Well its a wet and window afternoon in Plymouth U.K. I have tried to go outside and brave the rain and wind, which can only be described as biblical and which would even make Noah abandon his Ark and take to the lifeboats. So, I decided to make a coffee and write a blog that up until now I had refused to write.
You see, I love creating imagery and equally enjoy telling the stories behind my images through my various blogs. I am also not a hypocrite and like most photographers I love buying gear, particularly lenses and have permeant G.A.S. What is it they say, “you date the camera but marry the lens”? I think I would agree with that and over the years, aided by Gina at Leica Store Dubai, I have managed to curate a not insubstantial lens collection which I continue to enjoy to this day.
So, in putting this short blog together, I thought I would answer the many questions that I am regularly asked via instagram or on this website, and show those of you who seem to be interested about the cameras and lenses that I use on a daily basis, along with my thoughts and general observations of the same.
I called this Blog “Pandora’s Box” as I knew that once open, the gear discussions will go on and on; But hey, who doesn’t love a new toy!
So whenever I discuss anything relating to Leica lets first of all deal with the elephant in the room; entering the world of Leica is expensive. However, its all relative. When you buy something that is precision made and for some an iconic design, you expect to pay a premium. This is polarizing, those that agree and understand it embrace it, those that don’t will never be convinced.
Fortunately, if Leica is above your budget or simply not for you, we are so lucky that there are a plethora of fantastic cameras available, across all brands and suiting all budgets. I firmly believe that with advances in technology pretty much all cameras and top end phones have the ability to assist photographers to generate fantastic imagery.
Whether the imagery is any good or not often lies in the eye of the beholder and down to the vision and skill of the person pressing the shutter. We tend to forget it is the photographer who takes the image, the camera and lens are merely tools of the trade.
Leica M10P & Leica 50mm Summilux F1.4 Asph
Leica M10P and 50mm Summilux F1.4 Asph.
As you can see the M10P is simply a thing of beauty. In the world of Leica “less costs more” but what you do get is simply a work of art and craftsmanship. I have often heard the term “camera porn”; well for me, this is it. No detail has been spared in putting this camera together. It feels just right in the hand and when paired with the wonderful 50mm Summilux Asph the magic begins.
If you want video and flippy screens and lots of customizable buttons contained in a nondescript black box, you need not read any further. This camera is stripped back and built for stills photography.
The Leica M10P is a rangefinder with all controls at at your fingertips, Aperture, Shutterspeed and ISO and whilst you can shoot in aperture priority, the camera beckons you in to the world of full manual mode, allowing you complete control over the creative process.
The menu system of this camera has been designed by people who simply understand and in fact, as I shoot in full manual, I rarely have to delve in to said menu other than to format a memory card or update firmware.
I am often asked about camera settings:
I always shoot in manual.
I have no fixed settings as these very much depend upon the situation, lighting and artistic approach which is required at the time.
I tend to decide upon ISO (dependent upon available light), then the depth of field I am looking for (more often wide open as Leica lenses tend to shine at their widest aperture) and then play with the shutter speed to ensure correct exposure.
I like the process to be considered so I rarely use the continuous modes and set to single shot. As I have always said I am built for comfort not speed and I particularly enjoy the art of manual focus..
Metering is set to centre weighted. I only use Spot when I have some very difficult lighting situations such as when my subject is strongly backlit.
I rarely use auto ISO and tend to keep it simple. I normally shoot outside at ISO 200 and inside at 3200 although up to ISO 6400 is great should you quire it.
White balance I keep in Auto which for 95% of the time seems to work well.
I do not like to clutter up memory cards so I only shoot in DNG (RAW) and post process the images to create JPEGS on my laptop.
On the LCD I like to see the various exposure elements as well as the exposure gauge and the spirit level. That pretty much does it for me as 99% of the time I use the optical view finder, which after all is why you have a range finder.
The M10P does have limited touch screen functionality but I never use it. I told you I was old school!
I have the Visoflex Type 020 which I only use in the rare instances when I break out the 50mm Noctilux or the 135mm Apo Telyt. However, I have the SL2 to accommodate these lenses. More on that later.
Finally, as I only shoot in bnw / monochrome, so I set the exposure simulation to monochrome. This allows me to review my exposure and image in bnw / monochrome in the LCD but still gives me the RAW file in color.
That is pretty much all I need to do to set up the camera. I don’t use flash with this camera and I have not upgraded to later models as 24 mps is fine for my purposes and If I want more I have the wonderful Leica SL2 (hold that thought).
