I was an early adopter of the Leica SL system, getting the Typ 601 back in late 2015, but I was a later adopter of the Leica M EV1, as it was released almost a year ago and was in testing before that. A large difference for me has been my expectation when making new images.
Expectations
When I first picked up the SL camera, I expected to look through the EVF, be WOW’d, and see everything I was photographing in real time. While it has certainly come a far way into 2026, I didn’t think as much about the WOW when I started this journey.
Instead, I thought about where I’ve come from with the Leica M system. I used other systems prior to fully diving into a Leica M6 ttl in 2007. I had no expectations of the rangefinder experience as I shot my first roll of film that pre-dawn early August morning at Looking Glass Falls nestled in Pisgah National Forest. But the results on those freshly developed black-and-white negatives WOW’d me into submission.
My experiences with Leica were exponentially exciting as I merged two patches together and clicked the shutter over and over. The anticipation of pulling a wet roll of negatives out of my steel Nikor tanks and hanging them up in my doorway clipped to an old metal hanger made the patience of development test me to my core.
Today, after almost 20 years and thousands of rolls of film, I still get excited holding a Leica M film body in my hands and pressing the shutter. The feeling has not waned, although my patience in developing film is much easier to extract than it first was.
My Feeling on the EV1 Preview
It took me this long to connect the dots between my rangefinder experience and this EVF experience. I have come to realize that the Leica M EV1 gives me the same WOW of anticipation as I look through the viewfinder.
The EVF experience is much more refined than the Leica SL type 601 from over a decade ago, yet it is also reminiscent of the first time I held a rangefinder and began shooting images. The excitement of pulling the EV1 out of the bag to capture something I see or that I believe is about to happen carries the same weight as that day at the waterfall. Yet, the joy of seeing the image right away? Priceless!
I believe my experience through the EVF is due in large part to the way I have customized the camera settings. For one thing, I have set the exposure preview to Permanent after exploring all three settings (which I wrote about this week). After all, why confuse my brain with changing levels of brightness and having to think about where my exposure might end up? Why not instead enjoy the moment, and let my creativity run so my expectations can be fulfilled, making images that I am passionate about.
Letting go and simply taking photographs can let you explore different ways to capture the same subjects, over and over. I also found an unexpected benefit of the EVF this week over the rangefinder I love. If I had spent more time thinking and less time making images, I probably would have figured the same thing out, but at the cost of missing photographs. Using is believing and so much more rewarding!
Take a look at photographs you’ve made this week. Try to remember how you felt when you pressed the shutter. What were your expectations? I’d love to hear about them.
