leica Archives

Leica M9 with Yellow Filter: A Monochrome Alchemist’s Guide——Unlocking Analog Soul in a Digital Body

The Yellow Filter Primer

In black-and-white photography, yellow filters are the unsung heroes of contrast. By blocking blue wavelengths (450-495nm) while passing red and green, they transform bland skies into brooding canvases and elevate skin tones to marble purity. For the Leica M9—a CCD-powered time capsule—this analog trickery bridges the gap between digital convenience and darkroom artistry.

Exposure Algebra: Light as Poetry

1. The Golden Rule

Sunny 16 Adjusted: f/16 @ 1/250s → f/16 @ 1/125s (+1 stop)
Blue-Dominant Scenes: Add 1.5 stops (e.g., f/11 @ 1/125s)
Tungsten Lighting: Neutralize orange cast with +0.5 stops

2. M9’s CCD Quirk

The inherent warmth of the Kodak sensor magically combines with yellow filters. Overexpose by 0.3-0.7 stops beyond the calculated values to preserve shadow detail – the CCD’s limited dynamic range demands mercy.

Leica Elmar 35mm f/3.5 Review: The Pocket-Sized Time Traveler—Where Vintage Minimalism Meets Modern Grit

The Berek Legacy

Born in 1930 under the genius of Max Berek—Leica’s founding optical shaman—the Elmar 35mm f/3.5 is a 30g brass haiku that predates WWII, color film, and the concept of “GAS.” This uncoated Tessar-design relic (1930-1960) proves great photography demands neither megapixels nor f/1.4 bravado. At 400–400–800 (well-loved), it’s a gateway drug to analog purity.

“This is Elmar.”

“This is cookie.”

“This is a Cookie Elmar.”

“You may think I’m small, but I have a big world inside me.”

Leica 35mm f/1.4 Summilux-M II Pre-ASPH Review: The Alchemist of Light—Where Flaws Transform Into Ethereal Magic

The Ghost in the Aluminum

Born in 1972, the Summilux-M 35mm f/1.4 II Pre-ASPH is a lens that defies modern optics’ obsession with perfection. This 245g aluminum relic—discontinued in 1993—doesn’t just capture light; it interprets it through a veil of chromatic whispers and mechanical poetry. At 2,500–2,500–4,000 (used), it’s not a tool, but a collaborator in crafting visual sonnets.

Voigtländer Bessa R2A Review: The People’s Rangefinder—Where Pragmatism Meets Poetic Rebellion

The Art of Strategic Humility

Voigtländer survives not by challenging Leica’s throne, but by carpeting its moat. While Leica crafts haute horlogerie for wrist-snob elites, Cosina’s Bessa series delivers democratic precision—a Xiaomi to Leica’s iPhone. The Bessa R2A (2002-2007) embodies this philosophy: a $500 gateway drug to rangefinder obsession, offering 90% M-series functionality at 20% cost. Newcomers whisper, “Start with Bessa, graduate to Leica”—but wiser souls learn to linger in this middle kingdom.

Leica 40mm f/2.4 Review: The Franken-Lens That Defies Convention——When Salvaging a Point-and-Shoot Gem Becomes an Act of Rebellion

The Sacrilegious Resurrection

In the pantheon of Leica optics, the Summarit 40mm f/2.4 occupies a heretical throne—a lens born in the Minilux/CM compacts, now reborn as an M-mount rogue. While purists decry “camera murder,” this 400Frankenstein(bodybutchery+400Frankenstein(bodybutchery+200 adaption fee) delivers 90% of a Summicron’s soul at 30% the cost. Your moral dilemma? Let’s call it creative recycling.

