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A Leica M camera with an EVF is expected by the end of 2025

  
 
wolfloid
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p.10 #1 · A Leica M camera with an EVF is expected by the end of 2025


With regard to competition, I think Sony and Nikon are not far away and with the help of Voigtlander and Thypoch they will offering a compelling alternative. The Sony A7CR shows to me that Sony has a commitment to a small EVF rangefinder type camera. A version II of that camera with a 5.7 million dot EVF and a full manual shutter, both of which I think are doable and I think Sony is there and with all the Voigtlander and Thypoch E mount lenses they would have, IMO, a compelling competitor.

The problem with this argument is the lack of any grasp of fundamental differences that are important to some - perhaps because they are not important to you.

As I and others have repeatedly said, the real difference is in the small M mount and the small lens sizes. Yes, there are larger Leica M lenses as well, but the E mount manual lenses produced by CV and Typoch are nearly all large (not huge, but too large for many). They quickly bulk up even the smallish Sony A7CR, putting it into a different form factor from a Leica M with a small lens. That remains a fundamental difference.

An EVF-M will work for the M mount, keeping the form factor flatter for better portability when used with small M lenses. Those that put emphasis on that form factor will buy a unique EVF-M, others who just want manual focus could go with the A7CR plus E mount manual lenses. If the Leica EVF-M is well executed, I know which one I’d prefer.

Whether any other manufacturer would bother to make their own EVF M, and compete, we don’t know. Given that it would also need a sensor optimised just for M lenses, and quite a lot of investment for a smallish niche, I doubt it. If not, the EVF-M will have a monopoly, just like the RF M.



Feb 14, 2025 at 11:30 AM
bcaslis
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p.10 #2 · A Leica M camera with an EVF is expected by the end of 2025


I'm glad none of the people on this thread are in charge of product development. I'm not either for Leica but what I would do is create an electronic version of the rangefinder. There is no reason you couldn't do this with today's technology. The EVF is just for display, feed the inputs from both windows into a processing system and you could display anyway you want, traditional RF view, magnified view, exposure view, etc.. . Doing this it would still be a rangefinder. There is nothing that says a rangefinder needs to be mechanical. Just like replacing film with a digital sensor.



Feb 14, 2025 at 12:59 PM
johnvanr
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p.10 #3 · A Leica M camera with an EVF is expected by the end of 2025


RustyBug wrote:
You'd think that after a decade of witnessing all the foibles and myriad of ways that M lenses adapted to non-Leica bodies has revealed issues of performance degradation ... this ^ would NOT even need to be a point of discussion among M lens users.

We've seen hundreds / thousands of examples over the years. Fred's most excellent lens reviews have shown this over and over again ... in different levels of impact ... yet, the engineering is the engineering, the outcomes remain the same, that non-M bodies, not optimized for M lenses won't perform (consistently) as well as on
...Show more

From my own experience, for the kind of stuff I use M lenses for, that problem is overblown.



Feb 14, 2025 at 02:10 PM
highdesertmesa
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p.10 #4 · A Leica M camera with an EVF is expected by the end of 2025


Fred Miranda wrote:
I see a Leica M EVF as something best understood by comparing it to the full-frame SL line.

To me, it would feel like shooting with an SL camera but in way more compact form. It would only support M-lenses and eliminate the need for an L to M adapter. In a way, it is a streamlined SL version that simplifies the shooting experience to something closer to a Leica M, with the difference of focusing through the lens instead of relying on a mechanical rangefinder.

Another way to think of it is as a modern Leica M body that is
...Show more

It would also let Leica produce two versions of the M lenses at two different price points, one with rangefinder coupling, one without. I could see them doing this specifically for the new close focus M lenses.



Feb 14, 2025 at 02:56 PM
panos.v
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p.10 #5 · A Leica M camera with an EVF is expected by the end of 2025




highdesertmesa wrote:
It would also let Leica produce two versions of the M lenses at two different price points, one with rangefinder coupling, one without. I could see them doing this specifically for the new close focus M lenses.


