Home Cameras/Lenses Hasselblad Steve’s quest for the holy eunuch: The simple digital camera

Steve’s quest for the holy eunuch: The simple digital camera

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  The Leica M-D, the ultimate simple camera for the seventh age of man: Sans screen, sans menu, sans gimmick, sans everything but superb image quality. Should this be the ideal? (Image Leica Camera AG)
The Leica M-D, the ultimate simple camera for the seventh age of man: Sans screen, sans menu, sans gimmick, sans everything but superb image quality. Should this be the ideal? (Image Leica Camera AG)

In common with other bloggers who specialise in photography, I know that a review of a camera or a lens always attracts more readers and comment than a story based on the results, the actual photographs. I’m not sure why this is, but there is no doubt that gear reviews are the most popular items on Macfilos.

I have a friendly difference of opinion with our Australian colleague, John Shingleton about this. He doesn’t like gear reviews and prefers to concentrate on the photographs. He’s capable of sticking with one camera, the X1, for the best part of six years, unwaveringly. It’s a view I respect and a loyalty to one camera that is remarkable, but I do tend to like talking about the latest cameras and lenses and I like to think that prospective buyers come to Macfilos for help on which camera to choose. I suppose it takes all types…. and I hope that Macfilos strikes the right balance between gear lust and “real” photography.

  Back to old-world tradition with the screenless wonder from Leica — the remarkable M-D . I
Back to old-world tradition with the screenless wonder from Leica — the remarkable M-D . I’d buy a new M-D based on the M10 in a trice. It would be the nearest thing to a digital M3 Leica could devise (image Mike Evans)

I like trying out new cameras and I am always tempted by the latest gizmo. Our mutual friend Steve Huff has much the same dilemma, I suspect. In his opinion piece yesterday he says this:

“I realized long ago that I was buying WAY to many cameras. They would be released, I would use and test them, I would get excited and want them. I would then buy them, only to realize 2 months later that my last camera was in reality, just as good. Hell, I was looking back at pictures I shot with the old Leica M8. As glitchy and strange as that camera was, and as limited as it was, some of my fondest memories were captured with that M8. The files look just as good today as modern-day cameras look and in some cases better.”

Steve is clearly hankering back to more simple days and I can understand his quest. Modern cameras have become too complicated. Features are added, boxes are ticked and we persuade ourselves we have to buy the latest version because the autofocus is a split second faster, the burst speed is doubled or the sensor has a few more pixels. Perhaps, though, we are being led up the garden path by manufacturers who know that a few more frills will give more thrills and open customers’ wallets.

  The Leica M-D again. Unlike the remarkably basic Monochrom, at least the M-D does colour (Image Mike Evans, Leica M-D and 28-35-50mm Tri-Elmar MATE)
The Leica M-D again. Unlike the remarkably basic Monochrom, at least the M-D does colour (Image Mike Evans, Leica M-D and 28-35-50mm Tri-Elmar MATE)

Even now I am waiting for the new Panasonic Lumix G9 I ordered from London Camera Exchange in The Strand. With my interest in micro four-thirds in general and my particularly leaning to Panasonic rather than Olympus, I was persuaded that I owe it to myself and to readers to try out this remarkable new camera aimed at still photographers. The GH5 was a draw earlier this year, but I resisted that bauble because it specialises in video and that’s not something I do. With the G9 I have no such excuse, but do I really need it? The answer, of course, is no. But I will probably buy it and review it because I think there is an interest out there. I have no doubt readers will be interested and I believe it will be a great camera, if loaded with all the gizmos that form the antithesis of Steve’s and my perfect minimalist camera.

  The M8 is now ten years old but still in Steve
The M8 is now ten years old but still in Steve’s good books (picture Mike Evans, Leica M8)

Steve’s hitlist

What new simple camera would get Steve really excited and bring on the WOWs? He has a short list of must-haves:

  1. Full frame sensor
  2. A well designed body that feels like that of a real camera
  3. One-page menu with no gimmicks or special features — just the basics.
  4. All controls and settings available via metal dials
  5. Quick power-up, long battery life and no gimmicks.

I agree with all that. I also concur with his list of exclusions, including no video, no high-resolution shots, no stabilisation, no apps and no special modes. All this simplicity, he says, should come with a price tag of around $3,500, body only.  Again, it sounds like a deal. 

  Simplicity: When cameras were cameras and pixels were at the bottom of the garden.... (Image Mike Evans, Panasonic Lumix GX8 and Leica DG 12-60mm zoom)
Simplicity: When cameras were cameras and pixels were at the bottom of the garden…. (Image Mike Evans, Panasonic Lumix GX8 and Leica DG 12-60mm zoom)

For me, Leica has always come closer to the ideal of simplicity with the M range, particularly the M262, the M-D and even the new M10. The CL is also close (despite its crop sensor), while the SL is almost there, as Steve admits, except that it is big and heavy and comes with a range of unnecessarily hefty system lenses.

Of all these, the M-D comes closest to the ideal, the ultimate simple camera for the seventh age of man: Sans screen, sans menu, sans gimmick, sans video, sans everything but superb image quality. Leica, as a niche manufacturer, has displayed a remarkable ability to produce rather eccentric cameras that are by no means mainstream. No other manufacturer, perhaps with the honourable exception of Hasselblad, had this freedom of operation and openness to the views of a minority.

Last word to Steve:

“While I know so many love the features and gimmicks, and I would never want them to go away, just give us one simple digital that makes us WANT to shoot it. It’s partly why so many pay big bucks for a Leica so if someone can do it at normal price levels, I think it would be welcomed with open arms from most passionate photographers.”

