So, after you said more m9p, but that you missed the rangefinder, I wondered if you would again try the m240, having just used CMOS with the d800e.. I guess I have my answer. Perhaps you will be able to stay with Leica after all. What a journey!
Yes, you’re spot-on Kim. I’ll see how it goes, but so far so good.
Is that jump because the “big” camera is gone? I know one thing Peter…as much as you aren’t a fan of the sensor you’ll still enjoy the ergonomics.
The form factor and and sensory feedback and feelings a photographer gets to enjoy when in the action. Enjoy that for what is with the 240 and don’t worry too much about the sensor.
The ergonomics have never been in question. The CMOS sensor — I’ll learn to live with it. The D800E taught me that much anyway. Thanks Andrew for always being supportive.
Hello Peter,
You are full of amazement! But I am happy for you, You have gone around the world & settled down for the same neighbourhood which you once were (or may be?). I hope that the trading of cameras & lenses won’t get you losing money much. M240 is always something on my mind but have not jumped in yet. I know that M240 will open up more shooting opportunities for me but I will miss the crispness of image from M9-P. In any case, I have always enjoyed your M9 images and I am thankful that you shared with us your experience of many tools. Surely, M240 will be different in its signature and I am sure that it will bring you a new milestone!
Best regards,
Michael.
Hello Michael,
You know, I can tell even from simple comments to my blog, which readers are takers and givers, and which are just takers. You, my friend, are a giving soul…
Peter,
your daughter shares your happiness shooting the rangefinder !
Cheers Jean-Marc.
Merci Jean-Marc.
Peter,
If I could enjoy all your portraits displayed on the wall in a nice gallery, none of them would have any restriction regarding emotional response because of the camera or lens used to make it. As a body of work I would be really impressed and moved. And I do not care nor see that you sometimes struggled with your tools.
Maybe even the closer we can get with our gear to make a kind of virtual reality, the further away we seem regarding the ability to respond emotionally. Too many “technical” clues that just prevent to communicate emotion. Like in audio reproduction. The more high end, the more we start listening to the system faults and less to the music transferred. One of my other favourite photographers is Ed van der Elsken, see: http://www.edvanderelsken.nl/index.php?page=imgarch&subject=&count=11
I believe that any additional technical perfection would not have increased the emotion communicated here. Maybe we have to downgrade our current tools in some way that it doesn’t look like an App. My hopes are not with better camera’s, sensors and lenses. My hope is still with less is more.
Herb
I cannot argue with anything you wrote… in fact I’d be well advised to live by your words. I’ve decided to give the whole chasing image quality thing a bit of rest… for now. Back to photography for me. Thank you Herb.
Hi Peter Hi all,
My english is so poor! So…
Partager votre experience avec les autres est une chose extra ordinaire! Merci
Je suis votre blog presque dès vos débuts. Vos photos sont ravissantes, Leica ou pas. Certe l’outil aide l’artiste à mieux s’exprimer. Mais ce que je constate est que vos photos transcendent les appareils que vous utilisez.
Bravo l’ ARTISTE.
THANK YOU.
Thank you so much Abel… I appreciate your great kindness.
A wonderfully, boisterously FUN image. Open doors and flying girls and M adventures all around.
Thank you Greg.
A wonderful image as all of your images are. Your d800/Otus shots were great and so are all the others. I’m envious of your eye for photography.
I had an M9 and now an M. Between the two I bought a couple Fuji’s, RX1r and Omd1. Excellent cameras but not the soul of a Leica. I am both grateful and (literally) jumping for joy over the M.
After a frustrating learning curve, I’m able to create M9 images with my M (did I just say that?). Except I can now do at ISO 3200 what the M9 did at low ISO. I am SO happy.
Great to see that you’re giving the M a try. I’ll check back often to see how you’re doing.
They changed the sensor, but Leica glass is Leica glass.
Thank you Are.
This is genuinely fascinating for me. If I read things correctly you must be going through a photographic (a photographers) kind of hell!
A photographers nightmare no less. If it is not too impertinent to ask, why did you give up the M9? And why would you not have one back? Maybe I missed something on your blog?
