What's the deal with Leica cameras?

Today, I would like to invite you to join me on a journey.

A journey to understand what is up with Leica cameras.

Why is this brand so iconic?

What makes them so special?

Are they even special?

Or are they just expensive cameras for rich poses?

I did some research, some thinking, and some trying.

And in this video, I'd like to share my thoughts.

Let's go.

Leica is a bit of a weird camera brand because it seems that they are associated with a couple opposing things.

Unlike Canon, Nikon or Fujifilm that have pretty clear connotations, with Leica I feel like there's this odd clash between their heritage and legacy shaped by the legendary photographers of the past and present who shot and still shoot with Leica cameras.

And this image of them just being yet another overpriced luxury brand that make something but make it exclusive and utterly expensive.

Is it just me or do you also feel like Leica's in this weird in-between space where many view them as a brand that makes unnecessarily expensive cameras that are decent, whereas others are avid fans who genuinely believe that their cameras are up there in the ranks of the best cameras?

Well, a little while ago, I decided to try to find this out for myself.

To begin with, I had a little peek into Leica's history to better understand where they come from, and then I actually went to the home country of Leica, Germany.

That sounded like I went on some grand journey to Germany, but the country borders literally just a half hour drive up north from here.

Anyway, I went to see two friends, both are photographers, and both shoot with a Leica camera.

And so, I wanted to chat with them about this.

Additionally, I ended up getting the chance to try out a Leica camera quite extensively, so I got to soak up on some experience, which I'd like to share.

But before that, let me just speedrun some historical facts.

Don't worry, I don't want to make this one of those video essays that begins like, to understand this we have to go back to the medieval times, or some many centuries ago.

But I do think there are a couple key points that shouldn't be overlooked.

One of Leica's most important historical achievements is their use of 35mm cinema film and their camera design that took that film, which basically kickstarted the 35mm film era back in the early 1900s.

It is thanks to them that cameras became smaller, and it was their rangefinder-style cameras that had significant influence on the way documentary photography, photojournalism and street photography evolved.

So I think what the history, even just the oversimplified quick glance of ours, makes clear is that Leica is definitely a seriously influential brand in the world of cameras and photography that, unexaggeratedly speaking, shaped photographic history.

And it appears to me that the photographers who chose a Leica camera as their instrument of choice did so for their qualities, be it the rangefinder style, the build quality, or the lenses, or something else maybe.

However, since then times have changed.

We've seen the SLR dominate the market and the DSLR and the whole digital age take over and nowadays many of us shoot with mirrorless cameras, which is a technology that Leica has also decided to adopt.

And those too seem to be appreciated for being exactly what photographers would expect to get from Leica in the digital age.

This apparently incredible tool that they want to work with.

Anyway, at this point, it seemed to me that shooting with a Leica was some sort of experience one would have to try out to understand it.

And so that brings us to my trip to Germany, when I got to chat with my friends Karin and Flo, and even try shooting with Karin's Leica M6, which she was so kind to let me use for about one and a half days during my visit.

Karin, would you like to try the TF900?

Is this a fair trade?

A plastic point and shoot for a titanium Leica M6?

I think that's pretty fair.

Well, pretty similar, just a little bit harder than plastic.

So, first impressions.

The Pentax, you know, it is what it is.

It's like 40 years old.

It's getting a little rusty and dusty here.

This is so sleek.

It's so clean.

I want to hear the first shot.

What speed do we have?

I think 125 probably sounds better.

Guys, I got him.

He's down.

I got him.

And so, we swapped our cameras and I was on to shooting some film with Karin's Leica M6.

At first, the experience was rather typical, as most experiences usually are when using a new camera.

I was slow and sometimes confused.

That's natural when working with a new camera, at least for me.

I kept shooting all day long, so that was some considerable practice straight away, and I noticed how I was slowly getting a hang of it.

In case you, like me, are more used to shooting with an SLR, here's a quick breakdown of the main differences.

The viewfinder is not directly through the lens, it's a rangefinder, so a separate window and in the middle there's a little box of sorts which has two images which you need to align to set focus.

I think this is the most common feature that SLR people like me need to get used to at the beginning.

Oh, and by the way, I don't want to make it sound like Leica was the only brand that made rangefinder-style cameras.

I think Canon also had a pretty successful rangefinder-style camera, and I'm sure that other brands too.

Rangefinder cameras are a camera category, not a Leica-only thing.

Another interesting difference that I quickly noticed is the way you shift focus on the lens.

The amount I had to turn the focus ring is much less than what I'm used to, and also instead of using a finger and a thumb to do it, the camera has a focus tab for the index finger so that I can focus with this simple small movement.

So this is a trade-off in a sense.

With an SLR, I personally feel like I can more precisely adjust the exact point of focus.

