For someone like me who never truly shot film with a manual camera, it’s a real eye opener. Consider that, first, I need to manually focus the lens. The exposure metering is center weighted and fairly primitive. Auto ISO did not work as expected. Exposure compensation is ergonomically hard to use. For a person who cut their teeth on digital and auto-everything, the Leica M can be befuddling and frustrating.
I have been following Andy’s insightful blogs on photography on atmtxphoto.com. He is often out and about with his cameras in his home town of Austin, Texas, and produces some stunning stuff. Recently he has managed to get his hands on a Leica M and his comments are refreshing. In this article he takes the M out at night on Austin’s 6th Street and the pictures are well worth a look. Also check out Andy’s first encounter with the M last month to see some more great photographs. For a guy who hasn’t had much, if any, experience with manual cameras, he learns very quickly.