Yeah but when Leica takes features away the price goes up.



Feb 14, 2025 at 04:30 PM
panos.v
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p.10 #6 · A Leica M camera with an EVF is expected by the end of 2025




bcaslis wrote:
I'm glad none of the people on this thread are in charge of product development. I'm not either for Leica but what I would do is create an electronic version of the rangefinder. There is no reason you couldn't do this with today's technology. The EVF is just for display, feed the inputs from both windows into a processing system and you could display anyway you want, traditional RF view, magnified view, exposure view, etc.. . Doing this it would still be a rangefinder. There is nothing that says a rangefinder needs to be mechanical. Just like replacing film with
...Show more

True, there is also no reason for mechanical watches...or watches at all for that matter. Yet...here we are.



Feb 14, 2025 at 04:33 PM
bcaslis
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p.10 #7 · A Leica M camera with an EVF is expected by the end of 2025


panos.v wrote:
True, there is also no reason for mechanical watches...or watches at all for that matter. Yet...here we are.


True but no reason they can't do both. But I think a digital rangefinder mechanism is the logical progression. You get something that behaves like a rangefinder, fixes the problem of aging eyes and is radically different than slapping an M lens on a Sony body or anything. It would continue to be differentiated from Q and SL lines and the rest of the market. This should be the two primary requirements for Leica:

1.) fix the problem for existing customers aging out of the rangefinder optics
2.) Provide a highly differentiated solution to the rest of the market.




Feb 14, 2025 at 04:46 PM
panos.v
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p.10 #8 · A Leica M camera with an EVF is expected by the end of 2025




bcaslis wrote:
True but no reason they can't do both. But I think a digital rangefinder mechanism is the logical progression. You get something that behaves like a rangefinder, fixes the problem of aging eyes and is radically different than slapping an M lens on a Sony body or anything. It would continue to be differentiated from Q and SL lines and the rest of the market. This should be the two primary requirements for Leica:

1.) fix the problem for existing customers aging out of the rangefinder optics
2.) Provide a highly differentiated solution to the rest of the market.




I don't understand the digital rangefinder here. If you have an EVF and manual focusing you just look at the image. You can have the zoom in focus aid or peak lines or a fake rangefinder patch or whatever. Fuji did them all. It is not a rangefinder, just yet another EVF.

If will be a Leica EVF on a Leica body but there's nothing different technically to a Fuji XPro/Sony/Nikon/Canon with an M adapter. The sensor is already active for EVF viewing so what do you need a second window for a rangefinder mechanism? Maybe I'm not technical enough!



Feb 14, 2025 at 05:07 PM
johnvanr
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p.10 #9 · A Leica M camera with an EVF is expected by the end of 2025


panos.v wrote:
True, there is also no reason for mechanical watches...or watches at all for that matter. Yet...here we are.


Well, Leica has proven that it can command a premium in the world of photography, so like all premium brands it’s diversifying. What the snow cap is to Mont Blanc, the red dot is to Leica.



Feb 14, 2025 at 05:07 PM
SlowDriver
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p.10 #10 · A Leica M camera with an EVF is expected by the end of 2025


bcaslis wrote:
2.) Provide a highly differentiated solution to the rest of the market.

But if Leica had such a solution would they not already have put it in the SL?

An EVF-M with just peaking and magnification would in my opinion be a huge disappointment.

Also, initially perhaps quite a few people would buy both RF and EVF M but with the next iteration of the M I believe most people would choose one or the other further fragmenting the market.



Feb 14, 2025 at 05:28 PM
 


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Steve Spencer
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p.10 #11 · A Leica M camera with an EVF is expected by the end of 2025


retrofocus wrote:
+1. The SL is close, but the bit newer Nikon Zf is also pretty good in this regard from what I am reading. But again as mentioned earlier - both require adapter for M lenses and it is not a 100% given that all M or LTM lenses will perform to their best on non-M based cameras (often it's the wide and ultra-wide focal lengths which give some headaches here).