Anyway, I wish you all the best. I do not envy your position at all.
An aside; Film related. I use a number of ‘blads with Tri X and HP5. (I process it myself) Your stuff about the Mamiya triggered this. I have a 110mm f2 planar. Can only be used on focal plane hasselblads 2000 and 200 series. Used relativley close up and wide open for portraits it must be one of the very best lenses in the world, very comparable to fast leica glass, maybe even better….
Just my 5cents worth.
Kind regards
John
A bit of a hell, but there are worse things in life. However, I believe I’m set for the next two months 😉
Peter, for you it shouldnt be about the camera, you rare perfect example that photos is all about the person behind the camera. So dont put to much thought into your gear, a beautiful photo is a beautiful photo.
Thank you Salim. You are always very supportive and I appreciate it very much.
Peter,
You would be an artist with any of the many wonderful camera and lens options available today. Your photos move me in an emotional sense as a father of three sons, a beautiful wife AND two dogs. They are the loves of my life and your photos give me a desire to become the best I can be to all of them. Equipment matters..but your heart and vision are why many of us on your blog look forward daily to spending time with you.
Cory, you sound like you’re a lucky man, and it seems like your family is lucky too to have you.
Thank you for your kind words.
What an amazing rollercoaster of gear transitions! Thank you very much for taking us along.
In a sense your journey is very familiar to me as I seem to have made the same journey in my mind before finally putting down the money for the M240. With the M240 taking ages to become finally available to me, I had plenty of time to fantasize and theorize what my next step in photography (gear) would be.
Like you I bought the Monochrom (when the realization first hit me that the M240 just wasn’t that good), but unlike you I kept mine and it has become the camera that inspires me, and which I hope to keep for a long time.
I thought about Fuji and Sony, even about the possibility of either of them delivering a full frame which could take M lenses, but my experience with the Sony Nex kept me from really choosing that road. I thought about the D600 and the 6D, since they’re undeniably capable camera’s. I thought about staying with the M8 (in my case)/M9, but I felt that this was too much a stale option which had little future in it, and the iso performance was just never satisfactory (especially in winter-time when my photography seemed to slow considerably because of the iso performance).
In the end I chose the M240. I’m still not quite happy or especially inspired by it, but it serves me well in all conditions and situations. Somehow before I bought it I already knew this. And although it might never become a camera which I love as much as I loved my M8, its reliable performance and many ergonomic/practical plusses seems to slowly thaw my heart. (it better, considering I paid an arm and a leg for it, and I’ve had it for 6 months now.)
Give it time… 🙂
Thank you Pieter for your honesty and for sharing your experience. Your last paragraph really sums it up for me, and encapsulates my current thinking. I know I (still) prefer my M9 CCD files, but I’m forging ahead with the M240 and hopefully with it I’ll produce something I’ll be happy with.
Hi Peter, Salim summed up my thoughts exactly, I was actually drawn to your site shortly after obtaining a used M8.2, as it was a new venture for me I was looking for tips, inspiration and curios to see what could be achieved in the right hands. I stumbled across a number of sites of some amazing photographers, but once I started to find my own way around the camera and needed less technical help, I pretty much stopped following most, not that they don’t warrant review simply I don’t spend that much time on the web. That is with the exception of your site as the look of your pictures is a aspiration for me, like many here I care about that “look” being preserved. However in saying all that, it’s only once you have confidence in your equipment that you can clear your mind fully and concentrate on the look, otherwise it’s a distraction. Like another mentioned above, I’m not sure what finally tipped the scales for you to replace your M9, perhaps the back of mind that the camera might fail at the wrong moment. Leica users have a affinity with one another, so I’m glad you have returned to Leica and I’m sure they are many M240 users who have their fingers crossed that you find and then share how you found that “look” to your eye that we all love. Or if it still niggles an eventual return, as far as future proof goes the M240 is only one replacement model above the M9/ME so maybe not so much to worry about, Leica have said it the processor not the sensor that creates the look, I know we don’t all necessary agree but maybe it will come, assuming Leica still want to or have technicians/artists that want to create a Kodachrome feel.
