For film cameras at least, the best bang for the buck brand is Cosina Voigtländer. I own a Bessa R4A with a Cosina Voigtländer Color Skopar 21mm f/4.0 Pancake and seriously, what a great camera package for around $1000.
A Leica T Review
101–105 of 105 posts
Re: A Leica T Review
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Leica T has an outdated Sony sensor they used in one of their lower end mirrorless cameras (NEX 5).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, la…
I'd rather have less MP if it means a better noise profile, and AFAIK there is a a fair amount of parameters affecting image quality other than the sensor itself. These samples from the A7 don't seem to come close in color reproduction or dynamic range: http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Sony_Alpha_A7/sample_image... I don't own either so this is just armchair judgement.
> I'd rather have less MP if it means a better noise profile
In that case, you want the A7s. For some reason, there are three variants of the A7: the standard A7, with a 24 megapixel sensor, the A7R, with a 36 megapixel sensor (the R is for resolution, you see), and the A7s, with a 12 megapixel sensor, but better signal-to-noise ratio, and so low-light performance (the s is for sensitivity, you see - no idea why it's lowercase when the R is uppercase).
> and AFAIK there is a a fair amount of parameters affecting image quality other than the sensor itself.
I suppose the biggest one is the lens. The A7 doesn't have a big range of lenses yet, but there are a few made by Zeiss that are apparently very good.
Re: A Leica T Review
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
^All of this. As a stalwart Leica shooter of 10 years, it's not bitterness or jealousy I feel, but sadness at their having moved on from making tools to what amounts to more or less "just another camera," albeit of a rarified form. The key moment for me was the M7, when they reversed the direction the shutter speed dial rotates. Though it seems rather innocuous, but as a daily "lugger" with 2 other older bodies, it b…
After reading the reviews linked below, I take back any positive prediction for this thing. Looks like Leica missed an opportunity to make a camera that's competitive with other current models in respect to usability and speed. C'est la vie.
Re: A Leica T Review
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
Leica definitely was at a disadvantage in the marketing arena vs. SLRs. But the arguments that M rangefinder still had photographic advantages to SLR's in a number of situations still held weight. Sadly, I think even that selling point has been erased in this day and age.
Re: A Leica T Review
#105Having 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…
I made perhaps a rough comment earlier so I looked for somewhere to agree with you. Not only is Go quite an aesthetically pleasing language, but the description of the draw of Leica cameras could probably be swapped word-for-word with Macbook laptops.