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A Leica T Review

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Re: A Leica T Review

#61

Post by LeoPanthera »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #59

Allow me to preface this by saying that I currently own four cameras, two digital and two film. My digital cameras are a Fuji X100s and a Fuji X-T1 (I used to have a Canon 5D Mk II, but decided to go all in on mirrorless digital cameras). My film cameras are a Leica M6, and a Hasselblad 501C/M. I use all four cameras on a regular basis, and have made photos with each one within the last week. I love my Leica M6. It's…

> decided to go all in on mirrorless digital cameras

Something I have always wondered: Is dust/dirt on the sensor a particular problem with mirrorless cameras? Taking the lens off and seeing the sensor just sitting there exposed would always worry me.

Re: A Leica T Review

#62

Post by justincormack »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #59

Allow me to preface this by saying that I currently own four cameras, two digital and two film. My digital cameras are a Fuji X100s and a Fuji X-T1 (I used to have a Canon 5D Mk II, but decided to go all in on mirrorless digital cameras). My film cameras are a Leica M6, and a Hasselblad 501C/M. I use all four cameras on a regular basis, and have made photos with each one within the last week. I love my Leica M6. It's…

The M6 is cheaper too (I have one I use a lot too), and a better camera probably.

Re: A Leica T Review

#63

Post by aaronbrethorst »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #61
aaronbrethorst wrote: post #59

Allow me to preface this by saying that I currently own four cameras, two digital and two film. My digital cameras are a Fuji X100s and a Fuji X-T1 (I used to have a Canon 5D Mk II, but decided to go all in on mirrorless digital cameras). My film cameras are a Leica M6, and a Hasselblad 501C/M. I use all four cameras on a regular basis, and have made photos with each one within the last week. I love my Leica M6. It's…

> decided to go all in on mirrorless digital cameras Something I have always wondered: Is dust/dirt on the sensor a particular problem with mirrorless cameras? Taking the lens off and seeing the sensor just sitting there exposed would always worry me.

Yeah, this freaked me out too. It hasn't been an issue yet, and I have a rocket blower. Hopefully it won't ever be a problem...

Re: A Leica T Review

#64

Post by ricardobeat »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #59

Allow me to preface this by saying that I currently own four cameras, two digital and two film. My digital cameras are a Fuji X100s and a Fuji X-T1 (I used to have a Canon 5D Mk II, but decided to go all in on mirrorless digital cameras). My film cameras are a Leica M6, and a Hasselblad 501C/M. I use all four cameras on a regular basis, and have made photos with each one within the last week. I love my Leica M6. It's…

It does take some amazing images though. I can't think of any similarly portable alternative that can match it.

Re: A Leica T Review

#65

Post by stinos »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #59

Allow me to preface this by saying that I currently own four cameras, two digital and two film. My digital cameras are a Fuji X100s and a Fuji X-T1 (I used to have a Canon 5D Mk II, but decided to go all in on mirrorless digital cameras). My film cameras are a Leica M6, and a Hasselblad 501C/M. I use all four cameras on a regular basis, and have made photos with each one within the last week. I love my Leica M6. It's…

Spot on. Leica has made, and still makes, top notch prodcuts and I'm probably what you could call 'a fan', but some of the other Leica owners I speak to really seem to have lost all sense - remember those scenes where you have Donald Duck getting dollar signs in his eyes? Well imagine that, but with Leica signs instead :]

Re: A Leica T Review

#66

Post by potatolicious »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #59

Allow me to preface this by saying that I currently own four cameras, two digital and two film. My digital cameras are a Fuji X100s and a Fuji X-T1 (I used to have a Canon 5D Mk II, but decided to go all in on mirrorless digital cameras). My film cameras are a Leica M6, and a Hasselblad 501C/M. I use all four cameras on a regular basis, and have made photos with each one within the last week. I love my Leica M6. It's…

Not to mention Leicas were far more accessible in their heyday than they are now - there is a widespread misbelief that Leica has always been crazy-expensive, as a justification for their current prices.

The Leica M3 was $288 USD in 1955. That's $2560 in today's dollars. New Leica bodies are $7000.

The original pricing of the Leica, before they became a piece of jewelry, is in line with modern prosumer cameras, not the $7000 neurosurgeon wrist-decorations they are today.

