Quite frankly, there’s no Leica worthy of the hype, and they’re probably all overrated to some degree.... Give me a review written by Erwitt, Winogrand, or Arbus and let’s see how thy differ from the fanboy reviews. I’d bet they’d be wildly different tones.
I'm not sure what Arbus used when she was shooting 35mm, but she did eventually switch to a Rolleiflex, and then a Mamiya C33 before she did her most famous work. I don't know that Erwitt or Winogrand would either have bothered wasting time writing a review, they were far too busy actually making photos, but they both voted for Leica, absolutely and most definitely--they both used them throughout their careers, almost or entirely exclusively. In fact, Winogrand used *his* Leica so much, it ended up looking like this:
https://www.cameraquest.com/LeicaM4G.htm. (I've never seen another camera with the sprocket holes worn into the pressure plate.) Given how prolific he was shooting film, I have no doubt he'd have used something else if the Leica didn't give him exactly what he wanted for tens of thousands of rolls. That's a hell of a review right there.
The whole point to me is that cameras are like musical instruments, particularly guitars: you use the one that will give you the "feel" you want, both while playing it and in terms of the output. For some songs, a Martin D-28 might give you the feel you want, where on another song, only a Tele will do. And a Fender Jazzmaster may give you the exact sound you want, but my understanding is that some people find them a bit of a b**ch to play. So yeah, sometimes your Sony A7III will be what you want to use, and others only an M2 with a collapsible Summicron will give you the feel you want. Some guitars are more fun to play, some cameras are more fun to shoot--and stay the hell out of your way while you're doing so. And in both cases, you have to be the master of your instrument--you better know how to *play* it if you want it to produce the results you desire. You might have the most expensive axe/camera in the neighbourhood, but if you don't know how to play it, you're gonna make crap. Conversely, someone who knows how to work a fretboard/camera can take a cheap, basic tool and make sweet music/images with it.
One other thing, speaking of photographers who can write: Diane Arbus was a brilliant writer (as was her brother, who won a Pulitzer Prize for poetry)--and she apparently was an extremely talented painter, too, although she abandoned that in her teens. Eugene Richards is a hell of a writer, too--his short captions for some of his photos are utterly heartbreaking. Gordon Parks, a truly extraordinary human being, could certainly wield a pen superbly capably as well.
