[Leica] Zen paradox camera lust

[mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)]

Had you gone for a 1.5 crop instead of a 2 times around the time you got the
Panasonic some of your low light problems would lessoned.
This week we see a major minor price drop in 1x crop which is what night
shooting is all about or indoors... Concert shooting and rehearsal shooting.
And that's the Nikon D600 going for an even $1999.99
If you could swing that your low light issues would be over. You'd be
getting detail in an ebony fretboard at midnight in a coal mine. With your
eyes closed.



Mark William Rabiner


> From: "Peter A. Klein" <pklein at threshinc.com>
> Reply-To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
> Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2012 01:05:35 -0700
> To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>, <olympus at 
> thomasclausen.net>
> Subject: [Leica] Zen paradox camera lust
> 
> Whenever I think about the current camera situation, my brain goes into
> an endless loop.
> 
> I love my M8.  Except for the fact that I'd like it to render at ISO
> 3200 or 6400 the way it does at 640. So I keep thinking about getting
> another camera to use for low light.  And I'd like a better "other
> camera" than my current Panny G1, which is still viable but showing its
> age. The problem is, everything else out there would require me to
> sacrifice things I don't want to give up, or has a deal-breaker aspect.
> I'm really not an SLR person except for occasional long-lens work, so
> that simplifies things a bit. But the other things I want are
> distributed among several cameras.
> 
> Now Leica comes out with the "M," which checks most of the boxes. That
> is, assuming the sensor is on par with the other cameras with that
> wonderful current Sony sensor.  And that there are no major problems
> discovered once it meets the real world.  But it costs more than I can
> reasonably spend, and that's without the EVF and adapters that would
> make it a one-camera solution.
> 
> Now, I gotta tell you.  I did an informal shootout with a friend who has
> an Olympus OM-D EM-5, and I am *very* impressed with that little Oly. At
> ISO 200, using the Panny 20/1.7, the image quality is in the same
> ballpark as the M8 with 35/1.4 ASPH. I know that sounds like heresy, but
> that's what my eyes are telling me. At ISO 3200, the OM-D's IQ is not
> much less than the M8 at 640.  And it, too is a camera that checks most
> of my boxes. I put some Olympus OM and Leica lenses on it via adapters.
> Me like.  Image stabilization... gooooood.
> 
> On the bad side, it's too tiny for my big paws, and the user interface
> is menu purgatory. Though it does have enough discrete controls to set
> it up to operate like a real camera. But it isn't a rangefinder, it's a
> computer with Japanese Zen paradox soft buttons. Still, it autofocuses
> fast, and a 20/1.7 plus 45/1.8 makes a small, sweet package with very
> good IQ.
> 
> And now the Fuji X-Pro-1 got a firmware fix which might just merit a
> second look. And some of the work I've seen with the MM makes me lust
> for that.
> 
> I'm confused again.  I think I'll go practice my bassoon. At least it's
> paid for.
> 
> (Am I making any sense at all?)
> 
> --Peter
> 
> 
> 
> 
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