Leica embraces HDR with beefy AEB on the M9

A very pleasant surprise today in HDR land.  The just announced Leica M9 has very useful AEB settings.  The X1 also received AEB settings, but more limiting.

The M9 has choices of 3, 5 or 7 shots in an AEB sequence with 1/2 EV to 2.0 EV steps between shots.  That is verrrrrrrrrrrrry useful.  I never would have guessed that Leica would have thought to add AEB to their range finder M series.  Very nice indeed.

The X1 has a 3 AEB choice and up to 3.0 EV jumps.  I will say this.  If you are going to be limited to only 3 AEB.  3 EV jumps can be quite useful for some amazingly high DR scenes (mainly interiors with windows).  Generally you will only need to stretch it out to 3.0 EV if shooting an architectural interior and want to pull the windows in along with capturing detail in darker areas inside.  3.0 EV outdoors is not your typical landscape scene, but there area times where more than 2.0 EV steps will be very useful and X1 users will be glad to have the extra range.

I’ll spare you the rest of the specs of the M9 and X1 (and their price tags).  Surf on over to dpreview.com for full specs.