Industry News: Leica announces the M10 Monochrom
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Most people today use smartphones or automatic cameras for taking photos. It is somewhat similar to a Kodak Instamatic. I remember well, my father purchased an Instamatic 100 in the mid 1960ies and made a lot of Kodakchromes with it. This was a "point and click"-Camera, very popular and used in a similar way compared to contemporary automatic cameras - you can take photos and dont care about focus and metering. Very easy.
Now Rangefinder Cameras, like the Kodak Retina, which was produced until 1969 became increasingly unpopular in this time. The reason was simply, that it was more difficult to use, you have to set focus, aperture and shutter speed. This has not changed much until today. Rangefinders are somewhat inconvenient. And with the advent of small SLR's, the first being the Kine Exakta and later on the immensly popular Canon SLR's (the FX) and also the nice Minolta SRT cameras, people wanted the TTL (through the lens) concept.
But there are advantages of a Rangefinder: they are small, silent and there is no blackout in the optical viewfinder. So if this is important for you, a Leica M is an option. And if you do not want to spend a lot of money, there are many inexpensive used analog Rangefinders.
Now Rangefinder Cameras, like the Kodak Retina, which was produced until 1969 became increasingly unpopular in this time. The reason was simply, that it was more difficult to use, you have to set focus, aperture and shutter speed. This has not changed much until today. Rangefinders are somewhat inconvenient. And with the advent of small SLR's, the first being the Kine Exakta and later on the immensly popular Canon SLR's (the FX) and also the nice Minolta SRT cameras, people wanted the TTL (through the lens) concept.
But there are advantages of a Rangefinder: they are small, silent and there is no blackout in the optical viewfinder. So if this is important for you, a Leica M is an option. And if you do not want to spend a lot of money, there are many inexpensive used analog Rangefinders.
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The trouble with Leica's current pricing is that it simply discourages many enthusiasts, resulting in them getting sold to collectors and "money-people", for showing-off.
This wasn't always the case, Leicas were never cheap, but were far more accessible than nowadays.
I owned at least 14 Leicas, M and R, often used ones, and have never been rich. The lenses are simply wonderful!
But today, with a good income, it wouldn't be easy without suffering from hunger, to buy a new M with 4 or 5 luminous lenses...sad !
This wasn't always the case, Leicas were never cheap, but were far more accessible than nowadays.
I owned at least 14 Leicas, M and R, often used ones, and have never been rich. The lenses are simply wonderful!
But today, with a good income, it wouldn't be easy without suffering from hunger, to buy a new M with 4 or 5 luminous lenses...sad !
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Similar with me Del Paso, and my son has now two M's after he discoverd how beautiful Dad's Leicas are.
When it is about the prize-range, one should consider, that Canon, Nikon and Sony professional FF-Cameras and Superteles are similar expensive as the Leica Bodies and Lenses. There is not so much difference.
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Sorry I sold all of my colored lens filters many years ago. Now all I can do is move color sliders in software when converting my color images to B& W.
But you know, that there is no colour in your silicon. The signal from the sensor is always black and white and initially all digital cameras were "monochromes". The colour comes from the Color filter array (Bayer-Filter) on the sensor.
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In the right hands....
I frequently see stereotypes concerning these types of cameras. As if they are only being used by disposable income idiots. That can't simply be true, DII's have much crazier ways to dispose of their income, usually someone who purchases a Monchrom is capable of understanding black and white composition, tonal range, framing and shadows. I have a very good friend who has one and the results SOOC are stellar. It looks as if someone DID spend time with the image in LR or Ps. They are not for every shoot but when I am in the B&W mindset I truly wish I had one. But, I have kids in college.
I frequently see stereotypes concerning these types of cameras. As if they are only being used by disposable income idiots. That can't simply be true, DII's have much crazier ways to dispose of their income, usually someone who purchases a Monchrom is capable of understanding black and white composition, tonal range, framing and shadows. I have a very good friend who has one and the results SOOC are stellar. It looks as if someone DID spend time with the image in LR or Ps. They are not for every shoot but when I am in the B&W mindset I truly wish I had one. But, I have kids in college.
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Yeah, but that one is built into the camera. No need to carry a pack of screw-ins of various sizes and colors.
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I often shoot RAW on one card and jpeg in the other as you can’t reorder by file type on one card when importing to an phone/tablet with a card reader. Often if the jpegs are good enough I’ll give the card to family and friends to upload to their phone without the RAW files getting in the way.
