There are two cameras, which got me excited this year. The first was the release of the Nikon D3 with it’s full size sensor and insane capability of shooting in high ISO. Finally, Nikon was ahead in the development and innovation in the DSLR arena again. What a great camera! I am still working with half size sensor camera, as it covers the requirements for my photography work, though the D3 is tempting or rather the D700, which essentially has the same features as the D3 minus the high speed photography. Many photographers were waiting for full format Nikon cameras and the wait is over.

The other camera that really excites me is the Leica M9. A bit history: Leica invented the 35mm camera in 1914 and started series production of the first Leica camera in 1924. In 1930 they released the first camera with interchangeable lenses and I jump forward a bit in 1954 released the Leica M3. The M3 allowed interchangeable lenses via a bayonet connection and composition and focusing of the rangefinder camera worked via smart engineering through the viewfinder. The M cameras are not SLR (Single Lens Reflex) cameras. The advantage is a very small size of the camera in comparison to a SLR. The viewfinder is independent from the lens, which has advantages and disadvantages. Even with a 5.6 aperture lens the viewfinder is as bright as with a 0.95 aperture lens as viewfinder and lens are two separate entities. The camera operates very quiet, as there is not mirror movement in the camera at all. The lenses for the camera are far smaller than for a SLR and are some of the very best lenses ever engineered. This is as true as it was then as today. The M camera was the choice of some of the best photographers in the past and present, including Alfred Eisenstaedt, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Ernst Haas and many more.

If the cameras are so great, why haven’t you heard about them or see them around the neck of any photographer these days? The M camera as great it’s design is, has some drawbacks. The longest lens available is a 135mm lens. Every lens wider than 28mm requires a separate viewfinder attachment. SLR cameras allow more flexibility.

Leica took long to get into the digital era and released about 2 years ago the Leica M8, which was anything but a success with it’s half size sensor and accompanied technical glitches.

A few weeks ago, Leica released the Leica M9 with a full size sensor. Why is that so exciting? Well, firstly, because you can use any of the bayonet lenses (with some exceptions and modifications) on the M9. Oh, yes the M cameras are all manual focus, but I don’t necessarily would see that as a disadvantage. It seems that Leica went through some internal changes and is committed again to create some of the greatest cameras and lenses money can buy. The construction of the camera is robust and instead of carrying around a huge backpack as I do it now,  I could use a much smaller bag with far less weight. If you know the limitations of the camera and work in a field of photography where, super long lenses are not a requirement and you don’t mind using only fixed lenses (zooms do not exist for the M cameras), life will be good to great. The lens quality is amazing and they even produce a 0.95/ 50mm lens. That lens is a bit too bulky for my liking and would restrain myself to a 1.4/ 50mm lens.

You can read more about the camera at Leica’s site here and here.

As exciting as the camera is, I haven’t bought mine yet. The costs to move to a different system are quite high and I want to see the feedback of real users in the field and yes, I love working with my 70-00mm lens… Eventually, I will make the change… I volunteer for testing the camera