_valerian

Leica MP review

If people find out you spent $2500 dollars on a camera they will be surprised. It is interesting how people react, having worked at an electronics store in America for a year I can tell you that some people spend far more yearly on things like DVDs and iPods and whatever else. Tivo? What? Folks are suprised because it is a Camera, but seriously, people spend just as much money on what they are interested in and I would much rather have an MP than the cocaine that twenty five hundred bucks would cover.

“But all it does is just take pictures, right?” as I am asked, and YES I reply. That is why I like it. “How many mega pixels?” and I can say “infinity” if by “Mega pixels” you mean “PURE RAD”.

I tend to view my photographic work as Aesthetically Evaluative–> Pictures that are about how photographs look. Why not let aesthetics come into play when choosing a camera? They sure did about a year ago.

This a fine looking machine.

Every Leica I have ever owned has had a problem. In a fit of photographic excitement at Mt. Rushmore I was a little too rough and stripped some gears with the film advance lever of my CL. The M6TTL I bought in 2004 did this thing where part of the top plate would work itself loose and move up and down, and then the meter went wacky. Indeed, even after handing a fistful of 10,000 yen notes to a camera clerk in Shinjuku last October it was not 3 months until this very MP had to go into the shop for repair because of some discrepancy between what the shutter dial would tell me (like switching it to “off”) and how the camera would act (by staying on). Thankfully I still had my 6-month service warranty, because the total of that bill was nearly FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS. I have also had to take a very small screwdriver and tighten the screw that keeps the shutter dial on my camera once or twice since then. The M5 I got last summer has a light meter with dwindling power, but for this model that is how it goes after 30 years.

At different times I have owned a Nikon F, two F2s, two F3Ps, an F4 and briefly an FM. Once the F2 that was sitting on the floor of a van right near the door fell to the concrete when that same door opened and somehow the shutter jammed. A few months later in an unusually livid fit of frustration that stemmed from not having a camera I just said FUCK IT and put a lot of strength into forcing the advance lever to move and to my utter surprise, it did move after a few concentrated seconds of anger and it has worked flawlessly since then. Would this have worked with a Leica M?
Maybe, but you try it on yours and tell me how it goes.

But yeah, Leicas are tough. I guess. And in case you are thinking “man this guy needs to get a clue and use something that is going to be perfect all the time” I would ask you to say that same sentence to someone who rides an old Triumph.

There is nothing about this camera that will instantly make your pictures great with little effort, all you can adjust is the focus, the speed of the shutter, and the amount of light that will hit the film when the shutter is open. The meter is there to help you decide what kind of relationship between the aperture and shutter speed that you want to use. That is it.
At this point a lot of folks who trudge deep through the Leica mythos will gush and explain just why that is so great and why a Leica is the best of all cameras to take a picture with- but I will say that my sister’s Pentax K-1000 has the same functions and only cost 60 bucks at BB&R Pawn in Lincoln. “But the pictures would not look the same” I might be told and Yes that is so. But seriously, it is hard enough to tell if a picture was taken digitally or with film anymore, and I have never seen a black and white exhibition where the pictures just screamed LEICAAAAa at me. Wait- that Salgado exhibition at the Ginza Leica Boutique did, but that was due to the venue that they were displayed in.

Actually, with Tsuchida Hiromi’s “Zokushin” series I was sure that he must have used Leicas. The pictures were incredible. When I finally met him I presented his book and asked if he could sign it, he said, “Wow, you are rich” (it was a 7000 yen book. Hey I did not price it.) and I said, “You used leicas, right?” to which he replied, “oh no, some Nikomats and a pentax.” A little later at Onishi Mitsugu’s house he was showing me his office and on a shelf there was a beautifully brassed little Nikomat FTN, the very camera that Tsuchida sensei has used.
“Don’t tell him I still have it” I was told.

The camera does not matter unless it does (thanks Justin). I’ve said it before, some people use cameras and lenses to make photographs while others make photographs to use cameras and lenses. I have seen very few photographs that “deserve” to have been made with expensive luxury German cameras in the sense that the creation of the photo somehow could have only been done with that particular model. My own work included. The MP is a shiny Mercedes to the sensible Toyota Nikons out there. A Toyota will get you across Omaha Nebraska just fine, but so will a Benz. I don’t think that anyone really honestly needs a (new/late model) Leica (BMW/Mercedes) but some people buy them anyway. Probably for the same reasons some people shell out thousands of more dollars for an S600V when there is nothing wrong with a nice little Camry.
Is there a dark side? Leica’s offical MP page calls this camera “the ultimate tool”; this is something I have often thought as I see guys in Mercedes drive by.

Some of us will then put stickers on the bottom plate, to the amusement of children who notice and get a kick out of that kind of thing. As great as this instrument is, it does not have to be taken nearly as seriously as it often is.

I really like this camera: A

More information online:

Leica’s offical MP page

Stuart Richardson’s MP review

The photo.net MP review

Erwin Puts MP review

Cameraquest on the MP

Frank Van Riper on the MP

the MP has style

Some thoughts on the MP using lots of techincal aspects that I do not understand.

Shutterbug? I can’t believe they have not changed their name yet.

My MP is 68 cameras older than the one this guy has.

If you don’t like the “hot tub floor grip tape” stock covering of the MP you can change it to something else

I personally do not find the Hammertone MP all that attractive.

However, I do think that the Hermes MP is gorgeous.

What? A Leica MP vs. Canon EOS 1D comparison. As I type this Eddie Vedder is shouting “this is not for you” and yes Eddie you are right about that guy.