Choosing a Fuji over Leica

i find that the way i shoot remains consistent no matter the camera that i'm using.
granted, the rd1 is such a simple and elegant machine that it's hard not to love it...but these days pretty much everything that i do seems to take a shade longer and offers up a bit more struggle...the biggest factor for me now is getting to know my camera...the fujis are pretty easy to become familiar with (by comparison to many other digital/auto cameras) but i have yet to spend enough time with them to really know them 'by heart'...but that will come.
 
OK who here as a Fuji and Leica Digital M and is willing to do a little focusing experiment. Would like to see what the difference in speed and accuracy is between a Leica and a Fuji used the Manual +AFL focusing method in a verity of situations and conditions.
 
Not anti leica just that i doubt digital last as well as a film cameras do. Many film cameras of many brands still work 40 years latter. No digital is gonna do that.
 
sonofdanang said:
Pre-focus on the X100 works fine. Continuously pre-focusing is a little more challenging.
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It works in the basic sense that there's a software distance scale. But in practice, unless you're staking out a spot and plan on standing there, it's not practical for really rapid adjustments. Example: I'm walking down the street - a guy on a skateboard being pulled by his dog is coming the other way. By the time I get the x100 to my eye and start to prefocus (and dealing with the crappy turn rate of the focus ring), the guy is past. Also, I only use the evf, not the lcd for focusing, so as I'm looking at the evf, i'm also trying to figure out the distance and also losing sight of the subject. It's just too cumbersome. If there were distance markings on the lens, I'd be ok with that, but the x100 is not meant for rapid deployment. I still love the camera, don't get me wrong. IQ is awesome, the hardware interface (other than mf) is awesome, it looks cool as hell. But the AF is weak, mf awful, and general operation slowish. The x100s looks to fix all these issues, so I'm considering one.
 
just read an M240 review ....

just read an M240 review ....

Lets extrapolate here a bit .... We know the X100s is out. I'm going to bet that the same tech finds its way into an X-Pro 1S or 2, or what ever they call the beast.

So, Now I have a really nice set of auto-foucs lenses that work on the Fuji X bodies.

A really cool focus aid that works when I'm in Live view mode, it works pretty well with ALL my legacy lenses, at least up to the 15mm CV, I've heard good things about the 12mm too.

OVF when shooting the AF lenses/ EVF for the rest.

Makes a pretty compelling picture if I can live with the crop factor. Sure, I do have to wait for the next gen, but in the meantime, I just live with the AF lenses and the magnifying approach for the legacy. Not too bad a deal from my point of view.

As an aside, I am down to 2 real rangefinders, and both shoot film, neither is a Leica/CV. I can justify the Canon QL and barely the Polaroid 4X5, but from where I sit with the Fuji is the future, an M8/M9 are NOT in my future, and then we are back to the 7K Leica experience (M240) and I just don't want to tie that up in a camera.

Dave
 
Listening to the Q&A on the CameraDiner show, I wouldn't put much hope on an X-Pro1s/2 coming out before the end of the year, or next. The X100s was two or more years after the X100 launch. I'd be happy if proven wrong but...
The X100s isn't really a competitor to the M cameras from Leica because its a fixed lens, but it would do very nicely if your a 35mm Len shooter.
 
Godfrey said:
I'm almost 60 now. I don't really need to plan for 40 years in the future. I hope I am still able to hold a camera then, of whatever type.

G
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I probably being almost 50 dont need it for 40 years either but still dont think they will last. Now (of course this didnt happen unfortanatly) but my grandfather could have bought a nice shiny new leica in say 1936 and passed it down to me. If taken care of my grandson who is 4 could be using it in 40 years. That i believe. Of course just my opinion. I dont own a leica but money i saved by buying fuji leaves me able to find a good m film camera.
 
jody36 said:
I probably being almost 50 dont need it for 40 years either but still dont think they will last. Now (of course this didnt happen unfortanatly) but my grandfather could have bought a nice shiny new leica in say 1936 and passed it down to me. If taken care of my grandson who is 4 could be using it in 40 years. That i believe. Of course just my opinion. I dont own a leica but money i saved by buying fuji leaves me able to find a good m film camera.
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Well, my grandfather loaned me the same 1949 Rolleiflex that he loaned my uncle 14 -15 years before to learn with. It was a lovely old camera and I learned a lot from using it, but I was quite relieved to buy myself a Nikon F in 1969 (the following year) and have a much more modern and capable camera for the school photography I was doing at the time.

