• Hi, I am the owner and main administrator of Styleforum. If you find the forum useful and fun, please help support it by buying through the posted links on the forum. Our main, very popular sales thread, where the latest and best sales are listed, are posted HERE

    Purchases made through some of our links earns a commission for the forum and allows us to do the work of maintaining and improving it. Finally, thanks for being a part of this community. We realize that there are many choices today on the internet, and we have all of you to thank for making Styleforum the foremost destination for discussions of menswear.
  • This site contains affiliate links for which Styleforum may be compensated.
  • We would like to welcome House of Huntington as an official Affiliate Vendor. Shop past season Drake's, Nigel Cabourn, Private White V.C. and other menswear luxury brands at exceptional prices below retail. Please visit the Houise of Huntington thread and welcome them to the forum.

  • STYLE. COMMUNITY. GREAT CLOTHING.

    Bored of counting likes on social networks? At Styleforum, you’ll find rousing discussions that go beyond strings of emojis.

    Click Here to join Styleforum's thousands of style enthusiasts today!

    Styleforum is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

I want a Leica M9

milosz

Distinguished Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2008
Messages
3,883
Reaction score
11
Contemplating the purchase of a 35/1.4G for my D700 (or switching back to Canon and using my trusty 35L on a 5DII) - and I'm just struck by how goddamn big everything has to be to get full-frame quality and a fast semi-wide.

If only a M9/35 Summarit combo wouldn't run me $8k.
 

milosz

Distinguished Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2008
Messages
3,883
Reaction score
11
The X100 looks like a solid camera, if pricey at $1200ish. Fuji traditionally made great glass for their medium format line, I assume this will be as well.

But contrast detection autofocus is not a rangefinder. I can focus my 45 year old Canonet quicker than I can focus a modern dslr manually and I can focus both faster than the E-PL1 I've used. The Finepix is essentially a fixed-lens micro-4/3/NEX-style camera. Which is fine, but not what I wish I had.
 

aizan

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2008
Messages
727
Reaction score
7
me too. i just can't justify spending that much money on an m9 and a 35 'lux asph-fle when i don't shoot professionally and already have an mp and 35 'cron asph.

just tell yourself that it has too much noise at high iso, no weather sealing, and a third rate processor.

the x100 can suck it. there's good and bad retro, and then there's ugly retro. not keen on the contrast detect af, either, unless it's as functional as phase detect in low light.
 

milosz

Distinguished Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2008
Messages
3,883
Reaction score
11
Yeah, I was inspired by pulling out my old M7+35 'lux ASPH (v1 I guess, not coded) and Bessa R2A/M-Hexanon 50. Two brilliant purchases right as I left school (no darkroom access) and digital started its rapid ascent.

I was going to sell the pair for a wicked profit (thank you, insane Leica price jumps!), but now I'm thinking maybe I'll get a hundred rolls of Freestyle's rebranded Tri-X (Arista Premium 400) at $2.19 a roll and just shoot it for a few months. Not like Leica prices are going to come crashing down.
 

LawrenceMD

Distinguished Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2009
Messages
7,054
Reaction score
1,833
Originally Posted by milosz
Yeah, I was inspired by pulling out my old M7+35 'lux ASPH (v1 I guess, not coded) and Bessa R2A/M-Hexanon 50. Two brilliant purchases right as I left school (no darkroom access) and digital started its rapid ascent.

I was going to sell the pair for a wicked profit (thank you, insane Leica price jumps!), but now I'm thinking maybe I'll get a hundred rolls of Freestyle's rebranded Tri-X (Arista Premium 400) at $2.19 a roll and just shoot it for a few months. Not like Leica prices are going to come crashing down.


maybe buy used? i know the leica gallery in soho has used m9's available from time to time... plus the warranty is transferrable right? even b&h has them sometimes...

there must be a some who've shelled out and had buyers remorse... pounce on those type of sellers.
 

milosz

Distinguished Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2008
Messages
3,883
Reaction score
11
Even used M9s are running $6200ish privately.

There's always the M8.2, but I'm not at all impressed by that camera for the prices they still command.
 

theguy

Senior Member
Joined
May 28, 2008
Messages
199
Reaction score
1
maybe an epson r-d1? you could pick one up for about 1k
 

aizan

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2008
Messages
727
Reaction score
7
the problem with the r-d1 was a lack of commitment, on both the part of epson and cosina. the r-d1, r-d1s, r-d1x, and r-d1xg are virtually the same camera, and cosina never made any lenses specifically for aps-c. now, epson could license technology from leica to design a 12mp sensor with offset microlenses, the appropriate IR filter, and so on, and cosina could make crop sensor lenses (18/2.8, 24/2, 30/1.4 for starters). that would be terrific, but i doubt that's going to happen.

