Leica, Two Months In

I've had the new camera for a couple of months now. Yes, the camera is too expensive for a camera. The lenses are expensive, but honestly worth it.So, what's my take on it?While this is one of the most spendy bits of kit I've ever purchased I think it's one of the best purchases I've made.The rationale comes in a few completely different ways:

• The camera that you have with you is much better than the camera you don't have with you
• It doesn't look like a "professional" camera -- that is it's not a big and intimidating SLR
• The lenses... oh the lenses... they are like butter in terms of the image quality
• Forces me to think more
• Composition

I've been carrying the rig around in a leather bag I got for the task. It looks like a hipster murse. I'm OK with that. Simply having the camera around lets me get shots I wouldn't have before. When I point the camera at someone they tend not to flinch as much since it looks like a small, old camera.The lenses will get their own post.  :-)Manual focus has lost me a few shots that I would have certainly gotten with an autofocus. But I've also gotten shots that would have been much harder with autofocus -- reflections being a key one. I don't have a program mode -- the best the camera can do is aperture priority. This isn't an issue to me at all since I've been shooting like that with my Canon gear for years.An unexpected thing that came up for me is that I find that I hold the camera more level than my SLR. I've been composing the shots better too. I'm attributing this to the fixed focal length viewfinder, nominally 28mm. Seeing more than the picture that will be taken lets me anticipate shots a bit better too.