But what I think is also important is that there are now a lot of E mount, and Z mount small M mount like manual focus lenses designed or redesigned for the mirrorless mount and the number of those lenses are growing each year. For E mount, as one example, we now have:

From Voigtlander: 10 f/5.6, 12 f/5.6, 15 f/4.5, 21 f/3.5, 21 f/1.4, 28 f/1.5, 35 f/1.2, 35 f/1.4, 35 f/2 APO, 40 f/1.2, 40 f/2.8, 50 f/1.0, 50 f/1.2, 50 f/2 APO, and 75 f/1.5

From Zeiss: 21 f/2.8, 25 f/2.4, 35 f/2, 50 f/2, 85 f/2.4

From Thypoch: 28 f/1.4, 35 f/1.4, and coming in the next few months 21 f/1.4, 50 f/1.4, 75 f/1.4

From Laowa: 9 f/5.6, 11 f/4.5, 14 f/4, 15 f/2, 85 f/5.6 Macro

From TT Artisans: 21 f/1.5 Asph, 50 f/1.4 Asph, 50 f/2, 90 f/1.25

From 7 Artisans: 9 f/5.6, 15 f/4, 35 f/1.4, 35 f/2 (and a 28 f/1.4 redesigned for E-mount but with an M mount, so needs an adapter)

There are more. I am sure I don't have the full list and it seems each week more lenses are being offered. Voigtlander all by themselves have a really nice set of Leica M like MF lenses for Sony E mount. And Sony has a small rangefinder like EVF camera in the A7C series. I don't particularly like the design of that camera but it is due for a redesign in its next iteration and it wouldn't take a lot for me to like it--for me I would just need a better EVF (5.7 million dots at least please) and a full mechanical shutter instead of just an electronic first curtain shutter.



Feb 14, 2025 at 05:33 PM
RustyBug
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p.10 #12 · A Leica M camera with an EVF is expected by the end of 2025


johnvanr wrote:
From my own experience, for the kind of stuff I use M lenses for, that problem is overblown.


Sure, different folks can have a different "bar" that they measure by.

Weaker corners / color shifts in wides or fast apertures, etc. If you're shooting stopped down, slow, normal-ish glass ... yup, the issues may not reveal themselves as much. But, even if it isn't an issue for a given person ... the fact remains that we've seen some really crappy differences along the way. Whether or not that use case matters to one person vs. not another person, doesn't change the fact that difference is real.

https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1886307/6/

Scroll down to the corners around post #12.

YMMV, but not everyone is keen on the diff's.

That said, the point wasn't about personal preferences that tolerate diminshed performance ... it was the point that diminished performance is a point that has been throughly verified and really shouldn't even have to be repeated that its existence is valid. Folks can pretend that their low bar suggests that an adapted solution is "as good" as the native solution ... but, that's a fallacy ... well, at least if you're trying to achieve optimized performance vs. mediocrity or
certain use case compromises.

Bottom line ... the best performance you'll get out of an M lens, is on an M body. Pretty simple, and the evidence has shown it extensively. Everything else is some degree of degradation.

Sure, it might meet the needs / goals for some for the varied degradation, but the objective evidence still says the degradation exists.








Edited on Feb 14, 2025 at 06:20 PM · View previous versions



Feb 14, 2025 at 05:55 PM
bcaslis
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p.10 #13 · A Leica M camera with an EVF is expected by the end of 2025


SlowDriver wrote:
But if Leica had such a solution would they not already have put it in the SL?

An EVF-M with just peaking and magnification would in my opinion be a huge disappointment.

Also, initially perhaps quite a few people would buy both RF and EVF M but with the next iteration of the M I believe most people would choose one or the other further fragmenting the market.


Please read what I wrote. I am not saying just put in an EVF. Replace the two windows on the front of the body with sensor instead of optical windows and create a digital rangefinder that output through an EVF but works like the current rangefinder from a user perspective. This is completely unlike an SL or any other current EVF camera.



