justalexander
New member
This thread is will probably inflame many readers but I'm talking from my own personal experience.
11 months ago I decided to upgrade my Hasselblad H3DII (28mm, 35mm, 80mm, 50-110mm lenses)
Hasselblad's distributor in Australia is a joke and had been nothing but rude an arrogant since purchasing my H system. To make matters worse, when I asked about testing a H5D 50C WIFI I was told there were non in the country but that I could purchase one and return it if it didn't suit my needs. Apart from RIDICULOUS, I was financing the camera and therefore this wouldn't have been possible.
Phase One appeared was another option and has very good support here in Australia however their 28mm is an old design with mushy corners and so was not suitable given I shoot interiors and architecture and need a good wide angle.
Pentax has the same distributor as Hasselblad and surprise surprise, there were no bodies or lenses in the country to test!
This left Leica... with the promise of, (and I quote) "purely digital camera system (and was) built with the precise needs of professional photographers in mind" combined with "extreme robustness, excellent imaging quality and perfect matching of all its components" I decided to give it a test. I was able to borrow a body and lens and the customer service seemed exceptional.
There were a few quirks and niggles that I thought I would get accustomed to, or that would be ironed out in future firmware releases so I set aside my existing line of Hasselblad lenses and dumped $85,000 on a new Leica system!
The problems began in the first month. The camera is unable to focus accurately. I recently tested the 70mm lens on a black can of deodorant on a white background. In 16 frames the camera returned 6 different distances ranging from 1.5 metres to 10 meters. The actual distance was closer to 3 metres.
The camera has been back to Germany 3 times in 10 months for checking. They assure me it's within technical specifications but I continue to send them examples of out of focus images. They have also advised me the lens barrel markings and LCD distance should not be used to set focus but instead live view should be used in all situations in which focus is critical (I would think for any photographer focus is critical for EVERY image).
Throw in a battery charger that indicated batteries were charged but when I began a job the camera indicated ALL 3 batteries had no charge. I had to leave the shoot to go home and collect my Sony A7RII to complete the job.
Confetti noise, weird blobs on the sensor, a firmware update that crippled live view for 4 weeks and a 30-90 zoom that was mushy in the corners are amongst many other problems.
I'm now trying to terminate the contract and buy something I can rely on but they have so far refused to accept there is a problem with the system saying the camera is operating within technical specifications... Yeah... like the M8 was operating within technical specifications with it's clear IR filter problem.
The number of megapixels and crop (3x4 v 2x3 format) are subjective matters that depend on one's shooting style and the type of job you're shooting. Having a camera you can rely on is CRITICAL regardless of your style or assignment.
When you nail a shot it looks beautiful, but I can't place any faith (or my career) in a camera system so riddled with bugs, brought to you by a camera company more concerned about releasing titanium versions of its Leica Q, Leica M's with ping pong rubber grip and limited edition red coloured M lenses.
I've read many other horror stories so would be keen to hear from other S system users about their own experiences.
11 months ago I decided to upgrade my Hasselblad H3DII (28mm, 35mm, 80mm, 50-110mm lenses)
Hasselblad's distributor in Australia is a joke and had been nothing but rude an arrogant since purchasing my H system. To make matters worse, when I asked about testing a H5D 50C WIFI I was told there were non in the country but that I could purchase one and return it if it didn't suit my needs. Apart from RIDICULOUS, I was financing the camera and therefore this wouldn't have been possible.
Phase One appeared was another option and has very good support here in Australia however their 28mm is an old design with mushy corners and so was not suitable given I shoot interiors and architecture and need a good wide angle.
Pentax has the same distributor as Hasselblad and surprise surprise, there were no bodies or lenses in the country to test!
This left Leica... with the promise of, (and I quote) "purely digital camera system (and was) built with the precise needs of professional photographers in mind" combined with "extreme robustness, excellent imaging quality and perfect matching of all its components" I decided to give it a test. I was able to borrow a body and lens and the customer service seemed exceptional.
There were a few quirks and niggles that I thought I would get accustomed to, or that would be ironed out in future firmware releases so I set aside my existing line of Hasselblad lenses and dumped $85,000 on a new Leica system!
The problems began in the first month. The camera is unable to focus accurately. I recently tested the 70mm lens on a black can of deodorant on a white background. In 16 frames the camera returned 6 different distances ranging from 1.5 metres to 10 meters. The actual distance was closer to 3 metres.
The camera has been back to Germany 3 times in 10 months for checking. They assure me it's within technical specifications but I continue to send them examples of out of focus images. They have also advised me the lens barrel markings and LCD distance should not be used to set focus but instead live view should be used in all situations in which focus is critical (I would think for any photographer focus is critical for EVERY image).
Throw in a battery charger that indicated batteries were charged but when I began a job the camera indicated ALL 3 batteries had no charge. I had to leave the shoot to go home and collect my Sony A7RII to complete the job.
Confetti noise, weird blobs on the sensor, a firmware update that crippled live view for 4 weeks and a 30-90 zoom that was mushy in the corners are amongst many other problems.
I'm now trying to terminate the contract and buy something I can rely on but they have so far refused to accept there is a problem with the system saying the camera is operating within technical specifications... Yeah... like the M8 was operating within technical specifications with it's clear IR filter problem.
The number of megapixels and crop (3x4 v 2x3 format) are subjective matters that depend on one's shooting style and the type of job you're shooting. Having a camera you can rely on is CRITICAL regardless of your style or assignment.
When you nail a shot it looks beautiful, but I can't place any faith (or my career) in a camera system so riddled with bugs, brought to you by a camera company more concerned about releasing titanium versions of its Leica Q, Leica M's with ping pong rubber grip and limited edition red coloured M lenses.
I've read many other horror stories so would be keen to hear from other S system users about their own experiences.