Leica M-D

[Black Pearl]

You may have seen this camera on tech blogs or your usual photo news sites but I am going to bring it up here too because for me this is the ultimate digital camera.

I remember because I was there on the front line when it all started to 'kick off' and we transitioned from film to digital. There were a few attempts to make a digital film - an insert that would go into the film camera you already owned and cut you free from cellulose. They never got anywhere because technology wasn't right at the time, there were too many film gate spacing difference between brands and bodies and frankly the DSLR dropped in price to the point where it became better to make a full switch.

Leica has taken that original concept to its ultimate solution - a traditional M System body with the back welded shut, a FF sensor inside and a SD card slot. Absolutely no control over the digital capture, no screen, no menu, RAW only, you simply set the ISO with a dial on the back, set your aperture on the lens, the shutter speed and take pictures. Just like film you get what you get so it is all down to you, the camera, and what you point it at. I know I banged on about the M-Monocrom which if I'm honest I still love but this another level all together. 

Please, please, please let me win the Lotto while there are still stocks available......

https://us.leica-camera.com/Photography/Leica-M/Leica-M-D

[fuzzyedges]

Less is better but will the gadget people (them with money) warm to the absence of toys  

[Black Pearl]

No - they are all ranting, screaming and howling at the moon in outrage on all the tech blogs at the price and the lack of any feature they feel it should have.

Its not a camera for them. It is the very essence of a camera and a very simple camera and a very beautiful camera and I want one more than any camera I have every wanted before. 

[fuzzyedges]

Might cost abit but lets be fair some are offering free postage 

[colinb]

7 hours ago, fuzzyedges said:

Might cost abit but lets be fair some are offering free postage 

Classic Fuzzy 

BP stick some masking tape over your cameras rear screen switch to RAW and manual - and save a heap of cash.

[Guest Ron]

^{I will take one too BP, so order two of them while your at it. Just ISO, aperture and shutter will do me fine.}

^{When I started out many moons ago I began with a Zorki 4K and that was second hand, crude compared with Leica but it had a decent lens and took some good pictures.}

^{I bet it is a joy to use and even just to hold, the quality will of course be second to none.}

^{Yep I would be quite happy using one of those.}

^Ron

 

[FUJI]

I find it very strange that BP, our tech mad member....with latest iphone, Pebble Watch, Apple Watch, Mac and iPads, goes bananas over a camera, that takes him back to the Dark Ages of small camera photography .......he says...( tongue firmly in cheek) .......Does that mean, that if Leica in their wisdom, put their red dot on a Retro Mahogany box of a Glass Plate Camera, he would go for it??? 

I be he would love to be out on the beach with Jasper and the lads, large wooden tripod under one arm and huge camera in the other, kids carrying the glass plates and black-cloth head cover?

....... "Nowt like goin' back ter basics yer know!"....... I can hear him say it now.......but, still, his mind wanders back fondly and longingly to the , Camera Obscure, his grandad took him to see when he was a wee bairn.......No, film, a very basic lens, and a darkened room.....Now!.....THAT'S ......the way to go.........or, or......is it?? ?

Seriously though, instead of spending all that hard earned dosh for a red dot.....do as I do....acquire a collection of beautiful M42 lense, and an old PANASONIC GF1, ....set it to......Shoot W/0 Lens......everything is then manual.....put masking tape over the LCD and there you have it........Simples!

Yes......a gentle Mickey take Robin........I would hate not having an lcd screen.......it would be like having a car without power steering or pneumatic tyres.

FUJI.............Exits stage left, whistling softly to himself 

 

[fuzzyedges]

I have to admit I often wonder why all those settings I never use are there for

When I shoot at an event you dont have time to alter much hence I set my aperture to f4 / f5.6 (zoom lens) speed does what it wants and its only the iso thats altered to the day light available The rest is up to soft ware on the computer 

Would I buy a one cost vs head NO heart vs head you bet I would 

[ChrisLumix]

I know it's not the Leica M-D, but what attracted me to my current camera was it so easy to take pictures - an aperture ring, a shutter dial, EV dial, manual switch for the three focus options, ditto for aspect ratio ... and after I'd set up the control ring to adjust ISO (or focus if MF chosen), I had everything at my fingertips to set the camera for particular pictures without ever having to dive into the menu system.

Though having said that, I would now miss the screen, even though there is a perfectly good EVF. Perhaps I should switch the preview off altogether so I can't see what I've taken until I get home!

