We have been to Maui twice before, so as bucket lists go, Hawaii has been checked off. But Starwood sent an offer for 6 days under $800 with rental car. For that price Maui sounded great, so we cashed in some frequent flyer miles and booked the trip. This year has been exceptionally busy with a lot of business travel while juggling a remodeling project that morphed into a 6 month make-over. We needed a break and sitting on the beach was a good way to close out the year.

Prior to the trip I engaged in some retail therapy and bought a Leica 35mm Summilux-M ASPH FLE, 50mm Summilux-M ASPH and 90mm Summicron-M APO. Leica M lens prices will spike again with the M-240, so I figured buying them now while prices are low made sense. I am buying a M-240 and expect 2013 to be just the M system, so I need to sharpen my M skills. The Maui trip was a good opportunity to get back into the rhythm of using a Leica M. After being away from the Leica M system for about a year, it takes me awhile to adjust back to a rangefinder.

While the Leica M9P kit was the main kit for this trip, the Canon 1Ds Mark III and the 24-105L & 70-300L were packed as well in case the weather turned ugly. Weather proved to be a non-issue, so in hindsight the Canon gear could have stayed home. But both systems were on hand, so I used one kit one day, then the other kit the next day and so on. If I had to take only one camera and lens, the Canon 1Ds Mark III and 24-105L would be the smart choice, but the Leica M9P and 50mm Lux ASPH would probably be enough. Since we have been to Maui two times before, there was not any pressure to get every single possible shot. I went into this trip with the mindset that if a good picture came about, then great. If not, we already have 100’s of pictures from Hawaii, so no big deal.

The Leica 50mm F1.4 Summilux-M ASPH has a nice balance of sharpness and bokeh. The 50mm focal length is fairly versatile, especially in wide open settings like beaches. If traveling to a city like Toronto and planning to walk around in the downtown area, then I would prefer something in the 21-35mm range. As a one lens solution, the 35mm F1.4 Summilux-M ASPH FLE is not as balanced as the 50mm F1.4 Summilux-M ASPH. The 35mm FLE’s wide open sharpness is unbelievably good, but at the consequence of its bokeh. The FLE definitely has potential, I just need to spend alot more time with it.

The Leica M9P has firmware 1.196 loaded and the camera performed flawlessly. During the last 5-6 weeks it has racked about 1000 clicks and has not locked up or lost any images. There is a known firmware bug with discreet mode, so I just do not use discreet mode. The 35/50/90 lenses all focused well, so that was a relief. I did not have much time to test the lenses before the trip, so there I was concerned about focus accuracy. Bringing the 1Ds Mark III was a “Plan B” if the M9P or lenses were out of calibration.

Summing this all up, what I have today with the Leica M9P is a stable, well-rounded kit. Looking at the processed images, the Mrs. is happy with her pictures. On the whole I am happy, but it could be better. And frankly, my skills could be better too. To my eyes the colors miss the target. Editing color is like pulling on a string - a change at one end effects things at the other end. Fixing a red in one place can skew colors in another place. To work around that, selective editing helps, but too much selective editing leaves evidence and the picture looks disjointed. On the other hand the Leica M9P is a temporary camera until the M-240, so there is no reason to get obsessed with the Leica M9’s color rendition.

With that said, today’s pictures are all from the Leica M9P. The next Gear Talk entry will have the pictures from the 1Ds Mark III.