RexGig0
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 p.4 #13 · Is Leica a good alternative to Nikon | |
When I added the Leica M system, in April 2018, it was mostly because of one lens, the Summilux-M 50mm ASPH. This was before the Z6 or Z7 were extant, and, Sony's ergonomics and menus made it a no-go. So, I discarded a plan to buy the then-latest/greatest Nikkor 600mm f/4, which enabled me to fund a new M10, and the pre-owned Summilux. Notably, this was before Leica M digital cameras were being listed at stratospheric prices; if I recall correctly, a new M10 listed for $6895 US at the time, so, I bought the Summilux, the M10, AND my Zeiss Otus 85mm ZF.2 for less than the price of a new Nikkor top-tier 600mm. (We had already bought my wife's D850, by then, and it seemed likely that I would be adding a D850, too.)
One consideration was that I had tweaked my left rotator cuff, while clearing debris after Hurricane Harvey, so, would not be using large/long "super" telephoto lenses, for a while longer. By the time my left shoulder was rehabilitated, my wife and I had shifted the focus of our nature/wildlife photography, no pun intended, to insects, other wee beasties, and plants. Macro/Close-Range; the skill we had developed while performing forensic/evidentiary/crime scene photography, but using AF-C/AI Servo* settings, to capture species moving about, in the natural environment, to document their location. We both became content to let the truly dedicated, with younger and stronger bodies, carry long lenses, to chase birds. (She is not the junior photographer, but the mentor who guided my path into using interchangeable-lens cameras.)
I do not regret buying into the Leica M system. That Summilux may have been the key factor that kept me from quitting photography. I love the manual tech/gadget factor of the rangefinder. Rangefinder usage is probably not what truly saved and rehabilitated my desire to photograph. Manually focusing lenses, with a Nikon camera body, is probably not less meditative that performing that same act with any lens on a Leica M body.
I will not even get started on the Leica Q system, except to say that there is nothing compact about that rather large lens being mounted on a body that is not appreciably smaller than an M body, and, I would not want one point of failure/breakage to relegate to using a smart phone as my only camera, for the remainder of a trip.
I do not regret having added the Leica M system, but, with the Z system now available, other options are extant.
*I had actually learned this, while photographing living, breathing crime victims, often in the back of an ambulance or in a hospital treatment room, where a tripod was not practicable. "Action Macro," anyone?
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