How The LEICA M10 makes you a better photographer

I recall so many world class photographers saying something like, "gear doesn't matter"; the Leica or Hassleblad with their $10k plus lenses on hanging round their necks.

So the truth is that "GEAR MATTERS!"

But, probably not for the reasons you might think.

It's nothing to do with megapixels, shots per second or Af points. It doesn't matter whether it's full frame, medium format or even a crop sensor.

What matters is how the camera makes you "FEEL"

Photography is the ability to record a moment in time and place forever using a device that records what you see.

Photography should make the viewer of the photograph feel what you felt at that moment.

I think any photographer able to produce photos that meet the above criteria would be a worthy photographer. In this sense the equipment used to record the image doesn't matter as long as it's a fair representation of what you saw at that moment.

More importantly does the photograph make the viewer FEEL; it's this aspect that I believe is paramount to what makes a "good" camera. Talking digital cameras only I can't think of any digital camera I've owned that failed to do this. HOWEVER - I truly believe that as cameras get "better" ie. more tech, more megapixels, more dynamic range, where the camera does more and more of the work involved in "recording a moment in time and place" they become LESS able to transmit the "feeling" and more able to transmit the reality accurately.

A photograph that is an exact representation of reality is, in my view, less likely to offer the "feeling" that great photographs offer the viewer.

I currently own 6 cameras; Nikon Z6iii, Zf, D780, D500 and D200 and a Leica M10. I've previously owned and used quite extensively, Nikon Z8, Z6ii, Z5, D850, D750, D700, D600. Sony A7cr, A7iv, A9. Fuji X-Pro2, Xe4, X100t, Xt5. AND a Leica M9

Yea I like gear!

However there has always been a reason for this GAS and that's been to discover the "best" camera for what I was doing at the time. That's mostly been wedding photography but also portraits, families, boudoir and of course my own personal projects that range from dramatic street photography to quiet and gentle country photos.

As somewhat of an expert on gear I am happy to announce that the more tech the less I like the camera!

That needs explaining; it's about "feel" (again!) Let me digress; I've always liked woodwork; I've made fine Oak chests of drawers to building timber framed houses. Tools are obviously to do a job. Modern throw away hand saws are brilliant and so much better than any of my Dad's old saws which can't come close to the speed and ease of a new saw.

But....

I used wood planes like Stanley and Record and they did the job. Then one birthday my wife bought me a new wood plane - a Lee Nielson bronze bench plane. It's a work of art. It's bronze (of course) with a rosewood handle and beautifully made knurled stainless steel blade adjuster; the blade is like 4mm thick and of the finest hardened steel. When sharpened correctly I can plane wood and get shavings so thin they float in the air; using it just "feels" so much better than my Stanley and Record planes. It makes you want to produce something beautiful.

And so it is with cameras.

The Nikon Z8 was probably the most technologically advanced camera I've used; and the least satisfying. My D200 is from 2007 and is a delight but is very very basic.

My Leica M10 is based on a 1954 design and apart from the replacement of the film mechanism with the digital paraphernalia it's the same. And it also is a joy to use and also makes you want to produce something beautiful. And is very capable of doing just that.

So just HOW does a Leica M10 make you a better photographer?

I have a problem (ok I have many but that's for another day!) I'm a wedding photographer. So I'm required to get photos at a moments notice, not miss anything during a long 9 hour day, I need to photograph real estate, products, gardens, in any weather and any time of year. I need to take portraits and kids running flat out, a bride walking towards me in a dark church and sparklers in darkness.

All of which makes me a good wedding photographer but has influenced my personal work negatively. I now expect to see a scene and "click" done - move on. But good photography requires thought, it requires creativity, and imagination. It requires TIME.

Enter the Leica M10

Using this camera is quite hard. You need to focus by moving the focus ring which moves a small patch in the viewfinder; line this up with the main image and you have focus. Then there's exposure - the Leica M10 like the M9 and M8 only meters for exposure in the centre of the frame and this changes in size dependant on the focal length of the lens. Sometimes if you re-frame the image just slightly the exposure becomes way off so better in most case to meter using manual control. Setting the ISO requires lifting the fiddly dial and setting to a value you think will work, then the speed and aperture until you have the exposure triangle sorted. Now you simply need to frame the shot and as Leica M cameras really only work with prime lenses that means walking back and forth. Can't get what you want? Ok so now change to a different lens.

You get the idea.

There was a time when I thought all the fiddling stopped me getting a good photo - the camera stood between me and the shot I wanted. yet somehow all this work gets you more engaged, gives you time to "feel" the atmosphere and somehow this comes through in the photos which have more of what we started out wanting - "FEEL"

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