A guide for those switching to Leica M rangefinders
Canon R5, Laowa Argus 35/0.95.
Intent / Disclaimer
This page is meant to aide those who are new to Leica M rangefinders. When I switched from Canon to Leica for my everyday-carry, I couldn't find a guide to fill me in on the daily ins-and-outs of shooting with these smaller cameras, so I collected all the things I'd learned along the way and wrote them down here. Almost two years on, I've come back to update it as well.
This page is not meant to be one of those where I will evangelize about Leica, rangefinder cameras, the impending return of Cthulhu, or whatever happens to be the cult flavor of the day. While I still like my camera, I don't think Leica really needs that sort of treatment.
That said, –why not– write something about Cthulhu? It'd be more original (and more fun) than another round of spec wars, or the usual tooty pontification. Can you imagine, trying to take a picture of some cultists somewhere in the darkened woods, where the stars are wrong (or right?), and netherworldly creatures are being raised from portals too twisted for your still-sane and poetically-feeble mind to even set eyes upon? And then imagine your shivering finger, struggling to turn the focus dial, the foul chanting perturbing your quavering hands and rustling tree limbs alike. Capturing the decisive moment, ever more decisively foul?
Rather than say anything for or against Leica, or for or against rangefinder cameras (or cults, or Cthulhu), I will say this about ILC photography more-generally though. Shooting with an ILC is harder than shooting with a phone. If you were struggling to take good shots with your phone, then shooting with an ILC, be it Leica, or be it Fuji, will actually make things harder. In fact, you will probably take worse shots at first, until you fully grow into the picture-taking tool that is a “serious” camera. If that's fine, or if you're a masochist, then Leica is great!
Canon R5, Laowa Argus 35/0.95.
Pouches for your M-mount lenses
Most guides on camera gear will focus on the cameras themselves, and the lenses, because that's where the most “fun” is. And since there's no end of those, I will instead focus first on the basic stuff that's needed to use these smaller cameras day-to-day.
The lenses we use are our longest-term investment. When well-chosen, they will hold a fair bit of their value as the years pass by. Some M-lenses may even accumulate in value, as many older photographers can attest. That's in part because M-mount lenses are purely manual, and have no motors or electronics.
As such, we want to keep our lenses safely stowed away when not in use, and the most important thing (gear-wise) is to have protective pouches to carry them in. Since M-mount lenses are smaller than DSLM lenses, and we'd want to carry one or two in our backpack / briefcase, the criteria for them differs slightly from DSLM lens pouches:
- The pouch material should be padded, but not excessively so, and should fit the lens snugly. The intent is to protect the lenses from each other, particularly when there's nothing else to keep them from knocking into each other.
- The exterior surface of the pouch should be smooth, not rough and abrasive. It should ideally not catch on the interior of a camera bag in those situations where we need to be careful about removing the lens from its pouch.
- There must be a range of sizes for lenses up to 60mm in diameter and 80mm in length, and as small as 50mm in diameter and 25mm in length. This covers everything from the smallest lenses like the LLL Elcan reproduction, all the way up to the Voigtländer 35mm APO Lanthar.
- Anything larger is already covered by plentiful mainstream options.
With these requirements in mind, I found three companies that make suitable pouches (in my order of preference):
When I first wrote this guide, ProMaster had a full line-up of pouches that worked quite well for M lenses. Since then they've scaled back their selection. Additionally, I found through daily use that the lack of velcro in the OpTech pouches is actually a plus, because velcro would get stuck to the inside of most camera bags. I used to recommend Ruggard, but found their M-sized options strangely clunky to use.
It should be worth mentioning that if you buy first-party Leica glass, their OEM lens cases are actually quite usable in day-to-day. While the OEM cases aren't exactly form-fitting, they aren't clunky to use, and they're nonetheless small enough that they'll fit in an ONA Bond Street bag, which is as small as M-camera bags go.
I should credit the Macfilos article for the reality check on this matter, and also note that if you live in Canada or the USA, Field Made makes some darn nice labels for your OEM lens cases.
