How Crazy is Leica

Leica introduced last night a refreshingly new camera which has already raised lots of comments in internet forums. Most of comments are telling how crazy and stupid Leica is to introduce a camera like that. And too expensive it is also, of course.

Leica M Monochrom

That´s the name of this new camera. Actually it´s not all new, mostly a version of the regular M9. For the tech people, that is. The biggest difference is using a monochrome sensor. This camera can take only black and white images. Inherently all camera sensors (except for constructions like Foveon) are actually black and white. They are enabled to take color images by a red-green-blue filter array in front of sensor. While giving the advantage of getting color images, this filter array has also several negative effects. It blocks light, a lot of it, it makes resolution worse and it causes all kinds of artefacts. These artefacts are dampened usually by adding another filter in front of sensor, namely anti-aliasing or low pass filter, which hides the artifacts by making the image even more soft. 

So, if you want to shoot primarily black and white images with you are left with a crippled camera. This is where M Monochrom comes in. It gives you the true quality of the latest iteration of M9 sensor. Better resolution, better dynamic range, higher noise free ISOs, cleaner gradations etc. You only need to like shooting the Leica way and have 20.000 euros to spend. That´s the approximate price of body and three Leica lenses including the new 50mm Apo-Summicron lens.

Why Apo? In a color image you can correct chromatic aberration afterwards in software. In a black and white image you can´t, you get just softer details. I have not tested yet but I would not be surprised if M Monochrom with Apo-Summicron would give the sharpest images ever in 35mm cameras.

What tech minded people tend to forget is that shooting color or black and white images are two totally different things. Too often we see comments like: I made it black and white because it wasn't good in color! Actually very seldom an image will be good in black and white if you can´t tweak it good as a color image. Black and white is about light and form. You have to be able to see the light and use the form. In color you can use those also, but you can also go without them and work just with the color. I know black and white shooters who like EVFs because they can see what they get in black and white. What you really miss with a black and white camera is the ability to tweak tonality by the colors in software. 

Very common thought, especially with amateurs, is that you should be able to shoot everything with your camera. It is okay. But also it is a mental road block if you want to become good in anything. You have to concentrate, get rid of a lot. I have shot the same way for decades. My criteria for a camera is: can I use it my way? I am a color shooter, but a camera like M Monochrom moves me because it is so much about single minded photography. Nothing else.

X2

Leica introduced also two more cameras last night. Of them X2 has a couple of interesting features. Not really as a camera for me but as something happening behind the scenes. At their web site Leica downplays their new EVF for X2. It is called Viso-Flex according to Leica tradition. Leica used to co-operate with Panasonic, and still does, but this Viso-Flex is actually Olympus VF-2 up to electric contacts. They are interchangeable, which means there must be Olympus electronics also inside X2. It´s AF system is far better than what previous model X1 had. Where did Leica buy their AF system for X2? ;-)

More info and images on these cameras at Leica.com and sites like dpreview.com

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Leica lenses on Olympus PEN

Leica Cruise gave me an opportunity to test some Leica-M Lenses I had not tried before. These were Summilux-M 21mm f/1.4 Asph, Summarit-M 90mm f/2.5 and Apo-Telyt-M 135mm f/3.4 Asph. I shot some images with both M9 and Olympus E-P2.

Some observations

All these lenses are superbly made. Both focusing and aperture rings move firmly but smoothly and aperture clicks are easy to count and set. Intermediate values can be used. These lenses are smallish but heavier than many others because they have no cheap lightweight materials.

On Leica M9 21mm Summilux lens protrudes a long way into viewfinder image and makes composing less than intuitive.  At least I needed to turn the camera all the time to the right to check where lower right hand corner might be and which objects fall into picture and which ones are cut out. Focusing is superbly easy. With 21mm lens you need lots of practise to learn to ”see” compostion already before you look into M9 viewfinder. As you can see from image above, 90mm Summarit is small and compact with M9. Also viewfinder image is still usable. But with 135mm Telyt viewfinder crop is way too small for me. If you are fancying a Leica M9, it should not be because of any subjects needing a 135mm focal length.

