Content area
Full Text
Leica's new full-frame digital rangefinder is a quality extravagance.
Though the phrase "critic proof" is often used in the pejorative - i.e. a movie which despite an avalanche of bad reviews still draws a big box office - I think it's a fairly positive way to describe the new i8-megapixel Leica Mg. This latest digital rangefinder from Leica answers so many criticisms lobbed at its predecessor, the M8, that at first blush it's almost hard to find fault with it at all.
For reference, here's the main checklist of improvements on the Mg: 1) full-frame sensor; 2) no UV/IR filter needed; 3) quieter shutter; 4) easier access to ISO adjustments; 5) lower incidence of noise.
In these reviews for PDN however, I always try to hold a particular product I'm testing to a single overriding standard - is it something that will help a professional photographer do his or her job better? Or, in other words, is it actually useful or just hype? So, while a litany of features and improvements for a camera may be impressive on paper, if they don't make life easier for the working pro, who cares?
And here is where the Leica M9 may give new meaning to being called "critic proof." I don't think I'm going out on a limb when I say that Leica aficionados are a passionate lot. And the argument I often hear when reading reviews of Leica's products on true fanboy sites is that if you don't like certain characteristics of rangefinder cameras then maybe a rangefinder is not for you. So don't be hating!
Never has this been more true than when looking at the Mg which, as I said earlier, seems to remedy a lot of the M8 and M8.2's liabilities, rendering it even more resistant to criticism than any of Leica's digital offerings so far.
This, of course, doesn't mean I'm going to resist turning a critical eye towards the Mg in this review. It also doesn't mean I'm going to ignore my central overriding question with the latest and (possibly) greatest M-Series camera from Leica: Is it the right tool for the working pro? Come join me.
HARD BODY
As an example of beautiful mechanical design, the Leica Mg could...