Hoods vs. Filters
Unlike the plastic hoods and caps that typically come with DSLM lenses, the metal hoods and caps used by some third-party M lenses can be scratch hazards. If your new lens has either a metal hood or cap, I strongly recommend putting a protective filter on first, as I've even had a Hoya HD3 filter get scratched once.
The world of M-lenses seems to be protective-filters-required, for one reason or another. But hoods have often been optional, unless it was e.g. a Leica lens particularly designed with the hood in mind. Voigtländer hoods must be bought separately and cost a pretty penny. Some stores don't even stock them.
Caps
If you hit the shutter release of your M11 with the lens cap still on, you might have a 90-second wait before you'll be able to use your camera again. Once you take your camera out, I recommend leaving the lens cap off.
Canon R5, Laowa Argus 35/0.95.
Camera Bags and Backpacks
When I first wrote this, my to-go dedicated camera bag was a Waterford, designed and hand-made in San Francisco. Sadly, it has since gone out of production.
In lieu of that, you could toss your M camera in a Waterford Airporter (pictured here), and use an Artist and Artisan pouch to protect your other stuff from your camera.
Canon R5, Laowa Argus 35/0.95.
If you go to most Leica sites, they will recommend Billingham and Oberwerth bags. I propose the lesser-known ONA as an alternative to those. Their canvas bags are classy yet inconspicuous. I've tried the Peak Design messenger bags as well, but the size and shape of the internal compartments is not well suited for our gear. The design and dimensions just so happen to be well-suited for DSLM users (and the usual size of their kit), but not for M-camera users.
Finally, the backpack category is where Peak Design shines. For a long time I avoided them because of their cultish reputation, but after having bought and used several competitors' bags, I got myself an Everyday Zip and sacrificed a goat to an Elder One.
The reason why the Peak Design backpacks work better is because they allow you to put your camera up top, near your neck, where the weight will be felt less. This causes fewer posture issues for the user. The best way to pack a backpack has been known for long time, by people who go backpacking, so it's frustrating that Peak Design is the only non-luxury-goods company that creates designs to allow for the most comfortable weight distribution. There are other companies that create outdoor-themed camera backpacks as well, but only the Peak Design bags actually feel like they were made for a trek.
If we move away from the mainstream options, it appears that Billingham and Oberwerth bags also allow for the ideal weight distribution. Their price tags start at $600 (in 2025), and while they are certainly more aesthetically pleasing, the Peak Design compartments are designed to be accessed both from the sides and the top without needing to distort the shape of the backpack. It makes for a better user-experience when we need to change lenses in the field.
Half Cases and Grips
Using a grip or a half-case is a slight controversy amongst some older shooters. They add to the camera's size, and Leicas rangefinders are supposed to be so small and unimposing that one could almost mistake them for a compact.
The dilemma is given in this article. Lenses are often not so small anymore (third-party options especially), and digital M bodies are not lightweight.
If you do find yourself wanting a better grip (or basic bump protection), there are a number of different options. Arte Di Mano cases are beautiful and functional, but they make the camera look much more substantial. The cheaper cases are less so, and merely help to protect against bumps and scratches, but they don't add to one's grip. There are also grips like those made by IDS Works.
The Shutter Release Button
If you look closely, you'll see that your shutter release button has a screw thread in it. It's not just any screw thread, but a conical one that can receive any number of aftermarket buttons. This lets you add a little personalized touch to your camera.
A soft-release button will jut out slightly above the rest of the camera, so if your camera + lens already fits snugly in your daily-carry bag, you may want to forgo this option.
The ever-dandy Macfilos has a guide if you're interested in finding what's out there, and PopFlash sells some other buttons not mentioned there.
Canon R5, Laowa Argus 35/0.95.
News, Reviews, and Learning
The benefit of shooting with ILCs, Leica especially, isn't just for the greater flexibility of the cameras themselves, but for the different lens options. If you weren't interested in this, it might be better to get a Leica Q, a Fuji XV, or a Ricoh GR. The Leica M-mount is particularly unique because of its age. One can use vintage lenses dating back to the 60's, as well as small-batch lenses created by enthusiasts. No other lens mount has so many options. Brand-new Leica lenses are notoriously expensive, even if you're a dentist, but there's more to shooting with an M-camera than just that stable of reliable offerings.