Feb 14, 2025 at 06:01 PM
bcaslis
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p.10 #14 · A Leica M camera with an EVF is expected by the end of 2025


panos.v wrote:
I don't understand the digital rangefinder here. If you have an EVF and manual focusing you just look at the image. You can have the zoom in focus aid or peak lines or a fake rangefinder patch or whatever. Fuji did them all. It is not a rangefinder, just yet another EVF.

If will be a Leica EVF on a Leica body but there's nothing different technically to a Fuji XPro/Sony/Nikon/Canon with an M adapter. The sensor is already active for EVF viewing so what do you need a second window for a rangefinder mechanism? Maybe I'm not technical enough!


You are not understanding what I am saying. Image the current rangefinder view but displayed through an EVF including a "focusing patch". You could provide options to zoom in, etc. Image the current M viewfinder but when you focus the lens, the rangefinder patch zooms in to take up most of the screen and then zooms back when you stop focusing. In addition you can show the correct exposure. You are not viewing through the lens like all current cameras, you are viewing through sensors that will replace the optical windows in the M body. This will look and work like the current Ms but the mechanical parts of the rangefinder are replaced by electronic circuits and optical sensors. This way it works like Ms have always worked and something nobody else can copy without moving to a rangefinder design.




Feb 14, 2025 at 06:07 PM
retrofocus
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p.10 #15 · A Leica M camera with an EVF is expected by the end of 2025


Steve Spencer wrote:
But what I think is also important is that there are now a lot of E mount, and Z mount small M mount like manual focus lenses designed or redesigned for the mirrorless mount and the number of those lenses are growing each year. For E mount, as one example, we now have:

From Voigtlander: 10 f/5.6, 12 f/5.6, 15 f/4.5, 21 f/3.5, 21 f/1.4, 28 f/1.5, 35 f/1.2, 35 f/1.4, 35 f/2 APO, 40 f/1.2, 40 f/2.8, 50 f/1.0, 50 f/1.2, 50 f/2 APO, and 75 f/1.5

From Zeiss: 21 f/2.8, 25 f/2.4, 35 f/2, 50 f/2, 85 f/2.4

From Thypoch:
...Show more

I agree that multiple companies make manual focus lenses for other MLC brands. But this is different from my wording you quoted - M lenses per se don't work perfectly on non-Leica branded MLCs and not even on the Leica-branded SL series. I interpret your statement above meaning between the lines that instead of wishing for an EVF-M better directly go to another MLC brand and buy into another lens mount ecosystem additionally to the existing M lenses. This is practically not feasible, sorry! I am not taking for example my rangefinder M film camera with me and a specific M lens just to add another MLC camera with a lens of the same focal length but different mount. M- cameras are about M lenses and secondary for the rangefinder itself.



Feb 14, 2025 at 07:14 PM
raizans
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p.10 #16 · A Leica M camera with an EVF is expected by the end of 2025


Eye control over the focus point would be cool.


Feb 14, 2025 at 07:39 PM
Steve Spencer
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p.10 #17 · A Leica M camera with an EVF is expected by the end of 2025


retrofocus wrote:
I agree that multiple companies make manual focus lenses for other MLC brands. But this is different from my wording you quoted - M lenses per se don't work perfectly on non-Leica branded MLCs and not even on the Leica-branded SL series. I interpret your statement above meaning between the lines that instead of wishing for an EVF-M better directly go to another MLC brand and buy into another lens mount ecosystem additionally to the existing M lenses. This is practically not feasible, sorry! I am not taking for example my rangefinder M film camera with me and a specific
...Show more

Sure if you have a film M camera and M mount lenses, then you are not going to want to get a small EVF rangefinder style camera that doesn't have an M mount so you can share lenses with your film camera. My point wasn't for such users, but for people who are shooting digital, and my point was that you can already get a small EVF rangefinder style camera that can use Leica M type lenses in the native mount for that camera and a wide range of those type of lenses. Now I personally don't like the particular small EVF rangefinder style cameras that are available, but I am not sure I will Leica the rumored camera either, and it wouldn't take much change and I could like for example a new model of the Sony A7C series camera or a Nikon camera that would be much like the ZF but styled and shaped like a rangefinder like camera instead of an SLR.

