A7(R) or Leica?

[YYV_146]

You'd better stem your enthusiasm a bit? Only few M lenses of 50mm and below will work on A7 without smearing and tinting the corners. Your CV 35 1.2 will work well, but your 50 Sonnar is one that won't. R and other retrofocus lenses work better than M in the mid-wide and normal focal lengths. This was the initial confusion: folks thought the A7/r was a new low cost, high ISO platform for M lenses, but they turned out instead to be the digital bodies that saved R glass.

Isn't the 50 Sonnar just incredibly soft in the corners to begin with? The very design of the lens was to provide a "classic" rendering with aspherical elements or excessive correction.

For what it's worth, the similar 50lux pre-a does not show outstanding corner issues. Neither does any of the other Leica 50s I've tested.

 

[YYV_146]

Frankly, I find the opposite to be the case. My A7 JPEGs right out of the camera are far better than what I get in JPEGs out of the M9.

I see zero value to the whole "CCD vs CMOS" sensor riff. To me, that's internet myth at work. While the response curve of a CCD is different from the response curve of a CMOS sensor, the magic is in the image processing downstream from the chip. I get excellent results out of both when I work with the raw files, but the M9 raw files generally take more work to achieve what I'm after.

G

I should have said that "given the right metering and AWB", the M9's response is more non-linear (which many may find pleasing) compared to CMOS cameras.

And of course, the M9's metering and AWB are both messy and unpredictable, while I can count on the A7 to be 1/3 stop underexposed and slightly to the yellow...

 

[Bruno Gracia]

thanks to everyone.

But I can't accept that feels like plastic body and weird controls&menu...

Nothing beats a Leica in user experience at least I think so.

 

[Archiver]

Thanks for the heads-up regarding RF lenses on the A7. I don't have a lot of legacy SLR lenses, and what I'm really after is a modern body with flip screen and focus peaking that will accurately handle RF lenses. I'd really prefer full frame, but aps-c is just okay. The Ricoh GXR is magnificent but is eventually going to cark it (die, in Australian slang). Perhaps the new Sony A6000 might be an aps-c alternative.

 

[taemo]

sold my M9 and bought an A7 so that I could use all my legacy lenses in one digital body, sure the body design is not the greatest, slow start up time (even with newest firmware) and EVF screen means I can't just bring it to my eye and pre-visualize the shot.

but what I gain from it is that I can use all my legacy lenses in one body.
faster buffer than the M9, higher ISO, more accurate manual focusing and if I damage/break the camera, easier to repair

 

[funkydog]

Nothing beats a Leica in user experience at least I think so.

Aw man, I thought that was obvious. Only a Leica gives you the Leica feeling. You want a Leica for the Leica user experience, buy a Leica. Don't accept substitutes because they'll only make you want the real thing even more.
Only a Leica is spelled L-E-I-C-A, not Panasonic, Fuji, Olympus, Ricoh, Canon, Nikon, Sony, Voigtlander, Zeiss ZM, Contax, or etc. All the best for your long trip with the X1 and M6.

 

[Pioneer]

Funkydog is right. If you want a Leica experience buy a Leica. If you are looking for a Minolta experience buy a Minolta; a Contax experience, a Contax.

Kind of similar if you are looking for a digital experience. It just does no good to buy a film camera, no matter how nice it may be.

🙂

 

[Bruno Gracia]

Yes, You're right.

For me is equally important the feelings with the camera and way to take an image than the image itself.

 

[Mcary]

Funkydog is right. If you want a Leica experience buy a Leica. If you are looking for a Minolta experience buy a Minolta; a Contax experience, a Contax.

Kind of similar if you are looking for a digital experience. It just does no good to buy a film camera, no matter how nice it may be.

🙂

Agree!

JMO While you can use Leica M lens on other digital camera and may well get better results than shooting with a digital M its not the same experiece. Of course that's neither good or bad depending on which is more important to the individual the Leica experience or the final results.

 

[jsrockit]

But I can't accept that feels like plastic body and weird controls&menu...

A7 is plastic? You must have seen a counterfeit one... 😀

 

[Shac]

All controls are weird until you use and get used to them😛