I really wanted to be like the other kids and take cool hipster photos on my Leicas. What I found was that I didn’t like the compromise and the Leica look I got out of my cameras. With one exception.
How did I figure it out?
My final experiment was taking a photo side by side with my OM3 camera. It wasn’t a hard to expose shot or even a complex composition. Just a test shot of the corner of a building that was white and an asphalt area that was shadowed.
You can see the outcome of the two images above. The Leica is almost completely black and the OM3, while overly bright, was able to show the reality of the situation. I also tested this with my Sony A58 SLT, and my iPhone. On every other camera I was able to easily take this shot with minimal changes despite the WB and other settings being identical. All of my attempts were shot using aperture priority with a WB of 5400K.
I had been struggling to create photos I liked with the Leica (M10-R) and while some were really good most were less than stellar.
This isn’t the first Leica I felt this way with.
I also owned the SL2 with several lenses and felt the same way about that camera. It was a struggle to get a good image. The color was off, the exposure was all over the place, and when I got a really nice photo the next one was inconsistent. Like it didn’t know how to repeat the process.
The exception to this is my SOFORT 2, which is a camera I love dearly for it’s form, it’s usability, and it’s fun factor.
Where do I go from here?
I’m not 100% sure yet. I am trading the Leica on MPB for a GFX50SII and a nice zoom lens. I also purchased a Nikon Z6III with the 24-102 F4 lens. I’m struggling with the Nikon and mirrorless battery life still. The OM3 has really spoiled me with it’s seemingly indefinite battery life compared to the Z6 that goes dead just sitting there. Everything else about the Nikon is lovely but the D850 could shoot over 1800 shots per battery and the Z6 struggles to hit 350 with a better battery. I feel like all I do it babysit batteries.
Apparently becuase I never took a photo of my Leica’s whenever I went out I wasn’t a real Leica shooter either. So says the internet.