my guess is that epson and fuji came to the same conclusion: engineering a sensor that can handle the short flange-back distance of the leica m-mount and acute angle of incidence of m-mount lenses (especially wides) would be very expensive. the r-d1 has a 1:1 viewfinder to discourage users from using wide angles, pushing them toward normals and short teles. the x100 does not really have a fixed lens to make the camera as small as possible. it's mainly to avoid the r&d necessary to make interchangeable lenses practical, something leica undertook only because it had to. the sole piece of new technology in the x100 is the hybrid viewfinder, which is a refinement of the lcd projected frameline technology in the fuji ga645zi. not a new idea; people on the internet have been talking about the exact same technology for years.

maybe things would have been different if epson marketed the r-d1 as well as fuji is marketing the x100. they could have waited another 6 years, too. the r-d1 was ahead of its time.
 

Luc-Emmanuel

Distinguished Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2005
Messages
1,580
Reaction score
17
The new nikkor 35 1.4 is a beast, and it's very expensive. I know the 35/2 is not good at f2 but if I wanted a 35, I would buy this one instead.

I am perfectly happy with my 50 1.4, which I use for about half my shots. About 20% are done at 24mm with either the 24 2.8 AIS or the 14-24.

I wouldn't buy the M9 which is basically an expensive piece of electronic junk. Nikon and Canon have spent years tuning the electronic parts and outsourcing to the best manufacturers the non-strategic components. Leica cannot compete yet on digital.

Buy a used M3 or M6.
!luc
 

milosz

Distinguished Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2008
Messages
3,883
Reaction score
11
My 50/1.4G is pretty bad at f/1.4 and f/2, I was spoiled by the 35L (which is sharp at f/1.4). Then it suddenly becomes a great lens at 2.8, which isn't so bad with the D700's higher ISOs, but it's far from my favorite focal length. Looking back through my Lightroom archive on the 24-70G, I'm shooting at 24-35 or racked all the way out to 70.

I figure I'm going to end up going 5D II/35L/85L or D700/35G/85G (cost will be roughly the same given what I can sell, I still have my 5D I and 35L, along with the 24-105L I need to sell). Compared to my D700 files from the last two years, I was doing less processing/adjustment on 5D I files, the D700 seems to underexpose by a 1/2 stop to a full stop on most interiors and requires more sharpening.

Wish I could rent a 5D II for a week for less than $300 - tempted to buy one used and then sell it on if I decide the D700 is still better.
 

Luc-Emmanuel

Distinguished Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2005
Messages
1,580
Reaction score
17
I have been quite happy with my D700 for two years and I don't have any urge to change.
I use the d-lighting auto and I have never had any problems with the matrix metering. Sharpness of my 501.4 is pretty good at 1.4 too but AF can be tricky, I guess I have been lucky.

Canon probably does great things too.

The appeal of the M9 lies in its size, but it's not a light camera by any means. Good luck in your quest for the perfect camera!

!luc
 

origenesprit

Distinguished Member
Joined
Apr 26, 2009
Messages
3,502
Reaction score
400
Originally Posted by Luc-Emmanuel
I wouldn't buy the M9 which is basically an expensive piece of electronic junk. Nikon and Canon have spent years tuning the electronic parts and outsourcing to the best manufacturers the non-strategic components. Leica cannot compete yet on digital.


I thought that for a long time. But there is something special about the images you take with a Leica. Probably because of the glass.

That having said, it makes much more sense to get a 5DII, but still, don't write off the M9 as incredibly inferior. The images are, somehow, astounding, despite the seeming drawbacks.
 

Luc-Emmanuel

Distinguished Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2005
Messages
1,580
Reaction score
17
Originally Posted by origenesprit
I thought that for a long time. But there is something special about the images you take with a Leica. Probably because of the glass.

That having said, it makes much more sense to get a 5DII, but still, don't write off the M9 as incredibly inferior. The images are, somehow, astounding, despite the seeming drawbacks.

Yes, they look terrific. But it's because leica lenses are terrific (at twice the price of comparable offers from nikon or canon, they'd better be).
But, the electronic inside the camera is not on par with nikon or canon, or on par with the mechanical prowess of film leica. All this makes the M9 a very unreliable camera, while its film based ancestors were very reliable.
Switching from a 5DII or a D700 to a M9 and you're probably going to be very frustrated.
!luc
 

Featured Sponsor

How important is full vs half canvas to you for heavier sport jackets?

  • Definitely full canvas only

    Votes: 55 35.5%
  • Half canvas is fine

    Votes: 60 38.7%
  • Really don't care

    Votes: 17 11.0%
  • Depends on fabric

    Votes: 27 17.4%
  • Depends on price

    Votes: 28 18.1%

Forum statistics

Threads
505,191
Messages
10,579,236
Members
223,902
Latest member
LucyKaven
Top