[Black Pearl]

My Fuji does that Chris along with having an ISO dial but its not quite the same. I think its the appeal that film camera still hold over me, the absolute simplicity and the return to using the skills I know I have and not relying on seeing the picture before I get to 'develop' them.

A friend has a X-Pro1 that he doesn't use so I might borrow it, set the viewfinder to optical, cover the rear screen,put my Pentax 50mm on it and take it out for a week or two - be as close as I can get.

[Black Pearl]

9 hours ago, FUJI said:

I find it very strange that BP, our tech mad member....with latest iphone, Pebble Watch, Apple Watch, Mac and iPads, goes bananas over a camera, that takes him back to the Dark Ages of small camera photography .......he says...( tongue firmly in cheek) .......Does that mean, that if Leica in their wisdom, put their red dot on a Retro Mahogany box of a Glass Plate Camera, he would go for it??? 

I be he would love to be out on the beach with Jasper and the lads, large wooden tripod under one arm and huge camera in the other, kids carrying the glass plates and black-cloth head cover?

....... "Nowt like goin' back ter basics yer know!"....... I can hear him say it now.......but, still, his mind wanders back fondly and longingly to the , Camera Obscure, his grandad took him to see when he was a wee bairn.......No, film, a very basic lens, and a darkened room.....Now!.....THAT'S ......the way to go.........or, or......is it?? ?

Seriously though, instead of spending all that hard earned dosh for a red dot.....do as I do....acquire a collection of beautiful M42 lense, and an old PANASONIC GF1, ....set it to......Shoot W/0 Lens......everything is then manual.....put masking tape over the LCD and there you have it........Simples!

Yes......a gentle Mickey take Robin........I would hate not having an lcd screen.......it would be like having a car without power steering or pneumatic tyres.

FUJI.............Exits stage left, whistling softly to himself 

 

Fuji I've owned a 5x4 field camera, carried it all over Cumbria and could only take four photographs as I only had two dark slides - thats not what appeals about the M-D.

I have manual lenses that I can put on the Fuji and it has all the dials to make it feel like a traditional camera  - thats not what appeals about the M-D.

I have a couple of pinhole cameras and I have a pinhole lens cap for the Nikon - thats not what appeal about the M-D.

Its not about the red dot - it doesn't even have one - its more that it handles like a proper camera, it can take high quality images like a proper camera, it is just a camera.
Its not a fancy electronic device - well it is but you would never know - it just takes photographs without any distractions.

 

I have already gone from a very high performance professional DSLR to a mirrorless camera with simpler control surfaces and feel this is the next logical step. It might seem like a backwards step but for me it is the ultimate camera.

[BillE]

put old lens onto a x-pro1 and you need the evf for focusing, unless you zone focus! I never use the rear screen except to view/show pics way after taking them and to set menu items. I have used live view a few times with the canon, but that is a rarety. I have looked at fuji x70 and similar but the fact of no viewfinder puts me off. Thanks BP I now know the camera I will get if I win the big one on a Friday night

[FUJI]

I was winding you up BP ;-))

 

FUJI

[Black Pearl]

I know but this thing has me so excited I'm need to waffle 

[NannyFerret]

What I can't understand is why they charge so much when there is less to the camera than in the Nikon ect. DSLRs.

[fuzzyedges]

Or is there more photographically speaking vs whistles and shiny things 

[Black Pearl]

Tiny production run, hand assembled, ridiculous attention to detail and customer service second to none.  

[Korky]

Now, this is how I imagine the conversation would run......

Me: Seen this?

Mrs K: What is it?

Me: It's the new Leica M-D, it's a cracker of a camera.

Mrs K (bored already): Oh, right, what's so special about that? Just looks like another blokey toy to me. Lots of things to twiddle and play with.

Me: It's a superb piece of German engineering. Hand assembled, superb quality lenses, it really is the doggie's danglers of the camera world. It's got.....

Mrs K (interrupting): I hope you're not getting any daft ideas.

Me: No, no, not really. Anyways, it seems it has a price tag of around nine grand.

Mrs K: What kind of a pillock pays that sort of money for summat that takes pictures?

LONG PAUSE

Mrs K: It's your turn to empty the dishwasher.

[FUJI]

LOL!

OH! Korks you are a little devil. ?

FUJI

[Black Pearl]

Oddly enough I had a very similar conversation with Mrs Beepy though weirdly enough she does kind of get the idea behind the camera.