Whereas this Leica system feels more optimized for speed and ease of use.

However, Karen, who knows both worlds, said that she personally doesn't really feel much of a difference when it comes to the level of precision.

It just takes some getting used to.

One random difference I noticed was the quiet shutter, which made my Pentax sound like some earth-shattering slam of a mirror that made the whole camera shake.

The Leica's shutter felt more controlled in a sense, and the quiet nature of it actually helped me be more inconspicuous, unlike the Pentax shutter that is so loud it can sometimes draw some unwanted attention to me, but it does feel good.

On the other hand, wanted attention is something I would like to direct towards the, in my opinion, incredible platform for creating any website, Squarespace.

I myself have been using Squarespace for over five years at this point, and it's perfect for people like me who are creatives but not web developers.

They're an all-in-one platform, so with your subscription you can make a website, host your content, register your own domain name, sell products, track analytics, and much more.

They have this lovely intuitive drag-and-drop editor called Fluid Engine, which is so easy to use and lets you customize the layout and design of your page.

If you need some help when getting started, you can start off with one of the many professional and beautifully designed templates, which you can then customize to suit your own style.

Or you can work with Squarespace's AI, which enables you to build a website in minutes by describing it and answering a few questions.

All in all, what I think Squarespace is great at is combining creative freedom with ease of use, which I really appreciate.

Try it out for yourself.

You can head to squarespace.com for a 14-day free trial, and then when you're ready to launch your website, you can go to squarespace.com slash teocrawford to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

Thank you so much to Squarespace for continuously supporting the channel.

The more I shot with this setup, the more I came to understand what makes the system uniquely special.

The combination of viewfinder, the focusing system, the focus tab on the lens, the quieter shutter was making a lot of sense while out and about shooting.

I was especially coming to adore the focus tab on the lens, which lets me focus quickly with just my index finger.

But the most noticeable difference was actually a surprising one, which I only realised at the very end.

So we'll get to that later.

Before that, I'd like to share some of Karen's and Floor's thoughts.

Both conversations I had with them were simply an inquisitive chat in which I mainly just asked one question after another to better understand both Karen's and Floor's perspective and why they chose to shoot with their camera.

In Karen's case, the introduction to the brand was simply made by the photographers she looked up to, who happened to be photographers who chose to shoot with a Leica.

First, I fell in love with the medium of film rather than a genre within photography.

But when I was starting to shoot more film, I realized that street photography is something I'm interested in.

So when I discovered that this thing that I like to do to shoot strangers on the street and the environment, that this has a name, that the term for it is street photography, I tried to research everything I could find.

about street photography and I just stumbled upon this pattern that many photographers that I look up to in this genre do use this camera.

So I of course thought to myself, why is that the case?

I then asked her what in general she appreciates about the camera.

just the sheer tactile quality of holding the camera in your hand.

I think you also mentioned that it feels so like, what did you say?

A precise German instrument, right?

A precise German instrument.

This is what it feels like when you have it in your hand.

You just feel that there's like a lot of craftsmanship that went into it and like a lot of well thought out

ideas behind the design.

At first I was like overwhelmed.

I was like, okay, so this is like the magic everybody's talking about.

This feels so unfamiliar.

I do feel right at home with my SLR.

So at first I was a bit skeptical and I really needed some time to warm up.

But pretty quickly after just a couple of

I realized that there's like so many advantages to the system, not having to think about the big focus throw, but just being very fast, very efficient, having the possibility to build up muscle memory.

So from this initial, oh my God, what is this?

I don't know what I'm doing here.

it very quickly became this, oh, this is actually so much easier.

It's less thinking, more just like intuition.

Why I think it's worth it is number one, because it's the most high quality piece of equipment I ever owned when it comes to the sheer tactile quality and how much joy it brings me to operate this camera.

So there are a couple points here that I would like to comment on and add my mustard to, as the Germans would say.

But before that, I would like to show you a little bit of my conversation with Flo, who overall had a rather similar thing to say.

I think the overall thing combines to one specific thing, and this is that I'm drawn to use the camera.

I'm drawn to pick it up.

I'm drawn to use it.

for something which the camera is good at, taking photographs.

When I'm using that camera, I have so much fun.

We're shooting with a basically 30-, 40-year-old camera.

If it's a Leica M6, for example, which is already developed, it's ready.

There's no new iteration.

We're shooting with a final product.

So essentially, both of them agree on one core thing, which is that in their experience, not that they've tried all the cameras in existence, but I know they've tried a fair share, their camera, to them, appears to be the most complete product that leaves basically nothing else to wish for.

I do have to say I'm pretty happy with what I have.

I don't feel like the necessity to upgrade my M6.

What I found interesting here is that Karin and Floor shoot pretty different subject matters.

Karin is mostly a street photographer whereas Floor mostly captures beautiful scenes in the forest.