More generally my point is such cameras would be competitors for a small Leica EVF camera with an M mount. They will offer a very similar experience. The camera will be a similar style, have similar technology, and offer a wide range of lenses that are similar in size, style, and functionality. They will also very likely have the advantage of being significantly cheaper, have more cutting edge technology, and providing significantly easier and faster service. I think many people would consider such cameras when considering getting a small Leica EVF camera with an M mount (although film shooters who own a Leica M film camera may be a lot less likely to do so) and I think just as Leica struggles with the SL series when competing with larger EVF cameras they will struggle with a small EVF Leica M mount camera when competing against other brands. I don't think the M mount will help them avoid those struggles any more than the L mount helps the SL. In fact, when you think of such competition the M mount may make the struggles worse. Unless Leica does something very unexpected like building in a tech Art type technology to the camera body, using an M mount pretty much guarantees that the small EVF Leica M mount camera won't have autofocus. The competitors will have AF and really good AF for those who want both manual focus and AF lenses. That will be another advantage for the competitors.

I think Leica will struggle with a small rangefinder EVF camera regardless of whether it has an L mount or an M mount, but I think they will struggle more with an M mount camera. Although they might gain a few shooters who currently shoot film and want only M mount lenses, they will lose a lot more shooters, in my estimation, who want a camera that can do both MF and AF. My own view is that it would be a bit of weird amalgam to build a camera with a modern EVF, a modern sensor, perhaps IBIS, and other modern features, but design it so that it can only use MF lenses. They may sell the camera to a few film shooters who want a digital camera very much like their film camera and that can use the same lenses, but there will simply be a lot of people who will not consider the camera who might if it has an L mount and they can use AF lenses at least some of the time. I, of course, could be wrong about that, but I just don't see such a camera as being a success for Leica.

Personally even though I love MF lenses and use them for the big majority of my shooting, I would only consider such a camera if the focussing experience with its EVF was much better than the competition and even then only after it has been in the market for four or five years and the price has dropped for used cameras. I am and would consider, however, a rangefinder Leica M camera as that does provide a very different focussing experience making it a very different camera from anything anyone else has.



Feb 15, 2025 at 07:34 AM
RustyBug
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p.10 #18 · A Leica M camera with an EVF is expected by the end of 2025


Steve Spencer wrote:
my point was that you can already get a small EVF rangefinder style camera that can use Leica M type lenses in the native mount for that camera


Retaining 100% of image quality of the M lens optical projections, without any compromises?


Maybe, the phrase "M type" lenses should be be clarified to mean "not M" mount lenses (designed optimally to perform on M camera sensor, stack thickness, microlens shape, etc.), but rather manual lenses that are designed for a different mount / registration / sensor / stack / microlens.

Am I interpreting that correctly / incorrectly?


I guess I kinda think of the other brands making larger lenses, that are manual focus (Voigt, Thypoch, etc.) ... and doing so in the native E mount, etc. is a nice alternate so that folks can use lenses that aren't effected by the different engineering that non-Leica mfr's have chosen for their platforms. But, in doing so, there still seems to be a desire that (some) folks aspire to use actual M mount lenses ( haptics, size, optical rendering, etc. ), rather than other lenses designed for the other mounts. There (imo) exists some in both camps.

But, I just get the feeling that the argument is that we're talking about making a Corvair to compete with a Porsche ... and then saying that Porsche will suffer for it. Folks that want the engineering of the Porsche will still want the engineering of the Porsche. Sure, some will go ... wow, I can get the Corvair for a fraction of what a Porsche costs, and it will handle just the same way. Well, ummm ... kinda depends. For some folks that perspective will satisfy them. For others, not so much.