There's a few sites I turn to to keep updated on what new third-party releases are available:
Reading lens reviews is not without its hazards. There've been too many times I've bought some comparatively-cheap lens, had great results with it, only to find that it got trashed in some scientific-sounding gear review.
The opposite holds too. There's no end of reviews that will say “third party option X is practically as good as the Leica original.” But sometimes, even when I click on the review images, there's a difference between an objective test result and the rendering.
In particular, I remember a comparison between the 50mm Summilux-M and the Thypoch “knock-off.” The side-by-side comparison claimed the Thypoch was just as good, and while that might've been “mathematically” true — and definitely true if you were merely posting the images to social media — the cropped microcontrast samples were another thing. The Leica crops felt true-to-life. The Thypoch crops just looked like noise. This isn't to say the Thypoch isn't without its own merits. In any case, could you, as the photographer, take pictures that allow the Leica to shine brighter than the Thypoch? Gear matters, until it doesn't. Or maybe we could say that we all have to start from somewhere.
Ultimately, a sense of taste is something that we each have to develop from taking photos on our own. Photography is an art, not a gear test. Lenses are not about how well they do in tests. Even if we only care to take some pretty, trifling photos, it's not about the gear, even when it does depend on the gear.
Leica 50mm Summicron-M v5, a comparatively humble yet brilliant lens
I've personally found as much insight and inspiration from artists who don't necessarily treat photography as a specialized form of art on its own, as Phil Penman's suggests in one short video on street photography. It would also be neglectful not to offer a counterpoint to some of the advice he offers.
Watching these videos, right off the bat, you'd note that these two accomplished artists disagree with each other on some points. It's not difficult to infer that photography is more of an art than a science.
Separately, one could make a friend while shooting with their camera:
Canon R5, Laowa Argus 35/0.95.
Some Notable M-mount Lensmakers (besides Leica)
Laowa / Venus Lens
Wide-angle lenses are noticeably absent from Leica's present offerings because they don't seem to sell well with Leica's core buyers. The rangefinder window corresponds to a 28mm field of view, and although anything wider can still be focused, you'll need LiveView (or a separate viewfinder) to compose the frame. Moreover, many find 28mm difficult to compose with as it is. As it is in many creative pursuits, there is a fear of failure.
This doesn't have to mean that wider-angle won't be fun. Using unusual focal lengths is at least an invitation to mess around, and ragging on people for using LiveView is just bullshit gatekeeping.
If you're in want of an ultra-wide for the M-mount, Laowa is considered the go-to. The story behind Laowa is an interesting one. The founding engineer reportedly wanted to move away from making the usual “clinical” lenses, but found himself constrained while working at a very old and large mainstream company. When I was a Canon user, Laowa's Argus 28/1.4 was my favorite to shoot with.
Light Lens Lab
LLL specializes in well-made historical reproductions of iconic lenses. They frequently improve upon those original optics (particularly where suitability for modern sensors is concerned), while preserving the character of the originals. Although they had a rough start, their lenses presently have the best build quality of all the third-party marques.
Thypoch
Thypoch's Simera lenses have a relaxed-yet-sharp rendering (in contrast to Cosina-Voigtländer), and some have said that they have a “cinematic” look. Unlike vintage cinema-lens designs, the Simera lenses do not have much across-the-frame glow, sitting squarely on the modern side.
Thypoch's debut 28mm Simera was a completely-new optical design and the lens drew a great deal more controversy in the West than in the East. The designers have since switched to a more-contemporary focus tab for the Simera line, and made slight changes to the hood mount. Many Western shooters still thumb their nose towards them, but the Simera lenses lend well to environmental portraiture (particularly for social media). As a result, Thypoch has become successful because of their strength in their home market.
Cosina-Voigtländer
Voigtländer lenses are more-or-less unavoidable because Cosina makes the widest range of M-mount lenses. I frequently find that Voigtländer lenses look sharper than they really are, and this is not meant in a bad way. Some have said that their bokeh is “busy”, but the flip side is that their real-world rendering feels textured, maybe even intricate.
