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I’ve always wondered why no one has put a WATE like lens into one of these cameras... something like a 21 or 24, 28 or 35, and a 40 or 50 in a single body. My hesitation to ever buy any of these sorts of cameras always comes down to the lack of flexibility for system camera prices. I find it hard to find the value for myself.
The Leica X Vario is such a camera, albeit a zoom with a very high quality lens that is the equivalent of several discrete prime focal lengths.
The RX1mkII goes for $3800 so I assume it’ll be higher than that. Neither has a SSD HDD or Adobe built in. I really don’t see this coming in below $4500 and $5-7000 doesn’t seem like it’ll be a price too dear for a true limited edition Zeiss camera either.
The X Vario was DOA on account of the slow lens attached for most people. I think a constant f/4 is about as slow as most are willing to accept for a limited mid range zoom. The Q does multiple focal lengths but the 16 and 8 megapixel settings for the crops sort of rules it out for printing large but it’s probably more than adequate for displaying online... the biggest issue though for me is the 28mm focal length - I HATE THAT FOCAL LENGTH. Give me either a 35, 50, or a 20-25mm focal length.The Leica X Vario is such a camera, albeit a zoom with a very high quality lens that is the equivalent of several discrete prime focal lengths.
(BTW: The WATE—aka Tri-Elmar-M 16-18-21mm f/4 ASPH—is a true zoom lens which can be used at in-between focal length settings, unlike the MATE—aka Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50mm f/4 ASPH—which is actually three discrete focal lengths that cannot not be used at intermediate settings. The WATE is only limited to the three focal lengths on the Leica M as a practical matter of how the rangefinder works whereas when I use it on the CL or SL, I can just zoom in and out at will.)
The Leica Q is only a single focal length lens, but Leica provides the versatility of a three focal length lens camera with it by providing 35 and 50 mm crop settings which do not return the full 24 Mpixel resolution of the 28mm setting. Even the 50mm crop setting produces outstanding quality, albeit at lower pixel resolution.
So there are several ways to cut this cake...
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Sure sure sure. I don't like zooms, really, so it's never been a camera I was interested in anyway.
I had exactly this situation when I had a Canon 10D, I think it was, and their L 24-70/2.8 lens. I found it an obnoxiously heavy and ponderous thing to work with. When I looked at the stats of a couple thousand frames, it seemed I was always at 28mm, 50mm, and 70mm. So I sold that lens and bought the 28/1.8, 50/1.4, and 100/2. So much happier to carry just two lenses at one time that way.
Now that setup seems ponderous and heavy to me. The CL with a 28/2.8 and 50/1.4 worked very nicely and is half the size and weight.
The Leica CL bodies in the £300 class are the old film CL bodies from the 1970s:
Yeah I’m genuinely a prime guy myself. I only own one zoom still and that’s the 14-45 on my Panasonic G1. I do think a Tri-Elmer of some sort would be well received on a future Q.Sure sure sure. I don't like zooms, really, so it's never been a camera I was interested in anyway.
Have to say: I've had 20x27 inch prints made with a 5Mpixel camera win awards in exhibitions. So 8Mpixels seems fine to me for a lot of work. But I'm happier with 24Mpixel ... that's a bit more than I ever need, which gives me plenty of overhead.
A Q Vario might be nice, but it will be somewhat bulky (and heavy) if the lens speed is at f/4 or faster, and it's a constant aperture type zoom.
Maybe but that’s where I think a WATE or MATE can be great and not overly large.A Q Vario might be nice, but it will be somewhat bulky (and heavy) if the lens speed is at f/4 or faster, and it's a constant aperture type zoom.
You tend to print larger (way larger in some cases) than I do, on average. But both of the exhibition winning prints I mentioned looked plenty sharp, at least to my eye. Neither here nor there, but 24 Mpixel is plenty for what I do.
Tony, you know I have bought so many cameras over the years, from large format film to small format digital, but not one has come close to the magic of the Merrills. So unfortunately, while I think the new ZX1 will be a good camera, perhaps a great camera, it probably wont have the *x* factor that the Merrills had.
Both of those are f/4 lenses and neither is exactly small, nor has servomotor/AF capability. I thought you wanted f/2.8...?
Well not for a zoom. F/4 is probably fine for a zoom. Now for anprime I’d actually prefer a f/1.4 but no one is doing that for any brand.
Voigtländer has done a lovely set of f/0.95 primes (12, 17, 25, and 42 mm if I recall correctly) for Micro-FourThirds mount. They're delightful performers, if somewhat bulky, and give you all the focus zone control you could want for that quarter-FF sized format.
If only they covered APS-C format, and then would be available in L-mount.
Yep I really like Voigtlander lenses in general. I used an assortment of Leica, Zeiss, and Voigtlander when I still owned my M9’s. The only M-mount lens I kept was the Voigtlander 35/1.2 Nokton II. I’d expect them to produce FF L-Mount lenses if they made them at all (similar to how they’re doing with Sony and Leica M) but I wouldn’t hold my breath unless L-Mount Consortium opens up lens production to other companies. I’d be more likely to buy a selection of Zeiss Loxia and/or Voigtlander lenses in E-Mount if I got the itch for manual primes again though. The 40/1.2 Nokton is on my short list of general all purpose lenses to get still eventually.Voigtländer has done a lovely set of f/0.95 primes (12, 17, 25, and 42 mm if I recall correctly) for Micro-FourThirds mount. They're delightful performers, if somewhat bulky, and give you all the focus zone control you could want for that quarter-FF sized format.
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