When I shot with Karin's Leica M6, I really felt how that camera is basically made for street photographers.

The rangefinder allows for you to see beyond the actual frame which can be helpful to anticipate scenes evolving in front of you.

More impactful for me however was the focusing system, which with a little practice worked so well for me and I could really tell how with more and more practice, I could become so fast with that system, faster than I imagine I could ever become with my SLR cameras.

So that is

That's one of the main points that made me understand more deeply why in the genre of street photography, Leica tends to be one of the most popular camera brands.

But Floor doesn't really need that, right?

Though he too does shoot fast-paced things privately, which he just doesn't share online.

And he was throwing his little son up in the air.

And this was something I wanted to capture.

And it was so cool to be able to do that because I was really able to pull the focus really fast and to adjust settings to be quick and get that picture.

So a lot of that, even if you're not thinking about, okay, I'm participating in those advantages, I'm getting those advantages directly because I'm doing street photography.

In everyday life, there are sometimes really fast situations you're able to get as well.

However, the speed itself isn't necessarily the main point that the two seem to appreciate.

It's more of an overarching thing that speed is a result of.

And that is the disappearance of resistance.

There's basically no resistance in using it.

I'm not feeling any resistance.

The only resistance is that I have to change my film from time to time.

This makes this camera the least obtrusive to how I function in my photography.

It helps me to build muscle memory.

I do not have to look at the camera to actually adjust any settings.

For me, the improvement in speed when I operate this camera is just unbeaten in comparison to any other camera I've used before.

It lets me be more intuitive.

And this brings me to what I think might be the central reason to why Leica is so highly esteemed among photographers.

When a tool is able to erase any resistance, it maximizes the potential of the user.

This is something I talked about many times in previous videos.

Maybe you remember for example my video about my iPhone 15 Pro video setup, which was basically a trade-off I made.

The iPhone 15 Pro has pretty good video quality since it's capable of shooting in log, however it is still considerably worse than my proper cameras.

Nevertheless, I chose to shoot with my phone during my time in Japan because its convenience raised so much resistance that I ended up shooting better video with a technically inferior tool,

Simply because the lack of resistance made the process more fun, and you simply can't beat someone who's having fun.

That is a core philosophy that I deeply believe, because it is exactly what I have experienced.

And then, there's Leica.

They appear to have combined the lack of resistance without technical inferiority.

Some would even argue with technical superiority.

So, when I choose to shoot videos with my iPhone, I sacrificed some quality in order to increase my sense of joy, which ultimately led to better results.

Leica cameras, however, do not require you to sacrifice quality.

They combine quality and joy.

And it's probably here that I should state the obvious.

The sacrifice you make when buying a Leica camera is a financial one, but not the joy and not the quality.

Also, one more point I should probably clarify is that my points mainly refer to their analogue cameras.

In the world of digital cameras, quality as a concept just becomes vastly more complicated.

Leica isn't exactly known for their mind-boggling specs, which in the eyes of many, however, is quality.

But if you've been following me for a while, you'll know that I don't really equate a camera's specs to its quality.

Specs for me personally are secondary, whereas build quality, user experience, ergonomics and such are higher up on the priority list.

Now, cameras as a tool for photography are obviously highly individual.

So while some, like me, enjoy using Pentax SLRs, others don't because maybe they prefer something lighter.

And what I feel like can be observed with Leica cameras is that they've somehow managed to strike an incredible balance and produce a camera that verifiably is massively popular for its qualities among photographers.

I think the mystique around their brand comes from their general inaccessibility.

Leica cameras aren't the type of camera you just get to try out because that one friend with a camera happens to have a Leica, or that one uncle with a camera is a Leica shooter, which of course is a consequence of their price.

But why are they so expensive?

This overall can be attributed to their quality standards and manufacturing style as far as I understand.

The cameras aren't manufactured as mass market products, they are rather limited, they're built in Europe, they only use premium materials, and the manufacturing includes a lot of hand assembly.

All of this, obviously, comes with quite the price tag.

it seems to me that brands such as sony and canon are masters at striking the balance of best value that they can produce so what they ask themselves is what's the best quality product that we can produce for a reasonable mass market price tag on the other hand leica produces with a different philosophy it seems they are more like what's the best camera we can make if the price doesn't matter my guess is that this is why the price tags are where they are

After one and a half days, Karin and I reversed our camera swap, so let's talk about my current conclusions of the Leica M6.

To start with, I want to tell you that thing that surprised me towards the end.

It was actually after I returned the camera to Karin and reverted to shooting with my Pentax Smartmatic F. That camera, all of a sudden, felt a little rattly.

I always considered my Pentax SLRs to be really well-built pieces of gear.

They have beautiful metal elements that give them a rugged feeling, and they have a decent weight that signals their resilience and durability.