Prosophos 
This is getting weird, LOL
So, after you said more m9p, but that you missed the rangefinder, I wondered if you would again try the m240, having just used CMOS with the d800e.. I guess I have my answer. Perhaps you will be able to stay with Leica after all. What a journey!
Yes, you’re spot-on Kim. I’ll see how it goes, but so far so good.
Is that jump because the “big” camera is gone? I know one thing Peter…as much as you aren’t a fan of the sensor you’ll still enjoy the ergonomics.
The form factor and and sensory feedback and feelings a photographer gets to enjoy when in the action. Enjoy that for what is with the 240 and don’t worry too much about the sensor.
The ergonomics have never been in question. The CMOS sensor — I’ll learn to live with it. The D800E taught me that much anyway. Thanks Andrew for always being supportive.
Hello Peter,
You are full of amazement! But I am happy for you, You have gone around the world & settled down for the same neighbourhood which you once were (or may be?). I hope that the trading of cameras & lenses won’t get you losing money much. M240 is always something on my mind but have not jumped in yet. I know that M240 will open up more shooting opportunities for me but I will miss the crispness of image from M9-P. In any case, I have always enjoyed your M9 images and I am thankful that you shared with us your experience of many tools. Surely, M240 will be different in its signature and I am sure that it will bring you a new milestone!
Best regards,
Michael.
Hello Michael,
You know, I can tell even from simple comments to my blog, which readers are takers and givers, and which are just takers. You, my friend, are a giving soul…
Peter,
your daughter shares your happiness shooting the rangefinder !
Cheers Jean-Marc.
Merci Jean-Marc.
Peter,
If I could enjoy all your portraits displayed on the wall in a nice gallery, none of them would have any restriction regarding emotional response because of the camera or lens used to make it. As a body of work I would be really impressed and moved. And I do not care nor see that you sometimes struggled with your tools.
Maybe even the closer we can get with our gear to make a kind of virtual reality, the further away we seem regarding the ability to respond emotionally. Too many “technical” clues that just prevent to communicate emotion. Like in audio reproduction. The more high end, the more we start listening to the system faults and less to the music transferred. One of my other favourite photographers is Ed van der Elsken, see: http://www.edvanderelsken.nl/index.php?page=imgarch&subject=&count=11
I believe that any additional technical perfection would not have increased the emotion communicated here. Maybe we have to downgrade our current tools in some way that it doesn’t look like an App. My hopes are not with better camera’s, sensors and lenses. My hope is still with less is more.
Herb
I cannot argue with anything you wrote… in fact I’d be well advised to live by your words. I’ve decided to give the whole chasing image quality thing a bit of rest… for now. Back to photography for me. Thank you Herb.
Hi Peter Hi all,
My english is so poor! So…
Partager votre experience avec les autres est une chose extra ordinaire! Merci
Je suis votre blog presque dès vos débuts. Vos photos sont ravissantes, Leica ou pas. Certe l’outil aide l’artiste à mieux s’exprimer. Mais ce que je constate est que vos photos transcendent les appareils que vous utilisez.
Bravo l’ ARTISTE.
THANK YOU.
Thank you so much Abel… I appreciate your great kindness.
A wonderfully, boisterously FUN image. Open doors and flying girls and M adventures all around.
Thank you Greg.
A wonderful image as all of your images are. Your d800/Otus shots were great and so are all the others. I’m envious of your eye for photography.
I had an M9 and now an M. Between the two I bought a couple Fuji’s, RX1r and Omd1. Excellent cameras but not the soul of a Leica. I am both grateful and (literally) jumping for joy over the M.
After a frustrating learning curve, I’m able to create M9 images with my M (did I just say that?). Except I can now do at ISO 3200 what the M9 did at low ISO. I am SO happy.
Great to see that you’re giving the M a try. I’ll check back often to see how you’re doing.
They changed the sensor, but Leica glass is Leica glass.
Thank you Are.
This is genuinely fascinating for me. If I read things correctly you must be going through a photographic (a photographers) kind of hell!
A photographers nightmare no less. If it is not too impertinent to ask, why did you give up the M9? And why would you not have one back? Maybe I missed something on your blog?
