Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2013/06/27
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I feel that if someone asked me who'd just gone full circle with their M8 most of which by now have become bookends about sliding over to the Mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera made by Fuji. The Fujifilm X-Pro1. I would tell them that they'd be in ok shape. Their results would be for the better not worse. The modern Fuji cropped sensor would blow the old cropped sensor of the M8 out of the water. And need no filtration. As the water was from a very clean source. And point out to the urls of results which pretty much prove the point. Leica glass is great but a much better sensor gets around that advantage. The fuji may have problems with slow AF in low light and battery life. People seem to be able to be getting around them. The main issue being that they are not going down a format and expecting everything to be fine and dandy. If someone asked me though who'd just gone full circle with their M9 though about sliding over to the Mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera made by Fuji and thereby going down a format and using a consumer marketed camera instead of Leica premium gear I'd tell them they should not be surprised if the quality of their output would not stay the same or go up. But go down. I would tell them to sell their Chevy Nova and get a year bus pass and get the M240 from Leica. And I don't even own a Chevy Nova. My girlfriend did and I drove hers on occasion. On the highway. In St. Louis. In the '70's On 6/26/13 7:29 PM, "Tina Manley" <images at comporium.net> wrote: > I think if I were buying today I would look at photos made by photographers > using Leicas and photographers using disposable Fujis and come to the same > conclusion I did 40 years ago. > > Tina > > > On Wed, Jun 26, 2013 at 7:23 PM, John McMaster <john at mcmaster.co.nz> > wrote: > >> Agreed, but that is with hindsight. >> >> If you were buying now, with no experience of Leica, could you justify the >> cost over half a dozen 'disposable' Fujis? We are talking a couple of >> cameras and a few lenses so somewhere over 20K USD initial investment.... >> >> john >> ________________________________________ >> >> >> I also bought a Leica 40 years ago because I knew it would stand up under >> all kinds of conditions that other cameras would not. I still feel that >> is >> true with my digital Leicas. I don't know what the reason is, but I've >> never had a problem with my digital cameras that wasn't fixed immediately >> by Leica. I dunked two M8s in a river, dried them by a fire, and they >> kept >> working. Maybe I'm just lucky when it comes to cameras but I still >> believe >> in Leica. I don't think I could have dunked my Canon 1DMII or 5D in a >> river and still had them work. I love the simplicity of the Leica menus, >> buttons and knobs that I can use in the dark by feel. I love rangefinder >> focusing. I love my old Leica lenses. I would put up with a lot of >> quirks >> to be able to use my old lenses full frame but I don't have to. I'm a >> happy camper. >> >> Tina >> >> >> On Wed, Jun 26, 2013 at 7:06 PM, Jim Nichols <jhnichols at lighttube.net >>> wrote: >> >>> Hi George, >>> >>> You see things much the way that I do. I bought my first Leica body and >>> lens in 1952, probably much earlier than most on this list. Though the >>> IIIa was made in 1935, it had been serviced and had a new shutter when I >>> got it. Though it definitely needs a CLA, it will make images, reliably, >> to >>> this day. That is what started my appreciation of Leica products. >>> >>> Their digital products seem to be built for a limited lifetime. The two >>> lines are entirely different, as I see them. I have a difficult time >>> "buying into" their current approach to digital camera bodies. >>> >>> Jim Nichols >>> Tullahoma, TN USA >>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "George Lottermoser" < >> imagist3 at mac.com> >>> To: "Leica Users Group" <lug at leica-users.org> >>> Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 5:55 PM >>> Subject: Re: [Leica] Buying Leica..... >>> >>> >>> >>> >>>> On Jun 26, 2013, at 5:25 PM, John McMaster wrote: >>>> >>>> With hindsight I would still go Leica, nothing to touch the lenses for >>>>> different looks and I prefer the simpler operation, but if I had not >> used >>>>> them what would make me spend 'rather a lot' more on Leica than Fuji? >> Does >>>>> 'full frame' or the build quality make enough of a difference for the >> price >>>>> jump to most people? >>>>> >>>> >>>> The piece of this "to Leica or not to Leica" quandary that throws me >>>> is the relatively recent "lack of reliability and maintenance." >>>> For over 30 years I KNEW that my Leicas would stand up to daily use; >>>> be able to be CLA'd and maintained for the duration of my life. >>>> >>>> When the digital R path ended abruptly - doubt set in. >>>> >>>> Recent stories of lack of parts or repair paths for 5 year old cameras >>>> seems totally unacceptable for "any" camera company; >>>> let alone a high end, premium camera company. >>>> >>>> I expected that, what ever its flaws may be, that I could keep my M8 >>>> making photographs for as long as I chose to hang on to it; >>>> just like every other Leica camera that came before it. >>>> >>>> The idea that $7K camera bodies are simply disposable hardware >>>> with a useable life of a two year warranty - feels totally unacceptable >>>> to me. >>>> If not unacceptable - certainly unaffordable - to me. >>>> >>>> I'm coming from that place where the 50 year old Linhof Tech IV >>>> I just sold works every bit as well the day I handed it to Forrest >>>> as the day it left the factory. >>>> >>>> This whole new device, whether computer, camera body, phone >>>> whatever - simply feels quite "wrong." >>>> >>>> I welcome technological advances and their concomitant costs; >>>> while also expecting that if I choose to remain a couple generations >> back; >>>> that high priced hardware continue to perform somewhere close to specs; >>>> and be designed for adjustment back to original specs. >>>> >>>> Regards, >>>> George Lottermoser >>>> george at imagist.com >>>> http://www.imagist.com >>>> http://www.imagist.com/blog >>>> http://www.linkedin.com/in/**imagist < >> http://www.linkedin.com/in/imagist> >>>> >>>> >>>> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> >> > -- Mark William Rabiner Photography http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/lugalrabs/