Leica look or “Leica look”?

This has been discussed so many times, you have to ask yourself what’s the point? The point is getting out a blog post :-) .

So, like everyone else I’d heard about Leica, a lot. For many years there was no point for me in owning one, I wasn’t much of a photographer and didn’t really get the most out of the usual Japanese equipment. I couldn’t afford one anyway.

But then two things happened: I started transitioning to analog, and our mortgage payments ended. The name “Leica” became more present in my mind, and I got somewhat frustrated with my clunky old Nikon F2. So I found an M2 with two lenses, and bought it. It took some getting used to, and the 50mm lens needed repair. The camera also didn’t work properly at high shutter speeds, so I got that repaired too. And then I noticed something: I liked the shots I got with the Leica more than I liked those I got with the Nikon or Olympus OM2. Weird. And then, thoughts of a digital Leica started popping into my mind, which was scary. Scary expensive. I really really liked the prospect of a Q2 or Q3, but they seemed so overpriced. Then I started reading about the M9 and M240… and suddenly I was up to no good. After much deliberation I got an M240 with a Zeiss 35mm color skopar lens. It took me a while to used to it, and then again: I was liking the results very much. After about a year that camera stopped working though. It sat on my desk for six months staring at me, till I finally sent it off to Leica to be repaired. But in the meantime, the itch was there. So after several months I found an M9 for sale, and very apprehensively took the plunge. It’s the latest digital Leica to have a CCD sensor, which means the color science is a bit different.

I love the M9. It’s slow, battery life is bad, high ISO is grainy… and the pictures are absolutely wonderful. That’s really all there is to it. I shouldn’t even try to explain, but in very few words: on the one hand it’s sharp, very sharp, and on the other hand the shadows transition quite quickly into very little detail. This gives it some kind of pleasant contrasty quality which is a bit reminiscent of film, but in a category of its own. I do take a LOT of low light high ISO photos with it, adding some denoise in lightroom if necessary, but I don’t really mind some grain. More examples - in the gallery below.

I’m not sure what to do with the M10 when it comes back from repair… I might even sell it. And like Leica, I probably won’t lose money on it.