burancap
Veteran
Or have front/back focus with your digital M.
Drove me to drink, more.
Drove me to drink, more.
From Leica M to Sony A7s - comparison of user experience
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KingMixer
Member
After my m 240 was destroyed, and knowing I'd never be able to afford another, I went with an a7s as my next photo camera solution. On paper, it's perfect: high iso capable, electronic shutter, takes M lenses via adaptor (with close focus option), has faster shoot speed, nice video capabilities, and 12 MP is plenty since I never do print work. But... it just doesn't cut it. There is no joy to shooting – not as much of an enticing drive to use the camera – it's just a less rewarding experience.
It's a capable camera, just not as satisfying to use. I think I'll be stuck picking up a cheaper used film leica camera or something.
It's a capable camera, just not as satisfying to use. I think I'll be stuck picking up a cheaper used film leica camera or something.
jnclde
Established
Earlier this year, I ended up selling my Leica M8 when the Sony A7ii just came out. I thought logically that I didn't have the money to dish out an extra $1000-1500 for a M9 at the moment, but the A7ii intrigued me. 24MP, weather resistant body, image stabilization, and through my experience usable ISO to about 10,000 or so. To top it all off it took all the lenses I owned. I thought it was going to be it. all I'd ever need. But for me it just didn't work. It was heavy, the shutter was loud, the menus were too much of a fuss, and the EVF was a fraction slower than what was actually happening. I would miss shots all the time. So I ended up selling the A7ii a couple of months later, purchased a Leica M2 all the developing and darkroom equipment I'd need and 3 years worth of kodak motion picture film, and I could not be more satisfied.
peterm1
Veteran
While at one level I enjoy my M8 still on another I find it frustrating.
The main issue is the viewfinder which unless your eyes are perfect forces you to use an accessory diopter adjustment on the eyepiece - which is never perfect. It is seldom possible to get an accurate fix a given eye and in any case the M8 finder is comparatively poor by comparison with film Leicas (magnification is too low in my). I have addressed the latter issue by stacking an eyepiece magnifier but reduces the view quality further.
So with my older eyes the M8 just become too much of a struggle to be a consistently pleasing experience. So I have been using my Nikon DSLR more and more but that also is a compromise despite easier focusing, the main issue here being its weight and bulk. For holidays involving airplane trips that is beginning to be a problem as more airlines are savagely reducing carry on limits. And of course I cant use Leica glass.
So I recently bought an NEX 7. Not the alpha full frame. I also have older NEX F3 with an accessory EVF but its not ideal mainly because of the need to rely on screen based menus rather than buttons and dials.
However, I find the NEX 7 to be pretty darned good and a big improvement. About half the time I use it with my legacy Leica lenses or the Voigtlander ones. The focus peaking on the NEX 7 helps nicely although I would suggest that anyone not familiar with its use should select the low setting (in the cameras settings menu). Setting it to high creates too much uncertainty about the exact zone of focus when manually focusing. For really accurate focusing one of the programmable buttons on the camera back can be set to MF assist and this helps remarkably when pressed, by magnifying the view through the built in EVF.
The other lens I enjoy using for its optical quality is the Sony 50mm f1.8 OSS. Its a cracker of a lens. Moreover while its auto focus of course if you set the cameras focusing mode to DMF ? it allows the lens to autofocus but if you manually turn the focus ring on the lens you instantly and automatically get a magnified view of the image so you can then manually refine focus without leaving AF mode. This is a superb feature for example when making wide open shots at close range - e.g.when shooting portraits where there is a risk the cameras AF will focus on the tip of the nose not the plane of the eyes.
Other advantages include the ability to change ISO and EV settings with the turn of a dial, on the fly without fooling around with menus and wothout taking your eye from the viewfinder.
In general I have to say that the NEX 7 is a very satisfying camera for me to use as it avoids the frustrations inherent in the M8. Even though it lacks some of its panache.
The main issue is the viewfinder which unless your eyes are perfect forces you to use an accessory diopter adjustment on the eyepiece - which is never perfect. It is seldom possible to get an accurate fix a given eye and in any case the M8 finder is comparatively poor by comparison with film Leicas (magnification is too low in my). I have addressed the latter issue by stacking an eyepiece magnifier but reduces the view quality further.
So with my older eyes the M8 just become too much of a struggle to be a consistently pleasing experience. So I have been using my Nikon DSLR more and more but that also is a compromise despite easier focusing, the main issue here being its weight and bulk. For holidays involving airplane trips that is beginning to be a problem as more airlines are savagely reducing carry on limits. And of course I cant use Leica glass.
So I recently bought an NEX 7. Not the alpha full frame. I also have older NEX F3 with an accessory EVF but its not ideal mainly because of the need to rely on screen based menus rather than buttons and dials.
However, I find the NEX 7 to be pretty darned good and a big improvement. About half the time I use it with my legacy Leica lenses or the Voigtlander ones. The focus peaking on the NEX 7 helps nicely although I would suggest that anyone not familiar with its use should select the low setting (in the cameras settings menu). Setting it to high creates too much uncertainty about the exact zone of focus when manually focusing. For really accurate focusing one of the programmable buttons on the camera back can be set to MF assist and this helps remarkably when pressed, by magnifying the view through the built in EVF.
The other lens I enjoy using for its optical quality is the Sony 50mm f1.8 OSS. Its a cracker of a lens. Moreover while its auto focus of course if you set the cameras focusing mode to DMF ? it allows the lens to autofocus but if you manually turn the focus ring on the lens you instantly and automatically get a magnified view of the image so you can then manually refine focus without leaving AF mode. This is a superb feature for example when making wide open shots at close range - e.g.when shooting portraits where there is a risk the cameras AF will focus on the tip of the nose not the plane of the eyes.
Other advantages include the ability to change ISO and EV settings with the turn of a dial, on the fly without fooling around with menus and wothout taking your eye from the viewfinder.
In general I have to say that the NEX 7 is a very satisfying camera for me to use as it avoids the frustrations inherent in the M8. Even though it lacks some of its panache.
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