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I have shot Canon since the mid seventies and I still do. However, a few years back I turned my attention away from wildlife, birds and action and more towards portraits, street, travel and more artistic photography. I added a Hasselblad H6D-100c and a Leica M10 to my gear (which I have way too much of). Currently I shoot less than 10% of my time with Canon (when things move fast or I need longer lenses), probably around 30% with Hasselblad (for things that don´t move, I have time and I have a tripod) and the rest with Leica. Strange is it not, considering all the things it can´t do? However, when you learn how to master the rangefinder and learn to appreciate the simplicity of the M concept, the experience of working with the Leica and their absolutely gorgeous lenses, is a very rewarding experience.
I also know a lot of Leica shooters and the claim that all Leica shooters are show offs with tons of money is totally wrong. What the ones I know have in common is being very enthusiastic and dedicated photographers. If you want to make pictures with a Leica, beyond what you can get from your phone, you have to use it a lot. These people do. The second hand market is very good and the gear hold its value very well.
When I show up with my 1DX-II and any of the white lenses, I get lots of looks and lots of questions about my gear. I have to date not received a single long look or a single question about my Leica. The M10 monochrome is even built to be stealth. No logo, no visible text. Not much of a show off. Yes, they have colorful collectors items, which Seal may bring to a gig, but I have never seen one in use.
About 70% of my pictures are already B&W (I grew up with film and a dark room, doing nothing but B&W). To me, this camera is very tempting. Yes, it is very expensive, but to turn it around, the M10 is the same price as a 1DX-III, without all the functionality I don´t need/want (video for one), in a small and stealthy hand made body, with double resolution, higher dynamic range, cleaner noise patterns (if what I have seen so far turns out to be true), with the best to-the-point menu system I have seen and jewel like small and fantastic lenses. (Look at the APO50 Summicron. That tiny lens is the world´s best 50mm for full frame).
The M10 monochrome will be a massive success for Leica. If you try to buy one, you will end up in a queue and it will take months before you´ll get it. It is also worth mentioning that Leica is a financially very healthy company, unlike many of the others.
I also know a lot of Leica shooters and the claim that all Leica shooters are show offs with tons of money is totally wrong. What the ones I know have in common is being very enthusiastic and dedicated photographers. If you want to make pictures with a Leica, beyond what you can get from your phone, you have to use it a lot. These people do. The second hand market is very good and the gear hold its value very well.
When I show up with my 1DX-II and any of the white lenses, I get lots of looks and lots of questions about my gear. I have to date not received a single long look or a single question about my Leica. The M10 monochrome is even built to be stealth. No logo, no visible text. Not much of a show off. Yes, they have colorful collectors items, which Seal may bring to a gig, but I have never seen one in use.
About 70% of my pictures are already B&W (I grew up with film and a dark room, doing nothing but B&W). To me, this camera is very tempting. Yes, it is very expensive, but to turn it around, the M10 is the same price as a 1DX-III, without all the functionality I don´t need/want (video for one), in a small and stealthy hand made body, with double resolution, higher dynamic range, cleaner noise patterns (if what I have seen so far turns out to be true), with the best to-the-point menu system I have seen and jewel like small and fantastic lenses. (Look at the APO50 Summicron. That tiny lens is the world´s best 50mm for full frame).
The M10 monochrome will be a massive success for Leica. If you try to buy one, you will end up in a queue and it will take months before you´ll get it. It is also worth mentioning that Leica is a financially very healthy company, unlike many of the others.
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Voigtlander APO-Lanthar 50 introduced with Sony E-mount, which is probably just as sharp and not much different in size while focusing closer and with electronic support (for 7x less). Leica set the bar 6 years earlier, but in the future we could see other exciting small lenses for other three mirrorless mounts (which in theory could be an even stronger base than the M-mount or E-mount)
Of course if the rumors are true, Leica will push M-lens development even further still for even higher resolution, but others could be catching up if the demand is really there for these kinds of optics.
The M10M has no competition though (and it won't have in the foreseeable future either), so they can price it however they like.
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Sony’s advantage is they share focus information so no third party reverse engineered lenses. I think it will be quite some time before there’s as an extensive lineup of manual lenses for other mounts. The Voigtlander E mount lineup has taken five years to get where it is now and there’s no sign of any other mount interest as yet. I do hope Canon can produce two excellent cameras this year and garner more interest from other lens companies and not just big autofocus lenses.
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They have the standard and close-focusing VM-RF adapters coming in a few months (probably), so slowly but surely they will come out with native lenses as well by the time these systems start to mature.
Samyang has started making RF lenses with AF, Sigma will follow as well, so manual lenses shouldn't be difficult to implement either.
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Yeah,but for the Canon $$$ lenses, you are gonna really be able to reach out and "touch" someone with them...LONG expensive tele lenses.
This $13K one I'm talking about is like a 90mm Leica lens.
Looks beautiful, don't get me wrong, but I don't think it is in the same price league for type of lens you're talking about Canon putting out....
Again, just my observations...
C
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