Are you going to run out and get the Leica M EV1?

[AlphaWorld]

Leica M series lenses are loved by many people. They are full frame, but typically quite small, and often quite robust.

Every M series body has featured a rangefinder focus system. Now Leica have made an M body that doesn't have rangefinder focus.

I am amused that the camera uses what sounds like the EVF from the A7RIV. And a 60Mpixel sensor (gosh, like the A7RIV). But it's not exactly like the A7RIV - it only have a single memory card slot, not two

I did try a Leica system a while back - an M9 and several lenses - I had trouble with the rangefinder focus, though, and returned to DSLRs.

Do you feel any temptation to get one?

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

So it's an A7C-R with a better EVF?

 

[THXGEEK]

I'll get another A7CR before I get a Leica. Those Leica lenses are really expensive!

...Still. When the Lottery God(s) finally decide to smile on me, I'll think about it.

 

[Unframed Dave]

They do look nice.

 

[Chris 3754]

I am sure it’s very well built and has a great feel in the hands but how do they justify $9k USD for a camera with one memory card slot (I know it has internal memory too) and 4.5 fps. I love my Sonys, but can at least understand why people also love their Nikons, Canons, etc. I just never understood the whole Leica thing at those prices. I guess if you can afford a Rolls Royce and private jet then having a Leica around your neck while walking the streets of Monaco has it’s place. Perhaps this is mean to say, but I look at modern Leica as a status symbol and not a photographer’s camera.

 

[Unframed Dave]

Pricing a luxury branded item is not really a science.

My wife travels a lot and has handbags in various sized that have great functional security features. They're discrete, completely unfashionable and to blokes like me, quite expensive. Compared to a handbag by Prada, which will be very eye-catching, have the functionality of a handbag, they are cheap as chips. By a magnitude of 30 times, even.

The Prada bag will instantly get knocked off and sold on Sunday markets throughout the world for a fraction of both it's and my wife's within a few weeks. In my mind, instantly devaluing the original item to nought.

I cannot for the life of me understand why people pay the huge price mark up for luxury branded goods.

Leica however is an exception.

They feel nice, they look nice and they work. They're not for wildlife or fine art photographers, they're for journos, street and travel photographers.

I did a walk through Norwich with a guy that owned a leica rangefinder. He only focused it once, at the beginning, set it to f8, and shot from the hip. Didn't look through the viewfinder at all. He got the best shot of the day and it had a look and quality to it that took a knod to the seventies, when in my view photography was at it's zenith. Photography isn't even about the camera, it's about the eye, but Leica is something different. I should work in marketing, I'm even selling it to myself.

If, I had stupid amounts of disposable income, I might buy one. I don't however and I know that my A7CR could achieve exactly the same image. Dammit, I could buy a square lens hood and a red sticker and from a distance it would look like one.

Sony make great cameras and even better lenses, but they don't feel like Leicas. Perhaps that's what makes the photos that come out of them, just that little bit more.

 

[Chris 3754]

That is another very fair perspective. We all have those things which are perhaps unnecessary like my Omega watch that I rarely wear compared to my Apple watch which is more functional at a fraction of the cost. However I still enjoy wearing my Omega on special occasions. I am sure there are folks who feel the same about their Leica. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Good points Dave for sure.