While all mirrorless cameras and DSLRs offer manual exposure controls, and some higher-end compact cameras too, they don’t all make it easy. So this guide is designed to highlight some of the camera features and designs you should look for if you want to reconnect with manual exposure techniques.
Leica
Leica is one of the best known prestige brands in photography. It has been making its legendary Leica M rangefinder cameras and lenses for decades but has kept them up to date with the latest digital technologies. Leica also makes compact digital cameras and professional/expert mirrorless cameras in association with Panasonic.
The Leica M EV1 is a Leica M with an EVF – SACRILEGE!
For those who don’t know, Leica M rangefinders are breed apart, a throwback to a camera design abandoned years ago by every other maker and about as far as you can get from a modern mirrorless camera. And yet, at a stroke, the Leica M EV1 has closed that gap and brought the Leica M design right up to date. So that’s got to be good, right? Well, not if you are Leica diehard.
Leica Super-Vario-Elmarit-SL 14-24 f/2.8, Super-APO-Summicron-SL 21 f/2
These two new lenses are for Leica’s SL full frame mirrorless cameras. One is a constant-aperture 14-24mm ultra-wide zoom and the other is a fast 21mm prime lens. Both use the L-mount shared by Sigma and Panasonic Lumix S cameras.
How hard can it be to find an all-manual camera with actual DIALS?
We all know that any DSLR or mirrorless camera can offer both manual exposure and manual focus. What I’m actually asking is how many cameras offer these as external controls like old-fashioned film cameras? The answer, depressingly, is almost none.