![leica m9 leica m9](https://img.bfmtv.com/c/1256/708/ef1/ddd6bc2d5be239d9b20766bbb2b2d.jpg)
You’re looking for stuff to change, settings to adjust, things to do. Shooting with the Leica M9 almost makes you stumble at first. Yet the workflow change is more than about your hands switching roles. On the M9, it’s a bit reversed – it’s my left hand that does more of the work, focusing and setting aperture, while my right just braces the body and squeezes the shutter button.
#Leica m9 iso#
On my DSLR, the fingers on my right hand are flying all over the body, spinning dials, locking exposure, setting in exposure compensation and ISO changes, while my left hand works the zoom ring or just supports the camera. The M9, by contrast, feels a bit like an antique, despite the fact that it’s newer than many of the DSLRs I’ve shot with.
![leica m9 leica m9](https://www.overgaard.dk/thorstenovergaardcom_copyrighted_graphics/L1120806-CROP_GIFT-970w.jpg)
I’m used to sticking my face up against that viewfinder and seeing the world through a heads-up-display consisting of all kinds of readouts. I’m used to my 5D Mark II and my rented 5D Mark III’s controls. Working with the Leica M9 requires a change in mindset, I think. Yet the images out of them can be pretty spectacular, leading one to believe that size does not, in fact, matter at all.
![leica m9 leica m9](http://www.dirkahlgrim.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Leica-2.jpg)
By eschewing things like autofocus and reflex mirrors, they end up being a lot more compact. My new QL17 (well, the eBay seller’s photo of it, anyway – I don’t have it yet). My last one was a Canonet QL17 GIII, the “poor man’s Leica”, which died a noble death (and is about to be replaced – thanks, eBay!). It’s been a few years since I picked up a rangefinder.
#Leica m9 manual#
This is not a camera that you’ll need an instructional manual for – though this article will help you navigate the sticky area that is focus and shooting with the Leica. Five buttons and a command dial dominate it, and the playback and menu systems, accessed and manipulated on the screen, are pretty simple too. Incidentally, you can easily spin this dial with your left index finger (the one you use to focus the lens), so the entire camera’s exposure controls can be controlled with your two index fingers. The aperture ring clicks in half-stops, so you can, for example, set the aperture to f/13 by setting it in-between f/11 and f/16. As for aperture control, if you look at the front of the lens, you’ll see it marked on the front-most ring with with f-stops, from f/2.5 to f/16.