Given that I rarely use the live view for shooting and only shoot in single shot mode, I find battery life perfectly fine. I always have three batteries for all my cameras although I rarely need more than two.
The only thing I would recommend is to buy an ND filter, especially if you want to shoot at wide apertures such as F1.4 in very bright conditions, as the shutter speed tops out as 1/4000. I use a ND16 (4 stop) which pretty much has me covered. Indeed I tend to generally slightly underexpose and then if required, bring back the shadows in post.
Many people ask me about the optical viewfinder and how difficult is it to manually focus. I have to say that like many things it is just down to practice and muscle memory. I rarely have a problem these days for the subject matter I shoot. Lets face it there are horses for courses and If I was a sports and wildlife photographer then I might be looking for another piece of kit. However for travel, street and portrait I have no issues. Indeed, when on the street I can manually zone focus and the camera almost becomes point and shoot and thus is extremely fast to use.
It is testament to this lens combination and my love of 50mm, that I very rarely switch out lenses on the M10P. The only time I tend to use another lens is when traveling and I have my wonderful little Leica 28mm Elmarit F 2.8. Just for those wide angle shots.
The only real downside living in the UK is that the camera and lenses are not weather sealed. As a result I really do hesitate to use in rainy conditions.
Not that much more to say about the M10P. The shutter is extremely quiet and the camera itself looks like a traditional film camera and is very discreet in use. I cannot tell you how many times people have come up to me to ask me why I am still using a film camera, only to be surprised when I tell them its a digital rangefinder.
However, I let the imagery speak for itself. Any limitations are down to my ability, not the equipment.
Leica Type 246 Monochrome & Leica 50mm Apo Summicron F2
If you thought that buying a Leica rangefinder was polarizing, how about buying a version that only produces monochrome images! Welcome to the Leica Type 246. In fact this version was issued in 2015 and would be seen as old technology since then there have been a couple of updated iterations.
The Type 246 is based on the M240 platform and uses a full frame 24 Megapixels CMOS sensor with no Bayer filter. As you can see it is produced all in black with no Leica Red Dot although, as usual, I like Silver lenses on my M bodies and in this case I have the superb 50mm Apo Summicron, one of Leicas highest resolving M lenses, which rarely leaves the front of this camera. IMHO it looks so sexy on the Type 246 and its image resolution is just stunning.
Shooting with the Type 246 is basically the same as the M10P with some significant differences:
Great care must be taken not to blow out the highlights. Once they are gone they are gone and it is so easy to do. Exposing too much to the right can be an image killer.
An ND filter is a must. Minimum ISO is 320 although I generally use 400 as my base ISO. I am not sure why I use ISO 400 but I guess I shoot this camera on a similar basis as BNW film, where I use Ilford delta 400.
Creativity can be enhanced through the use of color filters. I use both yellow and orange filters.
You must learn to “embrace your shadows” as this camera will encourage you to shoot in low light with no flash required.
Why haven’t I upgraded to the latest range of Leica Monochrom cameras? Well honestly I am simply comfortable with my trusty Type 246. It ticks all the boxes for me. This camera had great image quality when I bought it and still does today. If I were starting out today I would probably buy the latest and greatest but honestly I am super happy with how it operates and resolves and would wholeheartedly recommend anyone wishing to step in to Monochrome only cameras to try one.
If find I tend to do minimal post-processing on my monochrome images. I either seem to get it basically right in camera, just requiring tweaks and crop adjustment or else I get it completely wrong and bin the image.
Also I have no skin in the megapixel debate and for my rangefinders and computer limitations 24 mps still remains more than adequate. I have some large prints on my living room walls to prove it.
If I could change one thing it would be to remove the video capability. I know this sounds strange but I never use it so would rather free up all processing power and design to accommodate stills photography. Thats simply how I roll. although your use case may differ.
As I constrain myself creatively to BNW / Monochrom, I am often asked why I don’t exclusively use a camera with a monochrome sensor such as the Type 246 and sell all the others. I have thought about it and I guess that sometimes I would like a raw file that gives me the option to use the color version. Indeed family members often ask me for a color version. It doesn’t necessary suit me creatively but I ham more than happy to have the option to oblige.
Here are a few images taken with the Type 246 & 50mm Apo combo.
Leica SL2 & Leica 50mm Noctilux F0.95
If you have read this far, you will have guessed how much I love Leica Rangefinders and 50mm lenses. So why buy a traditional style EVF driven camera? You will be surprised to learn that my primary reason for buying the SL2 was as an advanced platform to make better use of certain Leica M mount lenses; primarily the 50mm Noctilux F0.95 and the 135mm Apo Telyt. You only have to pick up an SL2 and look through that 5.76 million pixel electronic viewfinder to understand why.
