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 p.15 #10 · A Leica M camera with an EVF is expected by the end of 2025 | |
rscheffler wrote:
This is one of the interesting aspects of the M system. There's a plethora of cameras that will show you everything and practically do everything for you, if you want. After a while, those cameras may make the photographic experience rather boring. There's no risk, no anticipation. Everything is very safe. With the M, there's much less hand-holding. You just have basic exposure settings, an optical viewfinder with frame lines that are only a compositional approximation, no depth of field preview, parallax considerations and fairly basic metering (at least in the older digital Ms). The process relies a fair amount on intuition, hand-eye motor skills, and pre-visualization. That's the risk. But I think it's also what draws a lot of the M users on this forum to the system. It's certainly a factor in my enjoyment of it. Each click of the shutter is kind of a challenge presented to you by the system: a test of whether or not your photographic instinct and intuition was correct for how you anticipated or pre-visualized the scene. It's kind of a halfway step back to shooting film, without the hassles of film (film shooters may disagree about it being a hassle  ). You get the faster digital gratification, but there's still uncertainty with each exposure because it's an analog experience up until the image is captured digitally, so that when everything aligns correctly and you create a great image, or it's pretty much how you thought it should be, it's just that much more satisfying.
On paper, it's a system that is difficult to rationalize, based on features, compared to more mainstream options. And that's after ignoring the cost of entry, which is usually the most significant stumbling block, or argument against the 'value' of the system.
Ultimately I think you have to try the M to better understand it. And if you do, it helps to suspend your disbelief and every criticism you've read/heard about it, and just try it with an open mind....Show more →
You're not wrong, and there are of course many unique elements to shooting with an M camera that the modern digital camera has obviated (for better or worse is debatable). Among those are as you pointed out, the tension (or frustration!) of not confirming you have the shot you want before clicking the shutter. Others include the mandatory manual focusing, the relative bulk and poor ergos (c'mon Leica), and the possible failure of the rangefinder coupling with time.
What some would consider faults or annoyances, others consider an artistic challenge and an homage to what photography used to be before the computers got ahold of it. And of course, there are people in every subgroup who either just want an M with autofocus, or just want a lighter M, etc.
The big lynch pin of the M-system to me is the direct lineage Leica has to 70 years' worth of lenses, which is just so cool from a technical and artistic standpoint. You can in 2025 shoot with a 60MP digital camera, using a lens from 1955. Or conversely, you can strap a modern Nokton lens to your old M3 and unlock a new world of possibilities. Swapping to an EVF preserves this lineage, and if they can find some way to sneak in some weather sealing and lightness that would be even more icing on the cake.
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), the precision machining (the more precise, the better) between the lens / mount affords a level of ingress protection ... but, that junction doesn't have the o-ring styled of protection that the more robustly rated lens / mount combinations have.