Optical Autopsy

1. Heritage DNA

Design: 6 elements/4 groups, cloned from 1973’s Summicron-C 40mm f/2
Aperture: f/2.4—Leica’s cheeky nod to non-conformity
Coatings: 1990s-era anti-flare witchcraft (pre-ASPH mystique)

2. Size Matters

Dimensions: 45mm x 35mm—smaller than a Summicron collapsible
Weight: 180g (lighter than your smartphone)

In the Labyrinth of Light and Shadow

leica m9 with elmarit 28mm f2.8 +3 stops

The Leica M9 moves like a silent minstrel through this maze of photons, capturing moments veiled by time’s relentless drift. At first glance, the image seems swallowed by night—an underexposed frame resembling an unopened tome of secrets.

Yet with three gentle stops lifted in post-processing, life surges into the dormant dream. The yellow bicycle awakens from shadows like the first amber rays of dawn, its radiance spilling across the scene. Surrounding foliage unfurls from the gloom, revealing hues steeped in the CCD’s chromatic alchemy—as if nature herself dipped her finest brush into twilight to paint this elegy.

CCD’s palette carries the warmth of aged bourbon, its tones ripened into velvety resonance. Every leaf, every gradient of light becomes a vessel of memory, whispering tales forgotten in dusty corners. Within this small rectangle of captured time, light and color unite in chorus—a hymn to moments resurrected from oblivion.

leica m9 with summicron 35mm f2 + 0.5 stops

Leica M9 Review: The Last Dance of CCD Romance——A Love Letter to Digital Adolescence

The Kodak Swan Song

When Leica launched the M9 in 2009, it wasn’t just a camera – it was a paean to analog purity in a digital world. The first full-frame digital rangefinder, armed with Kodak’s custom-made CCD sensor, promised the spontaneity of Henri Cartier-Bresson in pixels. Fast forward to 2024: CCDs are extinct, CMOS reigns supreme, and the M9 has become a cult relic. But like vinyl records and manual typewriters, its flaws now read like poetry.

Analog Soul, Digital Skin

1. The Classicist’s Last Stand

Optical viewfinder: Physical frame lines illuminated by sunlight, just like M3/M6. The minimalist front of the later M240/M10? Heresy.
No “modern” nonsense: No Live View, no video, just raw photography. Menu? Three pages deep, max.

2. The Red Dot Rebellion

The M9 wasn’t Leica’s first digital (see: M8), but it was the first to feel like a Leica. Brass top plate, sapphire screens – luxury for the pre-Instagram era.

Leica MP Review: The Last Sentinel of Analog Mastery——Where Silence Speaks Louder Than Megapixels

The Unseen Virtuoso

In an era of computational photography, the Leica MP (2003-present) stands as a mechanical haiku—unapologetically analog, stubbornly silent. Designed not for the crowd but for the coven of purists, it whispers: “Film is not dead; it’s just selective.”

Design: Minimalism as Dogma

1. The Black Paint Enigma

MP’s matte-black finish—thinner than M3’s wartime lacquer—ages like a samurai’s armor. Brassing emerges not as decay, but as a map of journeys. Chrome versions? Eternal youth in a stainless steel sarcophagus.

2. Shutter Dial Tai Chi

The compact speed dial (1s-1/1000s) arranges numbers in yin-yang symmetry. Rotate clockwise to slow time, counterclockwise to hasten it—a tactile waltz even M3 purists envy.

3. Skin Deep

Leatherette: Fine-grained calfskin, echoing MP’s unadorned top plate. No garish logos, just “Ernst Leitz Wetzlar” in ghostly script.
Battery-Free Zen: Mechanical shutter thrives sans electricity; the meter (borrowed from M6) hums on two SR44s.

Leica M6 Review: The People’s Leica with Split Personalities——Where Pragmatism Meets Prestige

The Democratization of Luxury

Born in 1984, the Leica M6 was the brand’s first “everyman” rangefinder. Gone were the brass top plates of the M3/M4; in came zinc alloy, plastic counters, and TTL metering. Purists howled, but photographers voted with their wallets – 20 years of production (1984-2003) cemented its status as Leica’s best-selling M. The genius of the M6? It made the unattainable attainable by wrapping professional-grade optics in a blue-collar shell.