Talk Me Off the Ledge

[Guy Mancuso]

No argument on the need for a backup strategy and that having a single S2 is very extreme . (and not recommended). The difference in a professional assignment ...is that you have your reputation on the line and a timetable .. Like a location wedding you don t get a “hall pass” and you need the backup ready to go . Same for a commercial shoot.

On this assignment he has money ,time and some invested emotional capital....important but not quite the same .

Personally I would rather have 2 bodies of the same type so that all the gear would have natural backups . (batteries,chargers,cards etc) .

But really he has to make some compromises to pull it off. If he goes with a single S2 ....then he has to assume the risk .

Agreed. Personally for me i would have that little cheap backup body for my DF so if my body went down which is more likely than anything else in my system I would have that but still have a Sony handy on this gig.

 

[Ben Rubinstein]

Can you stick a mamiya mount back on an old 645 Pro or Super? They go for pennies these days if an AFD or AFDII are too expensive.

 

[Jack]

No, needs to be an AFD.

 

[JPlomley]

Just an update everyone, an S2 and 35mm is on the way...

The S2 blog went live today:

http://blog.leica-camera.com/guest-...in-national-forest-and-olympic-national-park/

Many thanks again to everyone that took the time to post feedback. I ended up keeping one M9 and 21/35/50 M lenses. Hopefully, 2012 will see the addition of an M10, but for now, all my analogue M's are gone

 

[Shashin]

Jeffry, thanks for the update--it seems your landing was soft. And thanks for your blog article.

 

[JPlomley]

Cheers Shashin. Glad you enjoyed the blog....the adventure now begins.

 

[David K]

Looks like you got talked off the ledge all right... by someone down below Best of luck with the new kit.

 

[JPlomley]

Thanks David. I'll be sure to post some images here at GetDPI once I have some stick time with the system. It's been a long 13 months since my initial evaluation so will have some re-learning to do.

 

[PeterA]

Congratulations on your new device Jeff - I will be interested to see how you use it.

Pete

 

[JPlomley]

Thanks Pete. After going through the S2 image posts here at GetDPI, I'm chomping at the bit to get my hands on that puppy again. I predict a long and prosperous love affair. Just keeping my fingers crossed they launch the 24mm in early 2012. Otherwise, I will need to learn the art of stitching.

 

[tom in mpls]

My interpretation of the general drift in this thread: don't buy an S2 unless you can afford 2 bodies. Ouch!

 

[fotografz]

My interpretation of the general drift in this thread: don't buy an S2 unless you can afford 2 bodies. Ouch!

Read the thread again. The general advice was to NOT sell everything to get a S2 as the OP was considering ... that it is never wise to go on assignment with one camera no matter what camera. As a result, the OP did get the S2 and did keep his Leica M9 and three lenses.

Not very many MFD users have two of them. I have one H4D/60 not two. Granted, if it goes down, I have a S2P to back it up, if that goes down, I have a Sony A900 or M9.

However, I do not travel with all this stuff ... whatever I choose to take, I usually do exactly as the OP plans ... a M9 and two or three lenses. I just went back East to do a bunch of family photos with the S2 kit and small M9 kit and never even touched the M9.

BTW, on a related note:

I sent my S2P in to fix an accident that was my fault ... I dropped the box off at FedEx at 2:30PM ... at 9:05AM the next morning a S2P loaner was delivered to my door. I left to go East the next day. Hard to beat that unless you live near a rental house.

-Marc

 

[tom in mpls]

No, I didn't say the OP is advised to sell everything. Franky, I don't know what OP should do. However the message I am getting is that if you buy an S2 and want to have backup, get a second body. I assume that few professional photographers would see it as a wise expenditure, though. My point is only that everybody is talking about how you're going to have backup. Lots of different answers, but they all involve lugging along a second system. This seems to be a serious issue with the S2 because with any other system a backup body won't break the bank.

Or another way of putting it, there is lots of advice here for having a backup system, with the tacit awareness that the best approach, that being a second body, is a financial back breaker. "Since a backup body is a nonstarter, what's a person do do for backup?"

My initial reply was a bit tongue in cheek, as the pricing of the S system is causing such havoc amongst those who want to buy or already own one. It looks like such a lovely system, and is so much simpler than the other MFD systems, but I must enjoy the S2 only vicariously.

 

[stephengilbert]

You cannot make tongue in cheek comments about Leica. They will not be found to be amusing.