street photography is where Leica is great. On the sensor side, it is interesting. Nikon, I think, is using Sony sensors....but I can be wrong... You think Leica is ahead of Nikon and Canon when it comes to sensors? This is something I would love to dig deeper and read somewhere. My impression was they are really behind when I saw ISO performance of M compared to my MKIII

Well the lack of an AA filter and no banding make it instantly better to me for a sensor. High ISO is not needed as much with Leica M's. With fast lenses that reach F/0.95 as well as handholding capabilities down to 1/4 shutter speed due to no mirror, ISO 3200 is enough to capture pretty much anything. Also due to rangefinder system and manual focusing, one can see in pretty low light and focus with accuracy. The monochrom looks great at ISO 10000! Pair that with a 50 F/0.95 or 35 F/1.2 and you have a low light monster.

J_TULLAR wrote in post #16941801
The monochrom looks great at ISO 10000! Pair that with a 50 F/0.95 or 35 F/1.2 and you have a low light monster.

What is the cost of this combo? Would you know?

light_pilgrim wrote in post #16941825
What is the cost of this combo? Would you know?

Monochrom and 50 F/0.95? About $17K lol. You can go the cheaper route and get a the F/1.0 lens which would be $12k lol. Leica is not cheap. Never has been.

I'll suffer with my MKIII

light_pilgrim wrote in post #16941704
Just thinking....if I would post this picture and say that it was taken with Leica?

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Yes, you could take setup shots like this with Leica, it works great for glamour too.
But to really find out why people like airfrogusmc choose Leica you have to speed not just few hours on the street, but years.

Garry Winogrand tells in this seminar why Leica.
http://youtu.be/wP6lP3​UaP24

Also a little sump'm from Meyerowitz . Also a great piece on framing.

About a min twenty three sec in but watch the entire piece, It's really good.
http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=Xumo7_JUeMo

I shoot everything for me with an MM and a 35 lux FLE---13K. If you don't buy all the stuff you find you can afford the really good stuff and this is the stuff that best matches my vision. THis camera is great in low light and as J_T mentioned fast amazingly sharp fast glass also helps. I will keep this camera until it dies and I can no longer get it repaired. No need to upgrade to anything. It fully exceeds my expectations. You can also get this body and an older used less fast lens or Voigtlaner and Zeiss has some cheaper really good options where you can get in at under 10K for camera and lens. When I shoot with this camera I rarely get noticed. The MM doesn't have a logo on it. My 5DIIs were magnets for everyone. Its a lot bigger and the 35 Lux FLE is sharper at the corners than the 35L is in the center.