Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/09/12
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]2006-09-12-19:31:33 Eric Korenman: > So we've essential got DMR performance in an M body. > Why is everyone so excited about the M8 but the DMR seems to generate > sneers? I can only speak for myself, but... I really can't stand SLRs. Using one feels to me like having a bad case of tunnel vision -- I like using a rangefinder, looking through what feels like a window with some framelines hanging there, but with some room around the framelines to give you enough context to be sure you're really choosing the right rectangle to chop out of the world and record, context, and so you can see who's about to blunder into your frame. That's actually one of the positive things about the DMR, though -- instead of masking the viewfinder to the digital sensor size, they supply a groundglass with... framelines! So I actually don't sneer at the DMR/R[89] - for an SLR. But I don't really like SLRs so much. Even though I use them because they're currently the most thoroughly competent digital cameras, and I've quaffed the digital Kool-Aid. Now... the DMR is a little slow to work with (doesn't wind nearly as fast as a film R with motor, or any decent Canon; writes to the card slowly and doesn't have a gigantic buffer), and gets much noisier at high ISOs than, well... a Canon. But in good light, with nice Leica glass, the pictures can be more gorgeous than I've seen from my Canonses. I'd love to be able to do that with a proper, little, quick, nestles-in-my-hand, doesn't-make-people-duck-and-cover rangefinder. I miss the feel of one in my hand and at my eye. But as for people sneering at the DMR -- there are lots of digital SLRs, several of them very very good, and better in some practical ways than the R/DMR lashup. So I can see why the DMR hasn't been a huge barnburner. > I'd love to have an M8 too, but 10MP P&S digitals (from Panasonic with > Leica > glass!) are available at the $600 price point. Yeah, point-N-shoots. Remember how I said I dislike SLRs? I hate point-n-shoots all the more. Once again, that hasn't kept me from keeping one in a pocket or bag, but... you just don't know where the damned thing has focussed, until sometime after the photo moment is long gone. With a rangefinder, you know you've focussed on that person's eyeball your own damn' self. With an SLR, manual or AF, you see the image snap into focus. With a P&S, you put a little box or circle someplace, push the button, and pray that the silly thing has actually focussed on what you wanted it to focus on, because you'll never know 'til you look at the pictures if it maybe chose to render a perfect image of the wall 20 feet behind the blurry outlines of the people you wanted to photograph. I spent years being tortured by just how neat the Contax G1 and then G2 seemed, knowing I couldn't buy them because they're point'n'shoots, and it'd be a waste of money because I'd never be quite happy with them, because, well, point'n'shoots fundamentally suck. -Jeff