Read the full article here

What do you think? Do you agree with Steve? Should we  return to simplicity? Add your comments and let us know.

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11 COMMENTS

  1. Personally I yearn for the removal of video from cameras. I think merging the two was the worst thing ever done – we get for the most part neither the best stills cameras nor the best video cameras now – although there are still specialist video cameras whereas there are no specialist stills cameras.

    I never shoot JPEG so they can strip out all the menu items relating to that too.

    If the Leica M-D could be reborn with AF, no JPEG, no rear screen and no video – perhaps as the SL-D – it would be my perfect tool.

    • I agree on video — and Leica has got the message on this one. The CL has no video and nor does the M10. The SL does, but it is a slightly different target audience and I suspect it is used quite a bit for video. I shoot jpeg and RAW but use RAW almost exclusively. The jpegs are there if I am writing a camera review and wish to show what the camera can produce. If I didn’t review cameras I would shoot RAW alone.

      The M-D dropped video (AF — it was never there of course), jpegs, video and screen. I would like to see an M10 version of the M-D but you won’t see an SL version, I’m sure.

      • My alternate wish would be either an SL with the CL sensor in it so that I can use it at 24MP with T lenses or an SL with a 42MP full frame sensor in that I can use with TL and still get 16MP or so.

        I think the SL is hands down the best Leica body available today. Price is a bit hard – one is achievable but what do you do if you want to run a two body system? A mortgage perhaps?

        I’d prefer to see video banished to video cameras once again, and proper cameras return to stills only.

  2. I think I would agree with everything here, except – having just come back from shooting the xmas lights on an M262 – for the "no stabilisation" aim 🙂

    A stabilisation system that works reliably and effectively should be invisible to the user, adding no clutter or complexity, but giving (if implemented well) the chance for sharper hand-held shots. The same goes for automatic sensor cleaning. Olympus does this superbly, and having used that I would love to have as an effective system in a full-frame camera – although this may be wishful thinking…

    My ideal camera would also only shoot in RAW (others will disagree 🙂 and have a true "ISO-less" sensor. The latter is somewhat misnamed, but it means having only a single base-ISO, with all higher ISOs handled digitally when processing the RAW files. The M262 is actually pretty close to this.

  3. Simplicity, check! I’m with you, Mike! And regarding William’s comment, there is not much I need to add except "amen"!
    There is nothing more pure and honest like a mechanical camera.
    But if it comes to digital, I prefer my M10, Q, Cl over those contraptions with bloated menus big time.

    Fröhliche Weihnachten!

    Claus
    (not Santa…)

  4. The "no image stabilisation" position from Steve is an interesting about face , considering how much he has loved it (particularly on his Oly’s) and raved about it.

    I do think there’s a market for a simple, more traditional layout. Heck, fuji have carved their own niche based largely on precisely this. Sure, their cameras are also loaded to the gills with tech and features, but I suspect most buy them because of the control layout and look.

    For me, I attach a Panasonic Leica 15mm to my Gx8. I have the rear screen closed. I have EVF image review set to off. I have the aperture ring, an exposure comp dial and shutter speed on the front wheel. I dont see the results (unless I choose to).

    Its not a full frame sensor, of course. But its a damn close setup to the M-D in effect, and it has cost me at least $8000 less. Simplicity should never come at such a premium.

    • Well, I agree, Jason. Cameras such as the GX8, PEN-F and some of the Fuji-X range are easy to set up in this minimalistic way. And, of course, as you say they are much cheaper. Leica, which prides itself on simplicity and "das Wesentlich" doesn’t seem to understand that a majority of users are happy to focus and recompose and don’t want a floating focus point.

  5. As a relative newcomer to digital photography, I’m still learning the nuts and bolts of the X Vario I purchased a year ago, and would be completely befuddled with ancillary menus options that other cameras seem to pile on. I’m a firm believer in learning the basics, and view most shortcuts or elaborate customized menu options as"cheating" of one sort or another.

  6. I think it rather neat and being used for landscapes or architecture would be phenomenal, except in California, where the EARTH moves. HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

  7. I’m all for simplicity, but on a digital rangefinder a rear screen is sometimes essential. Often you don’t get exactly what you see in the viewfinder and if the subject hasn’t moved, the screen gives you a second chance to compose. Like William, I’ll pass on the M-D, thanks.

  8. I’m all for simplicity. I rarely read manuals and I prefer cameras to be intuitive. I would only use about 20% of the features on any electronic device. At the same time, I am still scratching my head about the M-D as it seems to me to be a camera that has been deliberately crippled. I would typically rarely use the menus on the back of a digital camera, but I know that they are there if I want them. With the M-D there seem to be too many ‘work arounds’ for digital adjustments. If I want to have the simplicity of an M3, then I would use one of my M3s, which are likely to be still around long after all of the M10s and M-Ds have disappeared. I find my M10 to be the best digital M yet. I wonder will Leica produce an M-D version of the M10? It should be easy enough to do, but I suspect that it might be quite pricey. Leica will have some idea about potential sales volume at this stage following on from the existing M-D.

    As for Steve Huff’s article, I thought that Americans did not do irony. Steve is one of those who has led the charge for constant rounds of updates for digital cameras over the last decade, which can be quite dizzying for those of us who just want to take pictures. "So last year’ does not even begin to describe it. Now he has undergone some kind of Pauline Conversion on his own personal road to Damascus and simplicity and bare bones are ‘the thing’. Focus, compose and expose are still the only things required to take good photos. I suspect that will always be the case.

    I love that Ensign Sanderson shown above. It gets my vote for Camera of the Year.

    William

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