Tag: Photography

The end of my journey with Leica

Man walking out of a tunnel into the light. And this is the end of my journey with Leica.
Bye bye Leica | Nuremberg | 2025

With the Leica finally back in my hands after this long and frustrating ordeal, there was only one decision left to make. And it was an easy one.

I will sell the SL2-S.

Not because I need the money. Not because I lack appreciation for the legacy of the Leica brand. But because I simply cannot trust this camera—or this company—ever again. The repeated failure of the SL2-S, the arrogant and dismissive handling of my case by Leica’s customer service, and the condescending physics lecture that came with my repair invoice have sealed my decision. I refuse to own a camera that I feel the need to constantly second-guess. A camera that, despite its premium price and supposed professional-grade engineering, has failed me twice in critical moments. A camera that has left me with more frustration than joy.

And with that, I will leave Leica behind. For good.

I have been a passionate photographer for years, and in that time, I have used cameras from various brands—Nikon, Fujifilm, Olympus—without ever experiencing this level of unreliability and poor service. Those cameras have been true workhorses, tools I could count on no matter the conditions. I never had to worry about them suddenly failing in the middle of a vacation, a client shoot, or an important moment. I never had to brace myself for a repair saga that dragged on for months, only to be met with corporate gaslighting.

Leica likes to present itself as a brand of excellence, a brand built on heritage, craftsmanship, and a close relationship with its customers. My experience has been the exact opposite. What I’ve encountered is a company that refuses to take responsibility for repeated hardware failures, treats its customers with skepticism rather than support, and hides behind technical jargon instead of standing behind the reliability of its products.

The SL2-S is now repaired, but I will never put my trust in it again. And I will certainly never buy another Leica camera. Some brands earn their reputation. Others merely trade on nostalgia while failing to live up to it.

Leica, for me, belongs firmly in the latter category. And this is the end of my journey with Leica.

Have a great Sunday

Marcus

Related Posts:

My Leica failed me

The Leica failed me – AGAIN

The End is Near

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Ice Ice Baby

Ice skating little boy
Ice Ice Baby | Nuremberg | 2025

Walking into the city the other day, I was quite surprised to see an ice skating rink on the Main Square in Nuremberg’s Old Town. And many people, old and young, obviously enjoying themselves. An awesome opportunity for some low light street photography. Ice Ice Baby….

Continue reading “Ice Ice Baby” →
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The Leica failed me – AGAIN

Leica SL2-S Shutter Failure
Leica SL2-S Shutter Failure

The last picture I took with my Leica SL2-S is not a pretty one. After working flawlessly at the start of our summer vacation in Brittany last August, my expensive premium German mirrorless full frame camera, from one exposure to the next, started behaving strangely again, giving me the shivers when I noticed. Because it was exact the same behavior the SL2-S showed before failing me at the second day of our Israel vacation in 2022, when the camera was brand new. With a defect of the electronic shutter. You can read about my frustrations with Leica and its customer service back then here and here.

The camera was fixed, but I never used it with the same confidence as my Nikons, Fujis and Olympus cameras. There was always a bad feeling. That it could fail me again. From one moment to the other, as before. So when on vacation, or on a photography gig, I always felt I had to carry a second camera as a backup. This is why in France I also had my trusted workhorse Olympus OM-D E-M1X with me. Which was good. Because it has happened again. The exact same error. The Leica failed me – AGAIN!

But at least I got a free physics lesson out of it. The rest was expensive….

For the full saga between me and the Leica customer service in the past 4 months following the renewed hardware failure, continue after the jump….

Continue reading “The Leica failed me – AGAIN” →
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The End is Near

a skeleton in the middle of people - the end is near
1/60 sec | f/2.8| ISO 6400 | 70mm

No, the world will not end tomorrow. Also the reaper is (hopefully) not looking over my shoulder. Nothing nearly as dramatic. But there is change ahead, after (yet another) big emotional disappointment. I’m really loyal to the brands I use. But there are limits. And I don’t like to be taken for a fool. So the end is near.

Image taken with the Leica SL2-S and the Vario-Elmarit-SL 1:2.8/24-70 ASPH. Post-processing in Lightroom Classic.

Have a great Saturday

Marcus

Related Posts:

My Leica failed me

The Leica is back

My photographic journey 2022

Night Vision Lens

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Visual Push-Ups for January 18, 2025

Forest weeds
1/80 sec | f/8 | ISO 3200 | 200mm

Finally weekend! Fighting a little cold, I took it easy all day. But late afternoon, I felt an itch to go outside. And do some photography. So I grabbed my camera and went for a little walk into the woods around our house. And do my visual push-ups for January 18, 2025 . Click below to join me on my little photographic exercise…..

Continue reading “Visual Push-Ups for January 18, 2025” →
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Divine Observation

Under divine bbservation are visitors to Palazzo Angelo Giovanni Spinola in Genoas Via Garibaldi
1/8 sec | f/5.3 | ISO 1600 | 70mm

Visitors of Palazzo Angelo Giovanni Spinola are under divine observation by this antique marble statue of a roman god. The palace of a Genovese noble man was completed in 1576 and is part of the UNESCO World Heritage, together with the other magnificent palaces in Genoa’s Via Garibaldi.

I took this street photograph with the Fuji X-T2 and the Fujinon XF18-135mm F3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR. RAW processing and conversion to high contrast monochrome in Lightroom Classic. 

