Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/08/02

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Subject: Re: [Leica] opinions on M7 vs. MP
From: Christer Almqvist <chris@almqvist.net>
Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2003 22:17:34 +0200
References: <EA438A3E-C508-11D7-9B46-000393C0DD28@mac.com>

>Wondering if anyone is willing to opine on the virtues of the M7 
>versus the MP. Due to the exceptional generosity of my boyfriend, I 
>have my choice!
>Thanks!
>-Liz
>www.lizlizliz.com

Liz,

I have never held an MP in my hands, so perhaps I should not answer 
your plea for an opinion. Still I will, as I have had two M6s (non 
TTL) for a number of years, and they behave like MPs, and now I have 
two M7s.

The M7 and the MP look pretty similar - but there is a lot of 
difference between the two. How large the difference is, that is very 
subjective, like there are people who think margarine and butter is 
the same, more or less, and then there are others who would only use 
one of them and never touch the other. I never touch margarine. I 
find MP and M7s very different.

If I were to give the piece of advice you seek to a person who is 
unfamiliar with the M cameras, then my advice would be: get a used 
M6, see how you like the M-type shooting and then go from there. If 
you do not like it, sell your M and make a small loss (or gain) and 
write it off to experience. No great deal.

In your case, assuming you are going to use you camera, and not use 
it to look at and show other people, my advice if you should get the 
MP or M7 would depend on the type of pictures you make.

If you need a camera for fast work, like I do, I would recommend the 
M7. I shoot only b+w, and I want my negatives to be dot on exposure 
wise and I also like to work in difficult light situations. Here the 
aperture priority is an advantage, but remember, correctly exposed 
negatives do not come automatically. There are several ways to beat 
the system in order to get perfectly exposed negatives in difficult 
situations, but I usually use the exposure lock facility. Sometimes I 
use the exposure compensation dial on the back of the camera, but 
then one runs the risk of forgetting to set it back to zero.

If you shoot landscapes, you do not need the automatic exposure of 
the M7. If you shoot quickly from the waist, then the M7 is a real 
advantage (unless you have measured in advance and set the aperture 
and shutter speed correspondingly....  and the light has not changed 
(sunny side/shady side of the street)). The M7 metering is always 
better in those case where you can not look through the viewfinder 
and where the light is changing. Like in real cramped quarters where 
you place the camera against the wall to get as much as possible of 
the opposite wall on the negative. Or when you photograph people who 
change the position and thus the light situation and you are quite 
busy keeping them in focus.

For architectural type indoor shooting the M7 has the advantage of 
the accurate real long exposure times. The MP will let you expose for 
longer than a second, but you have to measure the time yourself. I 
found it difficult to measure times like two or three seconds 
accurately and there a second means a lot exposurewise. Of course, if 
you shoot at 22 or 23 seconds, a second more or less does not matter 
at all.

There is a risk that you get lazy shooting with the M7, that you 
start thinking that you have a camera with an automatic program. That 
this is not so you will soon see. The proofs are all the negatives 
shot at f/2 in bright sunshine when you thought the aperture ring had 
not moved from the f/8 you had used an hour ago....  Even with an M7 
you need to think about aperture and exposure time. And about the 
adjustments you need to make to the values suggested by the camera.

Etc etc.  Sorry that I could not be of any help with your decision making.

Chris
- -- 
Christer Almqvist
D 20255 Hamburg and / or
F 50590 Regnéville sur Mer

please look at my NEW  b+w pictures at:    http://www.almqvist.net/chris/dozen/

old pictures still at:     http://www.almqvist.net/chris/new
- --
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In reply to: Message from liz boeder <lizlizliz@mac.com> ([Leica] opinions on M7 vs. MP)