And when I first held Callan's Leica, I was honestly mildly underwhelmed.

Sure, it felt better, but not worlds different.

However, the contrast became clearly noticeable when I switched back.

I don't know how this works psychologically, but going from Pentax to Leica felt like a 20%-ish upgrade in build quality, whereas going from Leica back to Pentax felt like a 50% downgrade in build quality.

I think it made me notice all the flaws and wobbles and rattles of my Pentax, which I think is quite interesting, and I thought that was worth sharing.

So to come to a conclusion, let's get back to the central question of this video.

What is up with Leica cameras?

Are they just status symbols or are they actually incredible cameras?

I'd say both in a way.

I think it's undeniable that a brand of this sort unfortunately also attracts certain people who might buy the camera less for the appreciation of its qualities and how that might influence their photographic work and more for the symbolic status that comes with the brand.

However, it has become unequivocally clear to me that Leica cameras are decidedly incredible cameras that happen to combine features that ended up becoming widely appreciated, which still carries the brand's success.

In my opinion, fun and joy in the process of photography are the number one factors which will have good photography as an inevitable consequence.

And as far as I could experience, Leica makes cameras built to maximize fun.

Obviously, what makes a camera fun is very subjective, but for what I appreciate in a camera, I think they nailed it.

And, apparently, I'm not the only one.

And that wraps up the video for today.

I hope you enjoyed it.

There's one more thing I want to talk about actually, but it's not really part of this video.

It's just a little related story that I'd like to share in case you're interested.

Right, little ending story time.

I really hope this didn't sound too much like a Laika advertising.

This was in no way sponsored by Laika.

But I feel like towards the end I maybe praised their cameras too much in the script, but I think I had decent arguments for everything I said, so I suppose it made sense.

But the story I wanted to end this video on is actually a story that happened right around the Germany trip.

It was literally just days before I headed out to the Germany trip when I met Karin and Flo and even visited Leica's HQ in Wetzlar.

that I got a DM in my Instagram from none other than Leica Camera, which I thought was really odd, a strange coincidence, because I was thinking about them all the time at that time, because I was already thinking about this video and thinking, okay, what questions should I ask Karen and Floor?

And they asked me if I would like to do a little project with them.

And I didn't know what the details were, but we had some pre-production calls and stuff like that.

And I thought it was funny because in the DM I literally wrote to them, Oh yeah, sure, by the way, I'm coming to visit you in like one week's time.

Yeah.

Which I did then.

I didn't meet the two people that I spoke with, but I just went to see the gallery.

They weren't there at that time.

But the story that this evolves to is the fact that they like to produce these stories, these Leica stories or whatever you want to call it.

And they wanted to make something around the Oktoberfest in Germany.

because that's something, just a topic that is very present in Germany that they actually never covered before.

And so they asked if I would like to go to the Oktoberfest with a little video crew of theirs and shoot for them with a Leica Q3 that they'd give me for the day.

And of course, I couldn't say no to that.

So some of you will know this already because it's been all over

their Instagram and my Instagram.

But I thought in case you are not on Instagram, it could be something interesting for you to see.

Not on Instagram, I'm not trying to force you over to the Instagram.

If you are a YouTube native, I'm happy to keep you here.

They of course also have a YouTube channel and you can check out a video that they posted on the YouTube channel of Leica Camera.

And there, there's this video of me at Oktoberfest and it was a great time.

And also it was just crazy.

I seriously never ever expected to work with a brand like Leica.

Generally this year I've been able to work with some brands that I just never expected to work with.

For example, I worked with Hasselblad this year, which you might remember if you were around in spring.

I never expected to work with them.

And Laika is really just next level for me.

I don't know.

It's so odd and surreal, but so, so cool.

And yeah, I kind of just felt like I should share the story and also just share my gratitude.

I'm really, really grateful for all of this.

And

Part of this gratitude, of course, needs to go to you as a thank you to you, the community, you, one of the people watching this, who tune in on the channel and meet me every couple weeks to watch whatever I produced.

That is obviously a big part of what made all of this possible, so I just wanted to say thank you.

And now that we're coming close to the end of the year, you know, we're all getting reflective, so I just wanted to add this little random real talk story time thing at the end for anyone who's still interested in a more uncut, I don't know, personal version of me at the end of this video.

Anyway, I think that's all for today.

And so, with that, this video is now really at the end.

If you're still watching, thank you very much.

Before saying goodbye, I would like to say thank you to the lovely people supporting me and my work on Patreon.

Thank you so much to each one of you.

If you're interested in Lightroom presets, colour grading tutorials, and stuff like that, you can check out my page via the link in the description.

Also, I have a print job, by the way, in case that is of interest to you, also in the description.

With that said, I hope to see you again soon.

Until then, goodbye.