If you are looking for tips and inspirations around street photography, check out my free Learning Center. 

Have a great Sunday

Marcus

Related Posts:

Street Photography Quick Tip 9 – Motion Blur

Street Photography Quick Tip 6 – Shoot in a station

Instant Inspiration (3) – Silhouettes

Instant Inspiration (4) – Juxtaposition

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Liguria Explored – Bellissimi

Bellissimi Church and Balloon Mural
Bellissimi | Liguria | 2025

As promised in my last post, today I will take you along on a walk through a little village in the Ligurian Appenin mountains that run along the coast of the Mediterranean. What ties this little mountain village, called Bellissimi, to the balloon vendor I photographed in Genoa’s Porto Antico the other day, are well…balloons. Bellissimi (which means “the most beautiful”) is full of murals of balloons. To see a selection of the artworks, find out why Bellissimi’s claim to fame are balloons, and last but not least see a picture of the four Bellissimi who visited this village, click below for the full story of “Liguria Explored – Bellissimi”

Continue reading “Liguria Explored – Bellissimi” →
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Up

Up | Genoa | 2025

Up was the motto of the day! We went up the map, driving from Genoa north (up the map ) back to Nuremberg. The drive was uneventful, and even going up San Bernardino pass in Switzerland while crossing the Alps was on clear roads under a blue sky through snow capped mountains.

“Up” is also the name of the heartwarming Pixar movie about an elderly widower, Carl Fredricksen, who ties thousands of balloons to his house to fulfill his late wife’s dream of adventure.  Obviously the four balloons of the “balloon man” in Genoa’s Porto Antico are not enough to make him levitate. But the balloons will be the perfect segway into my next post, that will be about a little mountain village on the Ligurian coast that has made balloons its claim to fame.

This street photograph is a snapshot taken with my iPhone 14 Pro with some post processing in Lightroom Classic.

If you are looking for some tips and inspirations around street photography, check out my free Learning Center. 

Have a great Tuesday

Marcus

Related Posts:

Around the World in Twelve Days

Oregon International Air Show (and how I photographed it)

StoNur on the Road – Vintage Propliner

PNW Explored – Olympic Peninsula

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A nightly view of our city

Genoa by Night
Genoa | 2025

Last night, The Significant Other and I have enjoyed a fancy dinner. We’ve cooked the handmade pasta (flavored with Red Beet) that Big Boy has produced as Christmas gift for parents, sister, grandparents, aunts and cousins. It was really yummy. We added some ricotta cheese, lemon zests and olive oil and had a bottle of Barbera d’Asti Riserva to go with it. Sure enough we needed to go for a walk after dinner. It was helped by the fact, that the heavy rain that had plummeted on Genoa all day, had subsided to a light drizzle. Taking the Fuji X-T2 with the Fujinon XF18-135mm F3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR along, we walked over to the nearby Belvedere San Rocco di Principe for a nightly view of our city. Aside from an unobstructed full view of the Old Town and the inner harbor, called Porto Antico, the little Belvedere also features a little wall to put the camera on for the long exposure night shots. For a couple more detailed images and to see our 500 year old lighthouse at work, continue after the jump….

Continue reading “A nightly view of our city” →
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With the Fuji in the Centro Storico

Christmas Decorations in Via San Lorenzo in Genoa's Centro Storico
1/50 sec | f/4.5 | ISO 3200 | 41mm

The Significant Other and I are spending the first days of the year in our “Southern Home” in Genoa. Yesterday afternoon we walked from our place into the historic center to see the exhibition of Genoa born photographer Lisetta Carmi in the Palazzo Ducale (will do a separate post about the exhibition). Her black & white street photography work is really inspiring, and as I was with the Fuji in the Centro Storico, I dialed in the ACROS film simulation for some monochrome shooting of my own. For the resulting images (all jpgs out of the camera) continue after the jump….

Continue reading “With the Fuji in the Centro Storico” →
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This House is on fire

This house is on fire - La Lanterna, the historic lighthouse of Genoa
La Laterna | Genoa | 2024

This house is on fire – as a lighthouse should be. Only that the backlighted illumination of Genoa’s historic lighthouse, La Lanterna, is natural, with the sun setting directly behind the almost 500 year old structure guiding to the entrance of the port of “La Superba”, as Genoa is also known since medieval times. The photo is a throwback to last November, when, during the first days of the month, the sun is setting directly behind the Lanterna, with 77 meters height the tallest lighthouse in the Mediterranean and still the second tallest in Europe.

The Significant Other and I left Austria on New Year’s Day to spend the last days of our Christmas break at our “Southern Home” in Genoa on the Ligurian Coast in Italy, enjoying the perfect weather, as beautiful as on that November day when I captured the lighthouse on fire with my iPhone 14 Pro while strolling along the Porto Antico.

I hope you all had a great start into 2025.

Wish you a great Friday

Marcus

Related Posts:

Genoa from above

It also rains in Genoa

A weekend in La Superba

Luna Park with an iPhone

13

Happy New Year from the Streets of Nuremberg

Happy New Year | Steindorf | 2025

I wish all my friends a blessed, happy, marvelous, successful, beautiful, inspirational, creative, wonderful and healthy 2025. May all your wishes and dreams come true!

Have a great year!

Marcus

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