Recently, I had the chance to shoot with a Leica M4 for about a week, before deciding it wasn’t the right camera for me. But, that didn’t stop me from enjoying it during the short stay that it had with me.
Why wasn’t it the right camera for me? Well, as someone who lives in the United States, film developing costs haven’t gotten cheaper since the last time I bought a film camera. So, having more than one film body didn’t make sense to me.
However, the Leica M4 is a lovely camera to use, and extremely intuitive. Having shot the Leica M3 in the past, along with some M6’s with broken light meters, I learned how to meter a scene without having to use an external light meter accessory, or even an iPhone app. Only in unfamiliar lighting scenarios (usually indoors), do I typically have to pull out an iPhone light meter app to verify my gut feeling.
Classic Leica script engraving <3 Here, pictured with a Leica 50mm ASPH Summilux-M
In many ways, the M4 was the perfect camera for me.
It was a Leica M, so, coming from the M9, M240, M6, etc. I felt right at home
It had 35mm frame lines, fairly uncluttered
It was silver
Unfortunately, I couldn’t justify keeping it, and I noticed some strange bands of light across some photos that I shot, indicative of some shutter curtain issues.
Regardless, I had a great time using it, and shot some images that I really liked. The following photos were captured with the Leica M4, Zeiss 35mm 1.4 Distagon ZM, 28mm 2.8 Biogon ZM, and Leica 50mm ASPH Summilux-M on FujiFilm C200.
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