For me, it brought both these lenses to life and focussing became a doddle. Also, due to the fact that it has an electronic shutter and allows sutterspeeds up to 1/40,000 I don’t need to use an ND filter when using the Noctilux wide open at F0.95.
I do have SL lenses, which I primarily use for landscape and nature, namely the 24-90mm Vario Elmarit, the 100mm-400mm Vario Elmar and one of my most favorite lenses the wonderful 90mm Apo Summicron SL.
Everything has its specific use case. If the weather is bad and I am just wanting a walk around I will take the SL2 and 90 mm Apo. It is compact. weather sealed and in my opinion the rendering from the 90mm Apo is absolutely stellar.
However for 90% of the time I have the 50mm Noctilux F0.95 welded to the front of the SL2. At 47 mps the camera gives me a higher image resolution, bearing in mind that for my website I am limited to an image size of 20mps. However, it aids the process of cropping when and if that is necessary.
If I could only have one lens and one camera, it would have to be the SL2 with the 50mm Noctilux F0.95 manually adapted. That is how much I enjoy this set-up. On an M body the Noctilux is super front heavy. On the SL2 it balances beautifully.
Again my principal set-up with the Noctilux manually adapted is as follows:
I generally shoot at F0.95 unless creatively I want a much deeper depth of field.
The SL2 is set up in full manual mode. Aperture controlled on Lens, ISO via the bottom of the two custom function buttons on the front of the camera and shutter speed via the control wheel on the top of the camera.
I use the top function button on the front of the camera to zoom in when precise focussing is required. This allows me to keep my eye looking through the EVF and simply moves my finger from the grip the to the button in a seamless manner.
I use the FN button on the back of the to toggle between my user profiles. These are both BNW but one has red focus peaking and one is without focus peaking. I generally find focus peaking distracting but sometimes it has its uses.
I have the EVF set up so that when looking through the screen it is devoid of information other than what I need namely, the level gauge, focus point and the Histogram top left. When I half press the shutter button I get the shutter speed, ISO and the exposure meter along the bottom. Note: when manually adapting M lenses with the Leica M to L adapter, there are no electronic connections so the aperture doesn’t register.
I almost always shoot in single shot unless the subject matter demands differently.
Consistent with my M bodies on the SL2 I use centre weighted metering most of the time. Again, I tend to only use spot when the lighting situation is challenging and demands it. Maybe there is a better way but this seems to work for me.
White balance is set to auto.
I only shoot in DNG (RAW).
I have two SD cards and unless I am shooting something where I absolutely must have back-up in camera I have the SD cards set up to switch to card 2 once card one is full. Anyways, I always down load my images at the end of a days shooting on to my laptop and external hard drive.
Once I am in this set up I hardly ever have to delve in to the menu and can focus 100% on composition and the creative process.
This is what works for me and I am sure that each of you will have your own way of setting up your camera and I would love to hear your thoughts, comments and advice in the comments section.
Here is some imagery with the SL2 and 50mm Noctilux F0.95:
Leica Q Type 116
I have to confess that I own a Leica point and shoot. Admitted not just any point and shoot but a silver one! Yes this is the camera I was never going to buy but which I have grown to love.
Every Saturday morning I would walk in to the Leica Store Dubai to have coffee with Gina and just inside the door was a stand with the various iterations of the Leica Q. Each time I would pick one up and say, “Looks great, nice auto-focus but I love to manually focus and being a 50mm man, the 28 mm focal length is just not me”.
Of course that fateful day happened when just after giving me an expresso and a biscuit Gina pulled out a Leica Q Type 116 in SILVER! I immediately crumbled and after taking it for a quick test run around Dubai Mall the deal was done. Although a used version, the camera was immaculate and as usual I left Gina smiling but with my wallet just a little lighter.
I actually think this was a smart purchase. The 24 mps lines up nicely with my M bodies and the size and build makes this a great travel / street camera. Sometimes when I have the M10P or SL2 with 50mm or longer, the Leica Q gives me a wide angle without having to stop and change the lens.
Auto-focus was fine for me as I only usually focus manually and so me autofocus did take a bit of getting used to. As did the 28mm lens….but what a lens!
In the world of Leica, Summilux generally refers to a lens with a widest aperture of F1.4. On the Leica Q the 28mm Summilux has a widest aperture of F1.7 but what is 0.3 amongst friends! Let me assure you this lens is absolutely fantastic in the way it renders and just when you think you have witnessed all the magic a twist of the lens near its base turns it to Macro Mode and a whole new world of creativity emerges.
