Decisions Decisions

[Godfrey]

I agree, this has been a fun discussion. I'm glad Jono started it.

I'm homing in on what I want to keep and what I want to sell too. Now that I have the A7 and the kit of Leica R lenses, it's quite clear to me that given a competent sensor and a decent viewfinder, lenses trump bodies.

While I like the rangefinder experience, the Leica R lenses*on the A7 body produce nicer performance to my eye than the Voigtländer lenses on the M9 body, and I prefer the TTL viewfinder experience for most purposes. Only a few of my M-mount lenses work particularly nicely on the A7, where all my R and Nikkor lenses work beautifully on it. So my plan is to sell the M9 and most of my M-mount lenses other than the ones that work well on the A7 (which seems to be the M-Rokkors and Hektor 135). And since the M-Rokkors are the natural fit to the Leica CL, I'll keep that body and one wider Voigtländer (28 or 21mm), sell off the M4-2 body.

The lens kit i have is biased to the wide end for the A7 (18mm to 180mm EFoV), and the lens kit I have for the E-M1 is nicely biased to the tele end (21mm to 560mm EFoV). And I have just the right compatibility between E-M1 and E-1 to keep the (almost worthless to sell, but delightful to use) E-1 body. The E-M1 is a fantastic shooting kit, particularly when I want speed, responsiveness, auto-focus, etc. Terrific lenses, excellent sensor. If I post PDFs optimized to print to 13x19 inch from both A7 and E-M1, you will NOT be able to tell the difference.

The GXR kit (that I bought the Voigtländers for in the first place) will get sold too. It's a great camera that I've gotten a lot of good photos out of, but in the end I'm happier with the A7 and E-M1.

The Leica X2 is my biggest question mark. It's nice to have a small, fixed lens, auto-mostly camera which makes such nice photos. Question is will I use it enough to be worth keeping it.

I can also likely sell one of the Leicaflex SL bodies and one of the Nikon F bodies. And a whole bunch of much less valuable film cameras. I'll keep the Polaroids and the Hasselblads for the moments when they motivate me (surprisingly often for the Polaroids), and maybe a Minox submini or two. One Robot and the Rollei 35S stay too, for sentimental reasons.

There are inevitably a whole bunch of bags that I'll sell or give away. And a couple of new ones I want to buy.

Decisions, decisions indeed...!

G

"Equipment is transitory. Photographs endure."

 

[gandolfi]

Pah!

You GAS(eous) guys, you're just a load of shilly-shallying prevaricators.

I was at the paint counter at Homebase this afternoon, and overheard two people discussing whether to have their lounge painted in Magnolia, Natural Calico, Mellow Mocha or Barley White. They quickly made up their minds and went for the old favourite Magnolia.

 

[jonoslack]

Pah!

You GAS(eous) guys, you're just a load of shilly-shallying prevaricators.

I was at the paint counter at Homebase this afternoon, and overheard two people discussing whether to have their lounge painted in Magnolia, Natural Calico, Mellow Mocha or Barley White. They quickly made up their minds and went for the old favourite Magnolia.

There should be a REALLY LIKE button!

 

[jonoslack]

Leica M wide angle lenses are truly lovely but the benefits of the rangefinder don't come into play when shooting with wides. Wider than 28mm, you need to choose between the lesser of 2 evils - a cludgy live-view/EVF or external finders.

In my experience, the magic of the rangefinder really only comes into play for 35mm and 50mm lenses.

Hi there
As you say, the real magic of the rangefinder comes into play ........ Actually I'd say at 28mm
As you say, the M wides are truly lovely ....... On an M, but many of them aren't even usable on an A7. If I'm shooting wider than 28 on an M I use the rangefinder for focusing, and on the rare occasions I don't understand the field of view I'll use live view for framing. But I don't have a problem with externL finders either.

..... In a nutshell, for 28mm and longer there is the magic of the rangefinder, and for wider than that the M is really the only game in town anyway.

Personally, if I didn't want to shoot with an M I'd sell the M lenses as well

 

[lambert]

Hi there
As you say, the real magic of the rangefinder comes into play ........ Actually I'd say at 28mm
As you say, the M wides are truly lovely ....... On an M, but many of them aren't even usable on an A7. If I'm shooting wider than 28 on an M I use the rangefinder for focusing, and on the rare occasions I don't understand the field of view I'll use live view for framing. But I don't have a problem with externL finders either.

..... In a nutshell, for 28mm and longer there is the magic of the rangefinder, and for wider than that the M is really the only game in town anyway.

Personally, if I didn't want to shoot with an M I'd sell the M lenses as well

You must have a flatter eyeball than me

With a 28mm, I don't see anything outside the frame-lines and find I need to scan around the frame in order to frame with any level of accuracy.

 

[scott kirkpatrick]

With a 28mm, I don't see anything outside the frame-lines and find I need to scan around the frame in order to frame with any level of accuracy.

I keep the other eye open to see outside the frame lines at 28mm. I agree with Jono's point that external viewfinders are comfortable to use, even though the parallax corrections are hard to guess. I often forget to bring the viewfinder when I use a 21mm and it doesn't seem to matter that much.

scott

 

[nostatic]

The Leica X2 is my biggest question mark. It's nice to have a small, fixed lens, auto-mostly camera which makes such nice photos. Question is will I use it enough to be worth keeping it.

