Shooting a Leica M - it’s easier than you think! 

I'm really glad that I learned photography back in the day without any automatic settings. The exposure triangle and manual focusing are in my blood and second nature. For the same reason, I'm glad I learned to drive on a stick shift.

Its almost funny how there is tons of videos teaching zone focusing with leica, ton of videos telling us how easy is to focus manual focus Leica. But im yet to see one video that someone actually explains focusing leica at 1.4 for moving subjects, heck even f2. I would love to see one from you.

I've wanted an M for quite a long time. As I got older and my vision decreased, I thought it would never happen. Although not the exact same, I picked up a cheap Nikon FM and 50mm Series E lens to practice. Over the past few months, I worked and practiced. Shot about 4-5 rolls of film and felt I was getting pretty damn good. Yesterday, I bought an M11. It was far easier and I am surprised that my focus hit rate is over 90% already. I have been doing zone focus, guess the distance focus, and focus on the fly. I am very pleased with my decision and glad I did not let myself believe that it would never happen because of my eyes. Great video and glad I found you recently!

Hi really appreciate you. I have big issues in my eyes. I've been replaced eyes corneas several times in my life. The first time when I was 8 years old. Now I am 48 :). My vision is very limited. But I LOVE CAMERAS. It was great to find you and know that I am not alone. Cheers!

I'll start by saying I love the M cameras, and the M11. But if I'm being entirely practical and unbiased, my issue with the M11 is not its manual focus, per se - rather, it's trying to manually focus 60 unstabilized megapixels with nothing but a center patch - every infinitesimal mistake or flaw in technique will show up in your image, because the combination is so unforgiving. To me the M11 is like a beautiful, fully restored 1968 E-type Jag, into which someone shoehorns a modern Lamborghini V12 engine making 800hp...but then doesn't bother to upgrade the chassis, suspension or brakes. For working on near motionless subjects, or zone focusing in daylight, not as big a deal. For everything else, it's less than optimal, IMHO.

Agree. I find it easier than manual shooting with focus peaking. Never needed the evf on my M11

I have been eyeing the Voigtlander Bessa's for family photos as the Sony system I have just reminds me of work.

Lets see if this goes through , lol ... i wrote something yesterday and somehow it didn't post. Anyways ... First of all , You helped me BIG TIME and I Thank You. I've been grabbing images since I'm 12 years old. No Pro label on me lol . @61 years old, a 14 year old son and a couple small businesses to run my time has always been limited. First camera when i was a kid was Olympus OM-1 Film camera ( in a zip lock bag somewhere ..lol ) last 25 years shooting with Nikon, everything from Macro to Eagles. last few years around 5 , been shooting Eagles, Falcons , Owls and such . It has killed my back and neck lol and along the way , I feel its killed somewhat my CREATIVITY. I found you to be of a TREMENDOUS help . I needed a PUSH. I wanted to bring my Time/Capture Ratio to a higher level. Chasing down, eagles , falcons, owls and such while great , fun , meeting many of photogs was just taking too much of my time . 2 hour drive here and there and then back all in a day , while juggling regular life just too much and along with that the pains i have with neck and back. I needed a Change, ive always admired the leica , always like manual focus, and always adored shooting People and the streets. While I know there are so many other options, including whatever nikon gear i had could do the job at hand .. I just needed something to really push me over the line. I found you probably a month or so ago and a few others , BUT YOU, were the one I TRUSTED MOST and THANK YOU . Took 90% of my Nikon Gear 3 bodies and 4, 5 lenses , Before value drops even more ... traded it all in for the LEICA M11 ... almost 4 weeks into this ... ITS THE BEST MOVE I'VE EVER MADE ... even with the potential firmware issues it had, manual focus worries .. YOU MADE it clear for me to jump ship lol and I Thank YOU again. Also , NO WAY was I going to get into Leica system without knowing we had the Voigtlander Glass options, and once again .. your on target. I'm still keeping my one Nikon Z9 and my big lens 500mm for now and most likely will still keep that .... PEOPLE ... This man is on Target with everything he says and I trust him. Its the best move ive made, the Leica is with me all the time now ... I picked up the Voigtlander 28mm ultron 2 , 35mm APO , 50mm APO .... GREAT JOB SIR and GREAT ADVICE and Most of All TRUSTED ADVICE . THANK YOU !

Agree, in many situations, manual Focus is easier and more reliable than autofocus, even on my M4 with it's duller and smaller viewfinder. Saving up patiently for a digital Leica 😊

Great explanation! Thank you!

Shooting with manual focus is not a big deal. A bigger question is why? I used m4 for a couple months; every frame in focus, with proper exposure. I did not see the point in the exercise though, zero benefits comparing to "mirrorless", and I was happy to go back to my normal digital cameras.

Mate, I remember the split focus on my AE1 back in the day. Focusing is too easy these days, but I'd love to give Leica a crack.

How is it with glasses? I can't go without them

Wonderful ❤

Love your energy and thanks for sharing. Have you tried manual focusing with other cameras like the fuji system?

Like many here, I grew up with manual focus and rangefinders although I tended to use them for landscapes and other objects that didn’t move quickly. After 6 years or so using autofocus, I’ve dived back into manual focus with an M11. Mostly fine but sometimes I just fail to make focus by a tiny amount when shooting my CV 35mm at f1.5. This tends to be on street portraits when I don’t want to delay the subject by taking multiple images. Aside from practicing more, I hear people talk about rocking back and forth on your heels slightly as you take 3-4 pictures. Any experience on whether that works?

I'm torn, I could probably learn how to focus. What's holding me back is, no evf, the viewfinder is obscured by some lenses, 14 bit color depth, small range of lenses wide angle to max 135, all this for only £10000 without lenses, about the same price as the Hasselblad which has some of the features I miss on Leica M. Still, I'm curious about the Leica M, strangely.

Do you use Leica view finder magnifier? If you use it what is the power of magnifier?

Would you share how to focus not in center and out of the focus patch? Thx

Why not shoot with a mirrorless camera like Sony A7RV

Do you have /use a magnifier on the viewfinder?

agree (yet I sold my M8 hahaha)

Hi there. Thank you. What voights do you use with the Leica? Thx!!