What replaced the Leica M6.
Discussion
The trouble today of course is that 'golden age' of photojournalism has gone, rates are lower and few professional photojournalists or press photographers can afford a Leica system, which also doesn't really suit the modern press photography life anyway which is why most use DSLRs now.
But that said, the Guardian's Sarah Lee wrote a nice article when she bought a Leica M-E last year.
But that said, the Guardian's Sarah Lee wrote a nice article when she bought a Leica M-E last year.
My memory says they were always expensive, the lenses however have gone up in price to crazy levels the past couple or three years. In many respects the rest of the camera market seems to have got much cheaper for the medium quality stuff. I can remember when I was 17 and bought a Nikon FM and nifty 50 it seemed like I was never going to afford to buy Nikkor lenses for it. It seems to me that only Leica and Zeiss have remembered that sort of build quality and feel.
NJH said:
...or an M7 or digital the M8 before the M9. Odd question.
I guess the real question is if one didn't want to stick with a rangefinder they probably went Canon 5d.
Ok, ill rephrase it, what if any digi camera replaced the iconic Leica rangefinder, I appreciate a lot still use 35mm but a lot will use some sort of digital medium, 10 years ago Leica were making good but not brilliant digital cameras, has that now changed?I guess the real question is if one didn't want to stick with a rangefinder they probably went Canon 5d.
If anything Leica is in better health now than at any time in the past 15 years or so. There seems to be a worldwide shortage of their lenses driving prices skywards and they claim they sold as many digital rangefinders (M8 / M9) as they did film rangefinders. Its only really in the last few years they have really taken to digital. ISTR the M8 came out in 2006/7, the 35mm sensor M9 a couple of years later. Their S range is an interesting camera, bridges the gap between DSLR and medium format and could be a dominant product line for them in years to come for guys who previously used medium format digital backs etc. If anything Leica as a company are showing the Japanese the error of their ways by focusing on a race to the bottom consumer camera market, Leica instead are focusing on high value niches.
This chap likes 'em: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGVABU--WIg
Fujis look like them and have a optical finder which isn't through the lens, beyond that there aren't a great deal of parallels. In many ways they are opposite and of course the only company making a digital rangefinder is currently Leica. Personally I much prefer my M8 to the X100 and will be selling the X100 soon. This is despite the limitations of the M8 with its really noisy sensor, rubbish Jpegs, slow processing, no AF and general lack of features. Its only after using a Leica I realise that Fuji really didn't get it, they made a camera that looks a bit like a Leica but has none of the Leica's stripped down simplicity.
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