Then ... when you introduce the topic of AF ... well, at that point you're moving away from the central theme of the M and moving into a different territory altogether, and headed to SUV / Minivan territory. How about Mini Cooper?

Granted, there are folks who want more versatility. But, the notion of taking a dedicated manual designed system and adding autofocus ... kinda misses the point (imo). You've already got AF capable systems (plenty to choose from), and many of those lenses can be manually focused. There's your versatility ... what more do you want? Oh, a BETTER manual focus experience. You want a smaller lens. Choose your poison(s). I think that folks lose sight of which poison(s) Leica M has opted to avoid ... thinking that they should "do this / do that", without recognizing that in doing so, they now introduce some of the very poison(s) they have sought to avoid.

In the end, Leica wants a great combination of their M (body / camera) to provide excellent optics to their ethos, and do so in a package size to their ethos. Others can make alternative mounts / bodies / lenses ... but, to date it seems like nobody has taken on the fullness of Leica's ethos with any real vigor.

Kinda like who is taking on the marketplace to make the "Porsche Killer" ...

Steve Spencer wrote:
my point was that you can already get a small EVF rangefinder style camera that can use Leica M type lenses in the native mount for that camera


Time will tell, we'll see what Leica and the others do / don't do. I'm not holding my breath, either way.
Nor, am I pretending to know what Leica will do (regardless of what I'd like to see or think they could / would / should).

But, the one thing I do ... is to simply accept that Leica will march to the beat of their own drum. They write their own tune. I don't expect that to change anytime soon.

So, we wait to see what their next album sounds like.




Feb 15, 2025 at 08:42 AM
retrofocus
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p.10 #19 · A Leica M camera with an EVF is expected by the end of 2025


Steve Spencer wrote:
Sure if you have a film M camera and M mount lenses, then you are not going to want to get a small EVF rangefinder style camera that doesn't have an M mount so you can share lenses with your film camera. My point wasn't for such users, but for people who are shooting digital, and my point was that you can already get a small EVF rangefinder style camera that can use Leica M type lenses in the native mount for that camera and a wide range of those type of lenses. Now I personally don't like the
...Show more

Appreciate your feedback - good discussion! I also agree that no matter in which mount such - currently still hypothetical - EVF-M (or EVF-L) will be in competition with FF MLCs from other brands and measured against such in tests. Therefore I agree with other posters here and you that this EVF-M needs to bring something on the table to make manual focusing at least as good as with rangefinder OVF or better. Focus peaking and a cumbersome magnification tool in EVF is not sufficient from my experience to be better than rangefinder based focusing. Without very good EVF based focusing tools, I agree that such EVF-M would not be accepted by many M users. Several suggestions were mentioned in this thread what in theory Leica can do to improve manual focus with an EVF - not sure which we will see.



Feb 15, 2025 at 09:50 AM
RexGig0
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p.10 #20 · A Leica M camera with an EVF is expected by the end of 2025


The Leica M1, a film camera with an M Mount, has no rangefinder. It has a viewfinder, with frame lines. Introduced in 1959, it could/can use the old-school, non-electronic Visoflex, of that day, for focusing. As I am not upset that Leica made the M1, I am not upset that Leica may manufacture a rangefinder-less digital M-mount camera.

Would I be a potential buyer of a rangefinder-less M camera? Well, maybe, depending upon the totality of the factors. I am not a fan of EVFs, but, now and then, I do use Live View, though more likely to enable spot metering than to focus. With lenses 28mm and wider, I may well use the distance and DOF scales to focus. Cost would be a factor. The list price of new M cameras has risen MUCH since I bought my new M10 in early 2018, as a post-retirement self-gift. My final plentiful fiscal year was 2021, a year when I struggled to justify acquiring a new M10 Monochrom. Instead, I acquired some nice M lenses in early 2022.

If I were to buy a rangefinder-less M, it would not be in lieu of buying a new M camera, but in lieu of buying an SL-series camera. ~$9K+ will just not work, for me, even for a rangefinder digital M.



Feb 15, 2025 at 09:57 AM
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