On Olympus E-P2 I had a Novoflex Leica-M to MFT adapter. With it I can use any Leica-M lens. Because of E-P2´s smaller sensor, focal lengths are effectively doubled. So, 21mm on E-P2 corresponds to a 42mm lens on M9 (or any FF DSLR), 90mm corresponds to 180mm and 135mm to 270mm. With E-P2 there are no viewfinder worries because electronic viewfinder VF-2 gives an unobstructed 100% view with every lens. I used aperture priority mode all the time with these lenses and manual focusing is quite easy with Summilux and Apo-Telyt. Summarit 90mm does not give an equally contrasty viewfinder image wide open and I had some problems with focusing correctly. One of E-P2 benefits with Leica-M lenses is that you see the real depth of field all the time. The other benefit is ease of setting correct exposure because you can see also that all the time.

Image quality

To put it shortly, 135mm Apo-Telyt on M9 is an outstanding lens in this respect. Summarit is softer wide open but gets it´s act together from f/4 on. Summilux is very good except for corners. This I must say is kind of relative because M9´s resolution is so brilliant. You can see the difference between center and corners easier than with AA-filtered DSLRs. Even offset microlenses can´t fully compensate here for oblique light. Also a super wide-angle lens like 21mm tends to give images that have lots of small details. There was some moiré, which I find correctable in post processing.

On E-P2 Summilux 21mm becomes a mediocre 42mm lens. It proves again the maxim: 35mm is the widest M-lens you can use on MFT cameras. Their sensors are not designed for these lenses. Center is good but corners suffer big time. Summarit 90mm is on the soft side on MFT cameras. If it is not a top notch lens wide open on M9, it becomes an awkward lens on MFT. I had focusing problems because of soft image (2x crop!), and larger apertures give you all kinds of halos and high light fringing on E-P2. Halos can be even nice for some subjects, fringing... NOT. Which leaves us Apo-Telyt. It was a total enjoyment. A very, very handy 270mm (corresponding to FF) f/3.4 lens. Great quality in pictures, I simply loved using it. Too bad there was so little time.  

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E-P2 / Apo-Telyt-M 135mm. Rocking and moving platform and subject. Still quite nice sharpness. Crop is 100%.

E-P2 / Summarit-M 90mm. Halos can be beautiful. Crop is 100%.

Leica M9 / Summilux-M 21mm. Nice panoramic effect but slight softness creeps into edges and some moiré. Crop is 100%.

Leica Partner Tour Finland 2010

Last week I attended a Leica cruise into Helsinki archipelago. The weather was perfect and we had an opportunity to discuss Leicas latest news and test Leica equipment.

Images from ship show members of press, dealers and old Leica hands. On the right Matti Hietala, a renown fashion shooter, who is Leica S2 Ambassadeur in Finland. And above him our host Foka CEO Jorma Helminen. Sigma is also one of Foka´s brands and also Sigma lenses up to the biggest ones were available.

Some observations 

Leica S2 is great. Not really bigger than my D3x. A beautiful camera to handle and shoot. Very balanced in hand. Gorgeous, big viewfinder. Fast AF. Nicely dampened mirror. I hope to find time to test it more later this year. S2 might be better suited as my ”other” camera besides Olympus E-P2 instead of FF DSLR and Mamiya645/PhaseOne combo.

Leica´s new Summilux-M 35mm f/1.4 Asph was not yet available but I´ll be getting one to be tested shortly. Instead I shot Summilux-M 21mm f/1.4 Asph, Summarit-M 90mm f/2.5 and Apo-Telyt-M 135mm f/3.4 Asph lenses with both M9 and E-P2. I´ll comment more on these and show some images in my next blog. Images above are shot with E-P2 using lenses 21mm Summilux-M, 35mm Nokton f/1.2, 50mm D.Zuiko f/2.0 and 90mm Summarit-M.

Leica is doing well. They are profitable after hard years, their books are full of orders, they are expanding. I like the way they proceed with S2 building the whole system to perform alike. No weak links like so many others. M system may be (in my mind) ready for retirement but only partly. Lenses are ready and being renewed for the future.

Sigma is the strongest of independent lens makers. Their lens range is being brought up to digital standards as fast a any other brand. Lenses have grown fatter because of bigger front elements, coatings have evolved and Sigma has a new FLD low dispersion glass. It has alike qualities with Fluorite.  And SD15, it´s ready to hit the stores - if anyone is interested in crop DSLRs any more.

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