Mr. Ding Studio
A small studio that made a splash with their 50mm f/1.1. I waited a year for the delivery of their new 35mm Pactron. The 35mm did not disappoint, not in any way at all, but I did think the company had gone under since there was no update from them for that whole year.
MS Optics
These hard-to-find lenses can be had from Fotopia and Japan Camera Hunter. They are designed purely by hand by one elderly Japanese man in his home, somewhere outside of Tokyo.
Light Lens Lab 35mm 8-element.
Buying used lenses
If you'd like to support a local shop, I'd particularly recommend these if you live near New York or Hong Kong.
Both offer shipping outside their home cities.
Light Lens Lab 35mm Double-Aspherical.
Field Curvature
In an ideal lens, the plane of focus would be flat. “Field curvature” is what happens when the focal plane isn't actually a plane, but a parabola.
The easiest way to understand this is to see a test shot, so I tried taking one with the LLL 35AA, which is known to have pronounced field curvature. The result surprised me.
Light Lens Lab 35mm Double-Aspherical.
If you zoom in and pixel-peep, you can see that the focus is on the closest two lines of that page in middle. To the sides, the area in-focus has curved forward to the big E. But the field curvature of this lens isn't just that the focus curves forwards towards the edges. The edges of the frame have more depth-of-field than the center.
I guess the real lesson is, check the field curvature of your lens yourself.
Adjusting for field curvature isn't hard, but it does require being aware of it. The focus should be adjusted closer if the rangefinder is being used. Or just use LiveView, if it matters.
Many compositions look fine despite an imperfectly-focused subject.
Voigtländer 50/2 APO Lanthar.
Voigtländer 50/2 APO Lanthar.
Canon R5, Laowa Argus 28/1.2.
How I came from Canon to Leica, and finally learned to live with GAS
When I started taking photography as a serious interest, I'd actually gotten a Canon as my first camera. If you've read any of the other things I've written, you'd also have some idea that
It was actually not for happy reasons that I took up photography. I'd actually completely given up on "artistic" pursuits and the "creative process" after everything I'd been through in the Bay Area. Just before leaving, I'd gotten myself a fancy camera (the Canon R5 used for these samples) and relegated myself to old-man life, snapping pointless scrapbook pictures of all the places I'd go, traveling further north, after I'd resettled myself in Canada (yes, really).
Of course, the creepy dance stuff wouldn't just let me go, and it followed me there. When I looked for meetups to find new friends in, the organizer of the most promising one turned out to be an old “Nikon” guy who wouldn't stop ragging on the way I'd do photography (among other things). I guess some part of me couldn't stop trying to do things artistically. I don't care to go into details, but the “debates” we had over gear were my first hiccup with my new hobby. The image quality of a great camera is great, but when that was all I was leaning on, it also got same-old and boring surprisingly pretty quickly. And that was when GAS starts showing its face.
I'd never treated myself to such a nice toy before, so my reaction to this newfound experience was mixed. I got new lenses, but, I also fell back on something else I knew and enjoyed: Finding something in the experience of seeing, and not merely just capturing a photo. I still biased towards letting the photos come from the experience of moving through the world, for which my shots did turn out like a scrapbook of my diddling old-man travels. This attracted still-more flak from Grumpy Meetup Organizer, amongst others.
The harassment didn't just come from folks in the PNW, where I lived. It came at me from work as well, and one particular coworker (who used to do Lindy) said something along the lines of, “don't spend all of your disposable income on camera gear, such that you can't travel anymore.”
On the surface, this was actually excellent advice. It's too bad it was so laced with psychological poison that I'd ignore it (at least initially), but I'll say now that it's indeed true.
This brings me back to the matter of the third-party lenses available for the M-mount. They aren't just cheaper substitutes for Leica gear. They are legit in their own right, and they'll get you going so you can get to the fun part of photography: The experience of seeing, and the experience of being in the world. So, who cares if your pics are a bit scrapbookey, if they bring you joy, and who cares if the lenses aren't all made by Leica?
