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The Leica M9 is an 18MP full-frame (23.9 x 35.8 mm) digital rangefinder camera, an upgrade of the Leica M8 (which uses an APS-C size sensor), and the digital version of the 35mm film Leica M7.
Full-Frame Sensor
The full-frame sensor is made by Kodak specifically for the Leica M9. To avoid the problems encountered on the M8 which apparently used a UR/IR filter that was too thin, the M9 uses a thicker UR/IR filter in front of the sensor.
Being full-frame, the sensor also enables the use of Leica lenses at their specified focal length without a multiplier. Currently, the Leica M9 can therefore boast to be the world’s smallest full-frame digital camera system. That is, until other digital camera manufacturers follow suit with their own models.
Viewfinder
The optical viewfinder provides a bright and large view — useful especially in low-light situations — and enables fast and precise manual focusing.
For those who have never used a rangefinder before, it takes some getting used to. Basically, there is a brighter rectangle in the center of the screen that shows two images (one from the viewfinder, the second one from the rangefinder). Rotate the manual focus ring to superimpose the two images in the rectangle and when they match exactly, you know you’ve achieved focus. With some practice, you get to be fast using a real manual focus ring (not the fly-by-wire type that can be very aggravating).
The other thing to get used to is parallax. Because you are not looking at a LCD or thru-the-lens viewfinder, you do not see exactly what the lens sees. Therefore frame lines are displayed in the viewfinder to indicate the area covered by the lens currently attached to the camera.
Yes, it’s all approximate and you’d do well to include extra “padding” all around to ensure nothing important is cut off in the picture that is eventually captured. Pros do a lot of “darkroom” work anyway, cropping and selecting the proper picture size and orientation to best present their picture.
Why bother with a rangefinder? Because the view is not limited by the light coming thru the lens, optical viewfinders (when properly constructed, so I am not referring to the tiny tunnel vision on some compact digital cameras) can produce an incredibly large and bright view, sometimes even allowing you to keep both eyes opened as you compose and track your subject.
You can also see more than the area bound by the frame lines so you can react quicker to what is happening outside of your framing and adjust your composition accordingly. Which is why many pros love a rangefinder camera for street photography.
LCD
The LCD is not used for composition, but strictly for choosing your settings and for reviewing the pictures you’ve taken. A histogram can be displayed and you can zoom in for a closer look. The LCD is not high resolution, but then it may not have to (would have been nice, tough, for the money you are forking out) because you’re using the camera for street photography and more concerned with capturing a moment in time that the sharpest landscape picture.
Aperture-Priority Mode
There is only one auto exposure mode, the aperture-priority mode, that allows you to select an aperture and the camera sets the appropriate shutter speed to obtain a correct exposure.
Because the Leica M9 is full-frame, depth of field (DOF) is readily apparent and can be controlled to obtain the effect you’re after: selecting a small aperture to maximize DOF for landscape photos where everything from near to far is sharply in focus; selecting a large aperture to obtain a shallow DOF for portrait photos where the background is nicely thrown out of focus, especially useful to isolate your main subject from an otherwise distracting background.
Manual mode is probably what you’ll be using most of the time, so if you are thinking of getting an M9, better practice using manual mode.
Learn more:
– Leica M9 QuickFact Sheet
