THE LEICA M9 REAL WORLD REVIEW

PAGE 1 - THE FULL FRAME BEAUTY ARRIVES

PAGE 2 - The goods. What comes in the box and what’s new?

PAGE 3 - Is FULL FRAME really that much better?

PAGE 4 - High ISO low light photography, and the M9

PAGE 5 - Color - M9 packs a PUNCH!

PAGE 6 - Some M9 Black & White conversions

PAGE 7 - The 35 Summilux and the M9 - A match made in heaven or hell?

PAGE 8 - Full Frame = Vignetting? Not on the M9!

PAGE 9 - Untouched Full Size Sample Downloads

PAGE 10 - My favorite images form my time with the M9

PAGE 11 - More M9 from other Leica photographers

PAGE 12 - My final thoughts and conclusion

PAGE 13 - Why I prefer shooting with a rangefinder camera.

NEW! > - My Ongoing Leica M9 Daily Diary - Updated DAILY!

PAGE 3 - Full frame. Is it really that much better?     next---->

So with the M9 being priced about $1000 more than the previous M8.2 is it $1000 better? Ummmm, that would be a big fat black painted, red-dotted YES! Will it make you a better photographer? Sadly, the answer to that one is NO, but on paper, it’s image quality has the potential to beat the M8.2 and yes, in my opinion it certainly does. When shooting Full Frame you get a certain look in your images, and I loooove that look. Here are some samples that demonstrate the full frame creaminess, and even a sample with MOIRE, which I rarely saw in my M8 files.

TECH-HEAD DISCLAIMER - *Keep in mind, since day one with this website I have shown MY RESULTS with the cameras I have used or tested. When I say MY RESULTS, I am telling and showing you what I was able to accomplish with said camera! I am a photographer, not a gear head reviewer or techno geek. So many of the samples you will see in this review have been processed in Adobe Camera Raw where I adjust exposure, white balance, color, etc. Sometimes I also add some vignetting which seems to bother some people. When I do this I always state what I have done and I also offer full size untouched images for download. This way you can see my final results as well as out of camera results. The best of both worlds.*

In this review I have dedicated PAGE 9 to untouched out of camera samples, so some of you will be happy to see this page and you will see exactly what you can expect out of the M9. It’s funny but with this being my biggest review to date, I wanted to name it “MY LEICA M9 BIG BAD ASS REVIEW” but decided against it last minute. Ha ha. Now on to some images...

When it comes  to camera reviews, I couldn't care less about charts, graphs, or numbers. When I use a camera, all I care about is the USABILITY FACTOR. Also, the quality of the files the camera produces and the quality of the camera and lenses overall. The M8.2 had all of that and more. How about the M9?

“USABILITY FACTOR: A camera that you can not put down. One that you want to take with you wherever you go. A camera that will not weigh you down and break your back. A camera that will sleep next to you on your nightstand. A camera that produces exquisite image quality while making YOU look good as well as it hangs from your neck! A camera that will improve your skills and one that you just love shooting day in and day out!”

Well, since the M9 is basically a Full Frame M8 the usability factor is still there in spades, if not a little better! Why better? Well with its improved high ISO and full frame quality it makes you even more motivated to go out and shoot! As for quality of files, well, I am happy to say that the M9 not only keeps the M8 “look” but it also keeps the sharpness and detail though it may not be “as sharp” as the M8 was. The M9 keeps the tradition of the M8 without an anti-aliasing filter so you get maximum sharpness.

With the M8 and over 50k images taken with it I have seen one example, maybe two of MOIRE in my images. Well, with the M9 I have seen it twice in 200 images! Why this is I am not sure and I will need more time with the camera to see if it was just a fluke or if the camera is more likely to show MOIRE than the M8 was. It is exaggerated here due to web resize but even the original shows it where my M8 very rarely did. The reason there is MOIRE in the M9 is due to Leica omitting the anti-aliasing filter. This leads to much sharper images but I am wondering if the M9 is more prone to this. I will need more time with the camera to find out.

Here is a sample taken with an M8 a few months ago that should show the same pattern, but it does not. This leads me to believe the M9 may be more susceptible to it. Again, if I had more time with the camera I could of shot more samples so when I get my own M9 I will test this further and add to this review with my findings.

Since I knew I was  going to be writing this review, I purposely tried to stay away from the early M9 reviews (though I did read one, as well as look at others images) so I would not have any bias for anything going into this. I wanted to write about my REAL experience with the camera and files and tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

So after my first shots, I was seeing the benefit of Full Frame with the AMAZING quality of the new sensor. The 90 Summicron APO just rocks on the M9 as does the 35 Summilux ASPH (but does still exhibit focus shift). As a matter of fact, all of the lenses I have tried flat out look SUPERB on this camera!

It is kind of like going from a Canon 20D to a 5D for all of you SLR users. Or a Nikon D90 to a D700 or D3. There is just something about a full frame sensor that gets me. As much as I loved the M8 and M8.2, I have to admit that the M9 does put out a nicer, richer image. It has the same qualities of the 8 ,but even more, hence the “9”! ha ha...

The above image was shot with one of my favorite lenses. The Leica 50 Summilux PRE-ASPH. While most prefer the newer ASPH (which is a perfect lens in every way), I sort of like the nostalgia of the classic lenses, and in many ways prefer the look of the PRE-ASPH version. I have a beautiful black paint version which was the last version before the new ASPHERICAL version. You can see the review of this lens in my Leica section. It renders on the M9 in a beautiful way. Not overly sharp and with a unique and velvety out of focus background. Man, it is so nice to have this lens perform like a true 50 mm. This is how it was meant to be!

How about that detail and sharpness of the M8? Does the M9 continue this tradition? YES IN-FREAKING-DEED! Click the image below for a larger size version. The 100% crop is below the image. As you can see, the detail is AMAZING, and this was shot at F2! Try that with a Canon or Nikon F2 lens.

It is actually very cool to have the 18MP of the M8. I wonder how many Canon 1ds MK whatever or Nikon D3 shooters will trade for a M9? I would in a heartbeat.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO PAGE 4 - HIGH ISO PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE LEICA M9

“Light glorifies everything. It transforms and ennobles the most commonplace and ordinary subjects. The object is nothing, light is everything.” – Leonard Missone