The newcomers to the M-mount happen to mostly be China-based companies, and some of them have unique offerings of their own. There's some cultural pride I must admit to, because these new companies have gone beyond copying. Rather than just being starter gear, their lenses make a niche for themselves so you'd still use them even after you'd finally saved up for an APO Summicron.
All the same, it takes time to get used to each lens, to acclimate to its focus throw, the positioning of its rings, its field curvature, out-of-focus transitions, et cetera. In life, we ultimately have to choose the person we want to be with forever. Camera lenses aren't quite so exclusive, but I think that at some point, we do have to choose.
As things were, I didn't reject what the coworker said outright. I'd merely had no interest in traveling farther until I'd settled down in Vancouver, and then, in New York. At some point, the heckling and harassment got bad enough that I called it all in. The usual suspects gloated about it because they're nice people like that. I think the particular dance crowd I used to be around had always imagined that if it didn't work out in New York either, so that I'd have to travel again — to be their wandering intellectual — it'd have to be back to California, and Portland, because of course it was all about them, and of course the only options in the entire fucking world would be to go back to them.
Things didn't turn out that way. Among other things, life for many of us 华人 has gotten worse in the USA. Sinophobia has gotten worse. So now, folks can't stop trying to poison-pill China, so that I still can't leave. I really can't make up all the things I'd been through, and how much people have kept gaslighting, to try to say that they didn't mean that, or that XYZ didn't actually happen, or, I'm a bad person who doesn't support gay rights, blah blah etc., because I won't go dancing with them. And, of course the other progressives threw their lot in with those folks. They say there's Nazis running the government (is it still safe for anyone to say that? lol), but sure go pick on that one Chinese guy. So that's why I stopped giving a crap about what'll happen to the Western world.
This hasn't the most glorious way to come back into the creative process, or the most glorious way to figure out how to enjoy taking photos. How to reckon with GAS, I had to put together myself, but I did figure it out eventually, and from personal experience, I would say that you can become happy with just the gear you have. It all draws back to the experience of seeing.
It's not like you can't make art with a Canon, by the way. An EOS camera won't be so easy to carry day-to-day, and it'll lack the sublime masochism tactile feel of a manual-focus M. That said, there are artists who use them. Knowing that they do work (because no wedding photographer would use gear that might not), it's best not to read reviews for their kit, and you shouldn't entertain arguments with a certain sort of grumpy old gear bro.
That was ultimately why I got a Leica. There were other much-better reasons for sure. A Leica is a full-frame camera that you can always have with you, a cute little brick that invites the gear people to underestimate it. I was in want of something smaller and less “serious” as an everyday carry. But ultimately, folks kept being assholes because I was out taking pictures instead of dancing — and mobilizing old gatekeeping assholes in particular — so now, they could zing me while I shot with a Leica.
We don't always get into things for the right reasons. I don't recommend this path to anyone. I merely wish that you find yourself in better company than I had. Don't join a dance cult. Don't join a dance cult where the followers are called Brendites, and, don't join any dance cults where everyone's on the spectrum for Borderline Personality Disorder. I guess I will say on their behalf that it's sad they can't handle being left alone. There's never going to be enough people in the world for them, just like how in photography, there's never going to be enough gear in the world. To which point, there are “cults” in photography too, most of them focused on gear. –Most of them. ha ha ha…
In photography, our gear is our only common denominator, across all our ages, skill levels, cultures, and inclinations. And yet, I've come to wonder if that's such a great common denominator, if it's really worth the primacy we've assigned it. Is it a form of avoidance? A way to stick to what's comfortable, what's predictable, to what can be bought? I found that the more I was talking about gear, or thinking about gear, the less that I was actually taking photos, or thinking about places I could go to take more piddling photos. I enjoy shiny new toys just like everyone else, and gear does matter, and yet, it gets so pointless sometimes, so 无聊.
Photography is what happens after we become practiced, after skill and gear cease to matter. Whatever camera we choose, I'd rather hope we'd each found a circle of creatively-minded people, people to take photos with. But there's no need to try too hard. One of the best things about photography that is we can still do it on our own. So don't start any cults. The dancing won't be worth it. It won't be about taking photos anymore.
This page will [hopefully] still be here if you still want to shoot with a Leica.
Don't sell an organ over it.