This was where I ended up with the RX1r. Brilliant camera, but just big enough to not be pocketable (which the RX100ii is), and lacking the EVF and longer lenses available to the A7(r).

Truth be told, I think I got some of my best shots with my D-Lux4, small sensor and all. But that also was 6 years ago and my eyes were better then - man, really started going downhill after hitting age 50. While I still am comfortable doing the "point and shoot" method, increasingly I'm finding that a good EVF is important. I used to be better able to judge things from the rear screen, now not so much.

I'll have an A7 in my hands again tomorrow, then I'll likely spend the weekend agonizing over whether to keep the A7 or A7r. I know the resolution on the A7r makes me weak in the knees, but for whatever reason I remember enjoying using the A7 a bit more. Silly little things can tip the scales.

If I were a more patient person I would have tried both the EM1 and XT1 a bit longer to see if I could make them work, but the Sony FF files kinda spoiled me. I am pretty happy with the files from the Sony 1" sensor though - but there probably is some automatic rationalization going on with me thinking, "well, it is a point-and-shoot..."

 

[Godfrey]

You must have a flatter eyeball than me

With a 28mm, I don't see anything outside the frame-lines and find I need to scan around the frame in order to frame with any level of accuracy.

I can't see the 28mm framelines at all with my glasses on, and I can't focus with them off. I usually just ignore the framelines entirely when using a 28mm lens and point the camera based on my understanding of the 28mm FoV.

While wider lenses on the M might be delicious, I have no issues whatever with the imaging qualities of the Elmarit-R 24mm, Elmarit-R 19mm, and Nikkor 18mm on the A7. They all work better than a CV Heliar 16/4.5 did on the M, and as well as the older Elmarit-M 24mm f/2.8 did on the M6 and M4-P.

An SLR or the A7 EVF gives me a much easier to work with view for use with a wide lens.

G

 

[jonoslack]

You must have a flatter eyeball than me

It's known generally to be one of my greatest assets

 

[jonoslack]

I can't see the 28mm framelines at all with my glasses on, and I can't focus with them off.
G

I'm much older than you Godfrey. Contact lenses is the answer
Different dioptre in each eye. The 28 Framelines are as clear as anything

 

[scott kirkpatrick]

Cmon, guys. Do you really sell off all that lovely, but not quite perfect gear, or just push it to the back of the closet where it can still call out to you from time to time? Tell me, which one of these should I let go, or wrap up for long term storage?

All four, as well as the M9/SEM21 that took the picture, have been working hard in the past month or two.

scott

M240 with 35/1.4 FLE
E-M1 with Zuiko 11-22
Hasselblad SWC/M with a P45+ back
E-P5 with mZuiko 60/2.8 macro

 

[GrahamWelland]

I'm with Scott - sell NOTHING and keep it ALL!!! Sellers remorse is terrible and every dog has his day. :thumbs:



Scott: keep the M and the SWC/M

 

[Godfrey]

I'm much older than you Godfrey. Contact lenses is the answer
Different dioptre in each eye. The 28 Framelines are as clear as anything

Please define "much" ... It'll make me feel good. ;-)

I haven't as yet been able to deal with contact lenses. Tried several times. Either my vision gets worse or my eyes complain by going dry.

G

 

[Godfrey]

Cmon, guys. Do you really sell off all that lovely, but not quite perfect gear, or just push it to the back of the closet where it can still call out to you from time to time? Tell me, which one of these should I let go, or wrap up for long term storage?

All four, as well as the M9/SEM21 that took the picture, have been working hard in the past month or two.

I don't know about that odd looking one in the middle. I didn't see it in your descriptions...

G

 

[nostatic]

I don't know about that odd looking one in the middle. I didn't see it in your descriptions...

G

It is a prototype Rubic's OrigamiCam. The odd thing is that it only shoots B&W...

 

[iiiNelson]

I'll have an A7 in my hands again tomorrow, then I'll likely spend the weekend agonizing over whether to keep the A7 or A7r. I know the resolution on the A7r makes me weak in the knees, but for whatever reason I remember enjoying using the A7 a bit more. Silly little things can tip the scales.

Keep them both... They both have their strengths and compliment each other.

 

[scott kirkpatrick]

I don't know about that odd looking one in the middle. I didn't see it in your descriptions...

G

It's a Hasselblad MarsRover DekatesseraCam, product of the new owners.

scott

 

[Jack]

Anyway - I wouldn't dream of selling the M camera - because it's my favourite squeeze.

Seriously, then why did you include it in the dilemma discussion to begin with? Seems there are really then 2 of 3 cameras you need to dump...

 

[Michiel Schierbeek]

Seriously, then why did you include it in the dilemma discussion to begin with? Seems there are really then 2 of 3 cameras you need to dump...

I think I know the answer Jack; it is to emphasize that Leica is king for Jono.
Am I right or am I right

If I were Jono I would sell all three of them and buy the A7r and use it when a clunky shutter doesn't really matter and enjoy the sheer quality of that sensor.

 

[iiiNelson]

I think I know the answer Jack; it is to emphasize that Leica is king for Jono.
Am I right or am I right

If I were Jono I would sell all three of them and buy the A7r and use it when a clunky shutter doesn't really matter and enjoy the sheer quality of that sensor.

I think it was more so people could interject logic/opinion on his future kit based of the shortcoming or lens gaps (perceived or real) the M has.