Leica M EV1 Reviews

[NickR]

Kai Wong is disappointed by the manual focusing speed with high speed lenses that are demanding. Says it needs a split image or picture in picture mode.

Someone doesn’t understand the difference between an optical or electronic viewfinder. You would be well served to ignore the opinions of those people.

He seems pretty on top of things. Focus peaking doesn't cut it and magnify mode is too slow.

Focus peaking and magnified view is what you get. It’s more accurate than using a rangefinder with fast lenses and shallow dof. It’s the nature of the beast. You don’t compare it to a Nikon Z9 AF.

Agree with this 100% - many people only use peaking, or only use magnification, and fail to get the best from the AF assist. Mag + Peak = most accurate focus. Far more accurate than a RF could ever be.

Yes. I only wish we could turn focus peaking and magnification on and off at the same time.

Yeah, that's one of the things Kai was asking for.

 

[jaiyenyen]

Kai Wong is disappointed by the manual focusing speed with high speed lenses that are demanding. Says it needs a split image or picture in picture mode.

He can use zone focus as many do with rangefinders

 

[NickR]

Kai Wong is disappointed by the manual focusing speed with high speed lenses that are demanding. Says it needs a split image or picture in picture mode.

He can use zone focus as many do with rangefinders

Yeah, good luck with that with 50mm f1.0.

 

[David Kieltyka]

Kai Wong is disappointed by the manual focusing speed with high speed lenses that are demanding. Says it needs a split image or picture in picture mode.

Someone doesn’t understand the difference between an optical or electronic viewfinder. You would be well served to ignore the opinions of those people.

He seems pretty on top of things. Focus peaking doesn't cut it and magnify mode is too slow.

My experience from using adapted M lenses on my SL2 is: magnification plus peaking is the best way to go. With more characterful fast lenses peaking might not be triggered at wider apertures, so you'll need the magnified view. And if you're stopped well down you may get so much peaking that turning it off and relying solely on magnification will work better. The EV1's magnify function should be instantaneous if you're using the repurposed frameline lever to switch it on/off.

I find in most cases using the highest magnification level and pinpointing the most important part of my subject along with moderate peaking gives me the best results.

Also, it took me a number of trial runs over the course of a week with adapted lenses on the SL2 to really get the hang of this. I wouldn't take the conclusions of anyone too seriously who hasn't spent a good amount of practice time with the EV1.

As for overall focusing speed, in my experience the rangefinder beats the EVF in the 21–75mm focal length range. But I've been using rangefinder cameras for decades, and RF focusing is second nature.

I took the pic below during one of my early adapted lens outings, with a Zeiss-Opton 85mm f/4 via magnification plus peaking. Lens stopped down to f/5.6 and focused on the heron's eye. This version of the pic is a full-res crop. I was easily able to track the heron as it waded around looking for something to swallow.



-Dave-

 

[DenverSteve]

All speculation and guessing aside, here is Hugh Brownstone's review. Hugh is a great guy and educator with his take on the new camera.



--
It's just my educated opinion. Don't get bent out of shape.
Steve

 

[DenverSteve]

Just been to the official launch. Had 4 hours with the camera and a few lenses. Very very impressed. It’s very light. Simple to focus using the EVF and that’s by someone who’s never used an M apart from a handful of shots. So impressed I bought one and got it charging now

Hopefully you bought a lens too...........

--
It's just my educated opinion. Don't get bent out of shape.
Steve

 

[Rodenmg]

Kai Wong is disappointed by the manual focusing speed with high speed lenses that are demanding. Says it needs a split image or picture in picture mode.

He can use zone focus as many do with rangefinders

Yeah, good luck with that with 50mm f1.0.

Amen! lol!

 

[jaiyenyen]

Just been to the official launch. Had 4 hours with the camera and a few lenses. Very very impressed. It’s very light. Simple to focus using the EVF and that’s by someone who’s never used an M apart from a handful of shots. So impressed I bought one and got it charging now

Hopefully you bought a lens too...........

Haha yes I did remember that.

 

[jaiyenyen]

Kai Wong is disappointed by the manual focusing speed with high speed lenses that are demanding. Says it needs a split image or picture in picture mode.

He can use zone focus as many do with rangefinders

Yeah, good luck with that with 50mm f1.0.

Amen! lol!

One of the guys demonstrating the camera had a Noctilux 50 1.2 on and he was zone focusing. He must have had a hell of a lot of practice because he was astonishingly accurate, I’ve no idea how he did it. The camera was down by his waist.

 

[David Kieltyka]

One of the guys demonstrating the camera had a Noctilux 50 1.2 on and he was zone focusing. He must have had a hell of a lot of practice because he was astonishingly accurate, I’ve no idea how he did it. The camera was down by his waist.

I've done zone focusing with an f/1.0 Noct…but with the aperture stopped down to f/8. :-D

-Dave-

 

[Rodenmg]

One of the guys demonstrating the camera had a Noctilux 50 1.2 on and he was zone focusing. He must have had a hell of a lot of practice because he was astonishingly accurate, I’ve no idea how he did it. The camera was down by his waist.

I've done zone focusing with an f/1.0 Noct…but with the aperture stopped down to f/8. :-D

-Dave-

Even that takes bravery and skill. I’m still struggling with a 28mm at F11!

 

[MrQuimper]

Kai Wong is disappointed by the manual focusing speed with high speed lenses that are demanding. Says it needs a split image or picture in picture mode.

Someone doesn’t understand the difference between an optical or electronic viewfinder. You would be well served to ignore the opinions of those people.

He seems pretty on top of things. Focus peaking doesn't cut it and magnify mode is too slow.

Focus peaking and magnified view is what you get. It’s more accurate than using a rangefinder with fast lenses and shallow dof. It’s the nature of the beast. You don’t compare it to a Nikon Z9 AF.

I agree with you, but some form of focus confirmation, like with Canon and Nikon, would speed up things considerably when using manual lenses. Hopefully it will come with a firmware update.

 

[Rodenmg]

Kai Wong is disappointed by the manual focusing speed with high speed lenses that are demanding. Says it needs a split image or picture in picture mode.

Someone doesn’t understand the difference between an optical or electronic viewfinder. You would be well served to ignore the opinions of those people.

He seems pretty on top of things. Focus peaking doesn't cut it and magnify mode is too slow.

Focus peaking and magnified view is what you get. It’s more accurate than using a rangefinder with fast lenses and shallow dof. It’s the nature of the beast. You don’t compare it to a Nikon Z9 AF.

I agree with you, but some form of focus confirmation, like with Canon and Nikon, would speed up things considerably when using manual lenses. Hopefully it will come with a firmware update.

I agree. Focus confirmation would be great! But I only buy cameras for what they can do at the time of purchase. Never for what I hope they may someday do.

 

[jpfisher]

Some blatant self-promotion on my part, but here's my take: https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/leica-m-ev1

—Jim

I was about to post this link myself, didn't know you were on DPR. Thanks.

Longtime member, I mostly lurk around here and in the Pentax board, (very) occasionally posting if there's a question about one of my favorite weird old lenses... (I stan for the Summitar 5cm, Summicron 40mm, 9-element Elmarit 28mm, and the Pentax Limiteds)

Jim