A guilty pleasure is reading other peoples’ multi-thousand word reviews on Leica cameras. From today: Fujifilm to Leica which goes into detail in rationalizing buying an M11.

I hate that I love these cameras. At Heroku we had a few vocal Leica users. One went as far as to sell all his equipment to simplify his life on a single Leica rangefinder and lens (an M9). But like the Leica brand itself, the move wasn’t about practicality or technical superiority, it was about romance. Leica doesn’t sell cameras, it sells lifestyles, and fans do 80% of the work for them. See also sh*t Leica photographers say.

Years later I’d pick up a Q, an amazing camera. The best that Leica’s ever produced. But once you’ve dipped your toes in, you’re forever haunted by the siren call of the M-series.

M cameras are a rip off ($9k for an M11 body + $6k for a lens). Everybody knows they’re a rip off. No honest person even tries to argue they’re not a rip off. But they’re well-designed, and again, supremely romantic.

I check in every so often, and luckily, have held the line. Besides the price tag:

• Rangefinders were always questionable, but EVFs made them obsolete. This might be debatable, except we have proof that Leica knows it too. The camera doesn’t come with an EVF, but Leica won’t hesitate to sell you one. For $750.

• $15k. Not weather sealed.

• Questionable software. Slow start up time.

On the plus side, the M11 did away with the bottom plate, a feature that’d been left in until the M10 for historical reasons, but completely impractical in every way. You can’t beat full frame in a body that size, or the minimalist controls.

Leica must send $100M/yr Fuji’s way to keep cameras on APS-C and with at least six unnecessary dials each. It’s the only explanation for such magnanimity in staying out of the competition.