Leica celebrates its 100th birthday this year. In 1925 the first camera that resembles what we think of as a camera today was launched after a decade of experiments.
The camera was tiny compared to typical cameras of the day and used 35mm film used at the time for shooting movies rather than photography. The Leica 35mm camera was the first camera you could easily take around with you but still get great pictures. It had a high-quality lens to compensate for the fact that the film area was smaller than typical formats of the day.
These first few 35mm Leica cameras are ferociously valuable today, achieving the highest auction price of any camera. In 2022 one of these early Leica’s changed hands for an incredible €14.4 million (including auctioneer premium). Leica gets a lot of hate online as it’s now a luxury brand but it is undeniable that Leica has a unique place in photographic history. So many iconic photographs were created with Leica cameras such as this shot of Che Guevara by Alberto Korda.
For me, the only Leica’s worth having are the Leica M series which trace their design directly to that original 1925 camera. The Leica M series is unique. The Leica store will lend you one for the day. It’s not like any other camera. You look through a viewfinder, not through the lens like most other cameras (or your phone). Viewfinders were abandoned by most other camera manufacturers more than 50 years ago. You will either love the experience of using a Leica M or just find it a real pain and wonder what all the fuss is about.
The Leica M3 launched in 1954 was as much of a game-changer for what a small camera could do as the original 1925 Leica. Most products from the 1950’s such as for example a car would be hopelessly outclassed by modern technology. This is not the case for the M3. You could use an M3 to shoot magazine covers today, just as it was used for more than 90% of Life magazine covers back in the 1950’s. There were no compromises, no cost-cutting in manufacture. If gold was the best material to use for a part, Leica used gold. Although it was expensive when new, the M3 was Leica’s best-selling camera. It was and still is a brilliant piece of engineering as precisely made as a fine Swiss watch. Parts are readily available and it’s still a great camera to use today.
I also have a modern digital Leica M10-R Black Paint dating from 2021 which is a similar design to the 1954 M3 camera but with a digital sensor. It’s a simple camera with minimal functionality. My M10-R has everything you need and nothing you don’t need. It’s the exact opposite of taking a picture with your phone when everything’s done for you. You’re in control. My Leica lenses fit perfectly on both my M3 and my M10-R launched nearly 70 years later.
Values of Leicas dipped as professional photographers ditched their film cameras for digital but then bounced back again. Leica gear generally holds its value well. My M10-R which I bought secondhand is now worth around double what I paid for it which is pretty unusual for a piece of piece of electronic hardware!
Lens-making is a compromise between different competing factors. Sharpness is a given, but a lens also needs to have punchy contrast, accurate colours and resistance to ugly flare and chromatic aberrations. Bottom line is the photos taken with these lenses look fantastic. You can see the difference.
So if I love them so much, why don’t I generally use Leicas for work? Quite a few reasons actually.
I use zoom lenses a lot for work for speed and convenience. Because of the way the Leica M works, you can’t really use zoom lenses with the Leica M system. Although any focal length lens can be made to work, only 35mm or 50mm lenses are ideal in terms of easy usage. There’s no autofocus, not a deal breaker but not convenient either. I can’t see the photos pop up on the laptop screen as I shoot (an essential part of my workflow) because there’s no USB cable connection. The flash integration is hopeless. I need to take the camera down from my eye to check what aperture I’m using. The high-speed continuous shutter setting is actually really slow so you miss shots. The software is glitchy. The integration of the Electronic Viewfinder to the digital Leicas is awkward. I can’t make an instant automatic backup of every photo.
A couple of years ago, I was invited by Leica to give detailed input to a prototype camera design in a meeting lasting two hours. Buggy software was my number one complaint (so easy to fix but I still see complaints about software bugs). One of the reasons why I have an older digital Leica is the firmware is now (finally) stable.
The list goes on…quite a list of flaws eh? So why do I love my Leica M’s?
A Leica M is a compact but ultra-high-quality camera you can pop into a bag and hardly know it’s there. When I’m travelling or with my family, I don’t really want to lug around a massive pro camera. The Leica is also less intimidating which puts people at ease. For example, when I went for a weekend trip to Venice taking a small carry-on bag, the Leica was my only camera that would fit. Leica M is a great system for travelling light while still having outstanding image quality.
I’ve captured so many precious memories of friends and family with Leica’s. I guess that’s where the emotional connection comes in.
It’s strange but I have a strong emotional connection to my Leica’s which I don’t have for my wonderfully capable and reliable Canon work cameras which I use every day. My Canon’s are objectively just as good as the Leica M and probably better. However, one day my Canon’s will be replaced for something else without a backward glance.
