How lucky can one be! A couple of days ago I was given a Leica M9 and the brand new Leica Summilux 35/1.4 Asph (II) to give them a try. I had 23 hours only before I had to return it. I was sort of relaxed, not anticipating that the upcoming experience would drive me into becoming a lottery maniac. To make a long story short: This combo is my dream combo among everything that’s on the market right now. As you already know I like small cameras, cameras smaller than DSLRs. But I’m also a sharpness fanatic – I admit I seem to have a fetish here. Two years ago I was a big fan of the M8 and the old Summilux – at least up to ISO 160, which was the lowest ISO-setting anyway. As reported in other reviews the M9 betters out the M8 in high ISO-performance. It’s still far away from being fantastic, but it’s better and you can go up to ISO 1.250 and still have usable results without necessarily converting your pictures into black & white to justify the noise. This alone makes the M9 a much more versatile package. The fullframe sensor does the rest. A 35mm lens eventually IS a 35mm.
I always felt I could do 80% of my photographs with a bright 35mm equivalent. So the M9 with the new 35 promised to be a worthwhile experience. I knew, I wouldn’t be able to do a comprehensive review from a 23 hours experience. So this is all about first impressions and an evolving love.
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