Camera Test: Leica M9

Very Simple Control

In fact, Leica's rangefinders are made for discreet shooting. The all-metal body, though quite heavy for its size, is tough and extremely well damped against noise and vibration. The metalbladed shutter, designed to be quiet, becomes nothing more than a subtle click. And if you have the Quiet Shutter feature enabled, the M9 won't recock the shutter until you release the button-since that's the noisiest part of the process, you can shoot surreptitiously.

Furthermore, the rest of the camera's operation is as simple as it can be. There's only one metering option: heavily centerweighted. You must change the aperture manually by using the aperture ring on the lens- and you'll already have a hand there for focusing.

You can set the shutter speed using a dial atop the camera, next to the shutter release, or let the camera do it, in aperture-priority autoexposure mode.

The info button on the camera back displays remaining battery power as percentages and remaining memory card capacity as a horizontal bar and in number of pictures remaining.

The Set button lets you change white balance, image size and quality, and exposure compensation and bracketing. ISO has a dedicated button that must be held down while you turn the rear scroll wheel to set it.

Likewise, you have to press the Set button to enter the basic-settings menu, then again to access the setting you want to change, and then a third time to lock in your change-slightly cumbersome, but not too bad once you get used to it. We had no trouble changing our settings quickly after an hour of familiarizing ourselves with the camera.