Anyway, I wish you all the best. I do not envy your position at all.
An aside; Film related. I use a number of ‘blads with Tri X and HP5. (I process it myself) Your stuff about the Mamiya triggered this. I have a 110mm f2 planar. Can only be used on focal plane hasselblads 2000 and 200 series. Used relativley close up and wide open for portraits it must be one of the very best lenses in the world, very comparable to fast leica glass, maybe even better….
Just my 5cents worth.
Kind regards
John
A bit of a hell, but there are worse things in life. However, I believe I’m set for the next two months 😉
Peter, for you it shouldnt be about the camera, you rare perfect example that photos is all about the person behind the camera. So dont put to much thought into your gear, a beautiful photo is a beautiful photo.
Thank you Salim. You are always very supportive and I appreciate it very much.
Peter,
You would be an artist with any of the many wonderful camera and lens options available today. Your photos move me in an emotional sense as a father of three sons, a beautiful wife AND two dogs. They are the loves of my life and your photos give me a desire to become the best I can be to all of them. Equipment matters..but your heart and vision are why many of us on your blog look forward daily to spending time with you.
Cory, you sound like you’re a lucky man, and it seems like your family is lucky too to have you.
Thank you for your kind words.
What an amazing rollercoaster of gear transitions! Thank you very much for taking us along.
In a sense your journey is very familiar to me as I seem to have made the same journey in my mind before finally putting down the money for the M240. With the M240 taking ages to become finally available to me, I had plenty of time to fantasize and theorize what my next step in photography (gear) would be.
Like you I bought the Monochrom (when the realization first hit me that the M240 just wasn’t that good), but unlike you I kept mine and it has become the camera that inspires me, and which I hope to keep for a long time.
I thought about Fuji and Sony, even about the possibility of either of them delivering a full frame which could take M lenses, but my experience with the Sony Nex kept me from really choosing that road. I thought about the D600 and the 6D, since they’re undeniably capable camera’s. I thought about staying with the M8 (in my case)/M9, but I felt that this was too much a stale option which had little future in it, and the iso performance was just never satisfactory (especially in winter-time when my photography seemed to slow considerably because of the iso performance).
In the end I chose the M240. I’m still not quite happy or especially inspired by it, but it serves me well in all conditions and situations. Somehow before I bought it I already knew this. And although it might never become a camera which I love as much as I loved my M8, its reliable performance and many ergonomic/practical plusses seems to slowly thaw my heart. (it better, considering I paid an arm and a leg for it, and I’ve had it for 6 months now.)
Give it time… 🙂
Thank you Pieter for your honesty and for sharing your experience. Your last paragraph really sums it up for me, and encapsulates my current thinking. I know I (still) prefer my M9 CCD files, but I’m forging ahead with the M240 and hopefully with it I’ll produce something I’ll be happy with.
Hi Peter, Salim summed up my thoughts exactly, I was actually drawn to your site shortly after obtaining a used M8.2, as it was a new venture for me I was looking for tips, inspiration and curios to see what could be achieved in the right hands. I stumbled across a number of sites of some amazing photographers, but once I started to find my own way around the camera and needed less technical help, I pretty much stopped following most, not that they don’t warrant review simply I don’t spend that much time on the web. That is with the exception of your site as the look of your pictures is a aspiration for me, like many here I care about that “look” being preserved. However in saying all that, it’s only once you have confidence in your equipment that you can clear your mind fully and concentrate on the look, otherwise it’s a distraction. Like another mentioned above, I’m not sure what finally tipped the scales for you to replace your M9, perhaps the back of mind that the camera might fail at the wrong moment. Leica users have a affinity with one another, so I’m glad you have returned to Leica and I’m sure they are many M240 users who have their fingers crossed that you find and then share how you found that “look” to your eye that we all love. Or if it still niggles an eventual return, as far as future proof goes the M240 is only one replacement model above the M9/ME so maybe not so much to worry about, Leica have said it the processor not the sensor that creates the look, I know we don’t all necessary agree but maybe it will come, assuming Leica still want to or have technicians/artists that want to create a Kodachrome feel.