Leica M EV1 Review

For seventy years the point of a Leica M was the rangefinder, the little superimposed patch you align by hand, and the whole cult of the thing grew from that ritual. The M EV1 deletes it. In its place is a 5.76 million dot electronic viewfinder, and around it the same 60 megapixel sensor, Maestro III processor and manual focus M mount as the M11. This is the most divisive camera Leica has made in a decade, and the argument is entirely about the finder.

What the viewfinder gives you is honesty. You see exposure, white balance and depth of field before you press, you can focus any M lens by magnification and peaking rather than guessing a patch, and framing is finally what the sensor actually records rather than a bright line approximation. What it takes away is the reason many people bought an M at all, the optical view of the world outside the frame and the mechanical romance, and no spec sheet settles that trade.

The files are sublime, as M11 files are, and the build is the usual jewellery. But there is no autofocus and no video, focusing is still a manual act of will, and the price is 8,995 dollars for a camera defined by what it refuses to do. As a tool it is more capable than any rangefinder M. As an object of desire it is picking a fight with its own audience. Grade it on the pictures and it soars; grade it on value and sanity and it lands hard.