I can't afford Leica prices and I really don't like rangefinder cameras but, putting that aside, I completely disagree with you about the EV1. It has an elegant simplicity about it that few other digital cameras can match. I think Oskar Barnack would approve. Unfortunately, being left eye dominant I'd struggle to use it, even if it wasn't too small, but otherwise I'd be tempted to buy one.
And I will respectfully disagree. The rangefinder mechanism and focusing is unique, and gives the M almost all of its character.
'Character'? Everyone else dropped the rangefinder system as soon as it became apparent that SLRs were better. Leica's real strength was in its lenses, and the short flange distance, which offered superior image quality to most other 35mm film systems. So some photographers stuck with Leica because of that. Remember, Leica also did their own (not so successful) SLRs, to try and recoup some the lost ground. By the AF era, Leica were pretty much done as a serious brand, and popular only really with nostalgists and hipsters.
As well as this is a learned art, focusing with a rangefinder. A completely different way of making an image that, with practice, is more like playing an instrument than any other method of photography. It has been around for decades and decades.
That just sounds so pretentious. A camera is a tool. It needs to do a job, and do it well. It needs to work for its user. SLRs are easier to use; having to learn how to focus accurately with a rangefinder detracts from actual picture taking. It's slow, cumbersome and relatively inaccurate. It's not a 'learned art', it's a
hindrance.
They should have just made the Q interchangeable, instead of castrating the Leica M heritage and design. They have plenty of other EVF cameras already, why destroy the M design.... Makes no sense to me at all.
They've improved it. A further improvement would be to include AF.
I went to see a photo exhibition the other day; a series of photos by a 'Leica Ambassador', who used M-system rangefinders (film and digital). Aside from the repetitive and contrived nature of the images, what struck us was how often the critical focus was off. People's eyes just weren't in sharp focus. Things like that. It was clear the photographer had struggled to achieve sharp focus in numerous images. A shame really. Had he used a proper camera with AF, his pictures might have been better.