When I tire of autofocus by pressing a button on the focus tab you can manually focus the lens lust like my other M lenses. Steve is very much in his happy place with this set-up.
This camera and lens set up often comes with me on short overseas trips or when walking around sketchier locations where I don’t want $20k of Noctilux and SL2 removed from my person at knife point. Have you visited Barcelona recently!
Despite not being weather sealed I have used it in all weathers and during a recent blizzard in Prague, when temperatures dropped to minus 8, this little camera did not miss a beat.
So how do I generally set it up:
I generally set ISO, aperture and shitter speed manually except for the autofocus where i use auto focus single shot.
ISO I set to 200 when outside and then only adjust when light fails sufficiently that my shutter speed is too slow. Inside I generally set to ISO 3200. I generally have had no problem with image noise and the camera performs well in low light.
I generally shoot in single shot unless the creative situation demands otherwise.
Exposure metering centre weighted.
I know the camera has a digital zoom capability whereby it can crop in camera to either a 35mm or 50mm view but I prefer to keep at 28mm and any cropping is undertaken in post.
White balance primarily set to auto.
I only capture images in DNG (RAW).
Generally when walking around the streets I am at F5.6 but wide open at F1.7 I find the Bokeh pleasing.
The camera has a video capability but I have never used it.
To protect the camera body Gina sold me a half case with an integral grip which I really like.
The camera came with this super cool push on silver Leica Lens cap. That was going to be lost in 2 minutes so that stays in the box and I bought a rubberized lens cap online that I saw on red dot forum which is perfect.
With autofocus I have started to learn to shoot from the hip when walking the streets but I have found this little camera to be extremely nimble. The later variants, Q2 and Q3 will no doubt be even more refined and have a higher megapixel count but you know, I have never been tempted to upgrade. This simply does the job and I would whole-heartedly recommend anyone wishing for a gateway drug in to Leica to scour the web and try and pick up a used Q. If you like it, then you will move to an M in a heart beat and will be well and truly hooked. I did have a Fuji X100F, which by the way is a fantastic little camera. However, once I bought the Leica Q I found the Fuji got little use and eventually I sold it.
Is there is anything that I would change on the Leica Q? Three things really:
(a) I wish it had an internal ND filter like the X100 series.
(b) I wish the on-off switch was simply that. However it has the option of single and continuous shot. I sometimes move this by mistake and end up taking multiple images.
(c) I would remove the video button to somewhere else on the camera as it is too close to the shutter button for my fat fingers. In fact you probably have guessed that I have never used the video so they could remove that functionality all together and I wouldn’t mind. These things may have already been changed in the newer iterations.
Here is a selection of imagery take with the Leica Q Type 116:
I am often asked about straps. I have no affiliation but all of my straps are from Rock and Roll. I have the brown “Hendrix” strap on the SL2, a black soft leather braided strap on the Q and simple classic leather straps on the M10P and Type 246 in yellow and Burgundy respectively. I know, yellow, but its how I roll!
I have not included my Leica MP film camera in this review because I still have not put enough rolls of film through it to feel qualified enough to discuss film shooting and perhaps I will write an Analogue Blog in the future. I have a 35mm Summilux glued to the front for that reportage feel. All I will say is it is truly a liberating experience shooting film with this beautiful camera although, in these inflationary times, it is an experience that comes with a cost. Hold that thought until a later “Analogue” Blog.
So if you have reached this point thank you! In summary, what might you have learned from this Blog:
I am a self confessed “Leica Fanboy” so my reviews are suitably and unashamedly biased :-)
I have more 50mm lenses than god!
You may have correctly assumed that I do not aspire to be a camera reviewer. There are plenty of people on YouTube who are much better qualified to do so.
The best place for specifications are in the user manual. I have not yet met a photographer who reads the user manual. Enough said!
For me photography is a passion and I am blessed to have these wonderful cameras and lenses to help me to express my creativity.
You have hopefully gained some idea as to how and why I use the various combinations of cameras and lenses. I have a number of other lenses but what you have seen is what I use for the majority of my imagery.
Could I do it all with one camera and one lens? Probably, but what would be the fun in that.
If you want to enter the world of Leica call Gina at Leica Store Dubai. You will not regret it, you will get a fabulous service and support and they do serve excellent coffee!
I hope you enjoyed this slightly different Blog but stay tuned as Mrs. C and I continue to record our various adventures. 2024 looks to be an exciting year.
Warmest regards from Plymouth and yes, it is still raining!!!