Oh, and the 50mm f/2 Summicron was $159 in 1955 ($1400 today). They are now between $2400 and $8200.

I shoot a M6 also and have some pretty great, old glass. But modern Leicas are status items that are vastly overpriced for what they are.

Re: A Leica T Review

#67

Post by aaronbrethorst »

potatolicious wrote: post #66
aaronbrethorst wrote: post #59

Allow me to preface this by saying that I currently own four cameras, two digital and two film. My digital cameras are a Fuji X100s and a Fuji X-T1 (I used to have a Canon 5D Mk II, but decided to go all in on mirrorless digital cameras). My film cameras are a Leica M6, and a Hasselblad 501C/M. I use all four cameras on a regular basis, and have made photos with each one within the last week. I love my Leica M6. It's…

Not to mention Leicas were far more accessible in their heyday than they are now - there is a widespread misbelief that Leica has always been crazy-expensive, as a justification for their current prices. The Leica M3 was $288 USD in 1955. That's $2560 in today's dollars. New Leica bodies are $7000. The original pricing of the Leica, before they became a piece of jewelry, is in line with modern prosumer cameras, not t…

Thanks for digging up those numbers. I was going to make a point about that, but couldn't find the original prices and didn't want to make any hand-wavy statements about how it used to be back in the 'old days' ;)

Re: A Leica T Review

#68

Post by potatolicious »

caycep wrote: post #46
TheMagicHorsey wrote: post #41

Having used a great many different cameras what I think about Leicas is that their primary advantage is the state of mind they create in the photographer, which isn't really connected to any tangible usability in design, or engineering marvel in the camera performance. Just the fact that some photographers know they have a Leica in their hand, makes them feel more liberated and ... how shall I say it ... "photographe…

In the film days, it really made a difference. You can use a Leica M4 or 6, yeah it'd cost you a little more but your camera took amazing photos at 1/4 the weight and size of say, a Nikon F3, with a shutter that is whisper quiet. You can go closer and shoot more unobtrusively; while a given Nikon has equal optics, if different characteristics, it couldn't go where a Leica could. At least that's my take on it. Granted…

I agree with your general point, though I disagree with the history.

Japanese SLRs wiped the floor with Leica - Leica's competition wasn't originally with SLRs, it was with more cumbersome "portable" cameras of their time - TLRs. Leica was the first major 35mm player to actually make the cameras usable with the featureset professionals wanted.

Leica's Golden Age was in an era where 35mm SLRs didn't exist. SLRs like the Nikon F3 were in fact the cameras that ultimately toppled Leica from their throne.

People loved the WYSIWYG SLRs, they were cheaper to manufacture, and had lower maintenance requirements (rangefinders drift over time/use). Even pros practically completely switched over by the 80s - look at the cameras being used by journalists in the 50s vs. the 80s and you'll see a complete collapse of Leica.

Yeah, Leica was an original innovator who sat on their asses and got disrupted - but the SLR was the disruptor, not really electronics/CS.

That said, the electronics/CS component of it did contribute. After all, the M cameras didn't get an aperture priority mode until 2002. I'm not sure when Av mode was invented, but the Canon AE-1P brought it to the mainstream in 1981. Leica was literally 20 years late.

Re: A Leica T Review

#69

Post by abat »

ricardobeat wrote: post #64
aaronbrethorst wrote: post #59

Allow me to preface this by saying that I currently own four cameras, two digital and two film. My digital cameras are a Fuji X100s and a Fuji X-T1 (I used to have a Canon 5D Mk II, but decided to go all in on mirrorless digital cameras). My film cameras are a Leica M6, and a Hasselblad 501C/M. I use all four cameras on a regular basis, and have made photos with each one within the last week. I love my Leica M6. It's…

It does take some amazing images though. I can't think of any similarly portable alternative that can match it.

The Leica T has an outdated Sony sensor they used in one of their lower end mirrorless cameras (NEX 5). The NEX 5 was even more portable and you can use a large number of first party lenses and use many other brands via converters.

It's not clear that the Leica T's image quality is any better than an NEX 5, and I would expect the more recent Sony cameras to be better image wise. The Sony A7 would give you a newer, larger sensor for less.

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