I don't have any children myself, but I have nieces and nephews who are getting into the age. None of them have shown a predilection to learning how to use a 20 (to 70) year old film camera so far ... I've got a bunch of them to pass on if they become interested. The two that have shown an interest in photography wanted something that they could make photos with for school projects as well as share photos on FaceBook and Flickr, so I gave them my six and seven year old digital compact cameras instead. They're using them every day, and making very nice photographs.

I try not to make the mistake of believing that what I like in a camera is shared by everyone. One of the things I do like is some kinds of quirkiness... which usually drives my more sensible friends who are into photography a little batty.

(Like having to custom load the Robot II's feed cassette in a dark bag, and having to take the film out of the take up cassette in a dark bag... for every roll. It's just a bit of nostalgic fun for me, a real pain in the butt for most of my friends.)

G
 
macjim said:
Listening to the Q&A on the CameraDiner show, I wouldn't put much hope on an X-Pro1s/2 coming out before the end of the year, or next. The X100s was two or more years after the X100 launch. I'd be happy if proven wrong but...
The X100s isn't really a competitor to the M cameras from Leica because its a fixed lens, but it would do very nicely if your a 35mm Len shooter.
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A lot of how long it takes to ship depends on so many different things from..
- how many parallel development teams do they want to have on their payroll
- how much hw r&d work has already been done and is in the pipe even before the original x100 was released
- how much they can reuse in existing hw and sw for their follow on products
Are the obvious examples.

But one can only hope. That they have something by the end of the year.

Gary
 
If I could pick a camera without thinking about money it would be the M9, but only alongside a more competent camera like a 5D Mark III. I'm a professional and I really can't afford to screw around. I enjoy using Leica cameras and Zeiss lenses. The user experience has not really been replicated with the Fuji, in my opinion. Not fully anyways. I think Leica's and other RFs sort of feel like guns in the hands of gunslingers. They're sexy, fiddly, responsive, etc... The Fuji does not feel like this in my hands.

Now, since I don't live in a vacuum, and money matters tremendously, I have a Fuji and the 35mm lens. Because I understand how raw works, I don't care about the differences between color rendering out of camera or CCD/CMOS. I can tell you the Fuji is more than capable of producing beautiful photographs. It's responsive enough to be used in low light and the EVF really helps to finely focus in those situations (I have good eyes though). It's not as fun and fiddly as a Leica, but I can't always afford to play with the best toys. The images I've produced with it have so far been, to my clients, indistinguishable from those out of my full frame SLR pro cameras. I'm really looking forward to the coming generations and new lenses Fuji will have to offer.

If "photography" itself is your goal, Leica won't open any doors for you. The Fuji may not either, it's not for everyone. If you can afford an M9 and not care then do it, but don't push your budget.
 
SaveKodak said:
If I could pick a camera without thinking about money it would be the M9, but only alongside a more competent camera like a 5D Mark III. I'm a professional and I really can't afford to screw around. I enjoy using Leica cameras and Zeiss lenses. The user experience has not really been replicated with the Fuji, in my opinion. Not fully anyways. I think Leica's and other RFs sort of feel like guns in the hands of gunslingers. They're sexy, fiddly, responsive, etc... The Fuji does not feel like this in my hands.

Now, since I don't live in a vacuum, and money matters tremendously, I have a Fuji and the 35mm lens. Because I understand how raw works, I don't care about the differences between color rendering out of camera or CCD/CMOS. I can tell you the Fuji is more than capable of producing beautiful photographs. It's responsive enough to be used in low light and the EVF really helps to finely focus in those situations (I have good eyes though). It's not as fun and fiddly as a Leica, but I can't always afford to play with the best toys. The images I've produced with it have so far been, to my clients, indistinguishable from those out of my full frame SLR pro cameras. I'm really looking forward to the coming generations and new lenses Fuji will have to offer.

If "photography" itself is your goal, Leica won't open any doors for you. The Fuji may not either, it's not for everyone. If you can afford an M9 and not care then do it, but don't push your budget.
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I lived the dream and owned an M9 with a 35 mm Leica lens. Lovely camera and lens but a pig to focus as I wear glasses. I had a 50 mm lens on order when the X-Pro1 came out so that lens order got cancelled, and the X-Pro1 and 35 mm lens was bought. I gave up on the Leica after eight months and sold it, buying the Nikon D600, an 50 mm f1.4 lens plus the kit zoom and haven't looked back. The Fuji kit is the main use camera kit for me though. Lived the dream an don't regret it — apart from the cost.
 
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