Have you just walked away?

[Snapper_uk]

Yesterday I went to my local hi-tech camera shop with the intention of getting an X100. I'm not anti-digital as such, but when I buy (another) digital camera, I want it to be the last one I'll need/want to buy.

At first sight of it in the display case, it looked even better in real life than on screen. The case was opened, I held it and... oh... felt nothing. I didn't like it, it just didn't feel good in the hand. And that EVF - horrid, what's that all about?

Kind of like a internet date that's fallen flat within the first two minutes (I expect).

After 5 minutes with it, I just said, you know what, I won't bother. I'll wait for the next one.

Anybody else just walked away?

 

[jsrockit]

Nope, bought sight unseen and have liked it since day one. I think too many people expect it to feel and act like an old mechanical rangefinder when it isn't one. The EVF, while not my thing either, is one of the better ones out there. I just use the OVF... problem solved.

 

[Moriturii]

Precisely how I felt when I had an epiphany about photography, was looking around to my first camera, a dSLR. Was looking at D90's at the time, seemed amazing, I was overjoyed! Went to photography class, and tried one out, and felt absolutely NOTHING. Was like holding a brick in my hands, I just gave it back to the teacher and left with low spirits. The next few days just by chance I went into an analog section of a photo site I was looking at back then for fun, someone asked about the Nikon F100, and a I had a light-bulb moment in my heart, never looked back to digital since. After that I found all these photographers like Henri CB, Eugene Smith, Elliot Erwit, Willy Ronis and nothing would be the same.

 

[Snapper_uk]

I should add that I didn't like the look of the M9 either😱

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Have you just walked away?

Nope, still here, typing. 😉

Yesterday I went to my local hi-tech camera shop with the intention of getting an X100. I'm not anti-digital as such, but when I buy (another) digital camera, I want it to be the last one I'll need/want to buy.

In the digital world, it's impossible (as of this writing) for anything to be "the last one you'll need/want to buy". Its growth and implicit self-obsoletion (if that's a word) dictates you'll have to buy a replacement either due to relevance or failure within a few years, five years if you're sentimental, and ten if you're a pack rat.

At first sight of it in the display case, it looked even better in real life than on screen. The case was opened, I held it and... oh... felt nothing. I didn't like it, it just didn't feel good in the hand. And that EVF - horrid, what's that all about?

Expectations vs. Reality. Happened to me one night when I reached into the fridge expecting to pour orange juice but drank milk instead. It wasn't because the milk was bad: it was because I expected orange juice.

Kind of like a[n] internet date that's fallen flat within the first two minutes (I expect).

At least the date didn't cost $1,500?

After 5 minutes with it, I just said, you know what, I won't bother. I'll wait for the next one.

I knew a guy who did Palladium prints. He's waiting for the next one, too; never liked silver.

Anybody else just walked away?

Well, I'm about to navigate the rest of the forum. :angel:

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Yet people will wait months to get Leica 'fabulous' lenses ... isn't it a strange world? 😀

We all know that Nikon lenses don't need the fabulous in quotation marks. It's stated often. 😀

 

[zauhar]

I played with it a couple of times, and was likewise disappointed. I AM anti-digital in the sense that I find digital cameras very irritating, but I thought the X100 might be different. It is not. It replaces some irritations with others - has an optical view finder, but you can't use it to focus, for example. Has a "manual" focus ring, but it doesn't do much.

I recognize that many people on this forum take superb photos with digital cameras, so that tempers my feelings about these cameras. I have taken note of the new Richoh, with a module that takes M lenses (and specifically claims compatibility with the old ones I have), so I might look at it. Even though it has that hateful LCD screen.

Randy

 

[Roger Hicks]

Its growth and implicit self-obsoletion (if that's a word) dictates you'll have to buy a replacement either due to relevance or failure within a few years, five years if you're sentimental, and ten if you're a pack rat.

Dear Gabriel,

Why will I need an M10? How will the M9 become obsolete? If I can't see an improvement is a double-page spread (and you won't, over 18 megapixels), then what will a newer camera do?

Higher ISO would be nice, but not worth the money to me. That's about it. Leica promised 20 years support after the intro of the M9, and if I live long enough, I may well hold them to it.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Kiyatkin]

I love digital and bought X100 on Amazon when annouced. Now, after months of trying to like it, I don't, but dont see any alternatives. There are no small digital cameras with good high ISO IQ that can compete with the X100. Handling sucks, but I guess it could be worse.

 

[gavinlg]

Why did you use the EVF? The OVF is why you buy the camera! If you want an EVF buy a panasonic G or something...

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Dear Gabriel,

Why will I need an M10?

If the M9 dies before or soon after the M10 does, you will. Repairing the M9 may yet be cheaper, but it depends on what component we're talking about. If it's the sensor, I doubt Kodak would crank an "old" one if a "new" one is already out on the market; best to hope for stock.

As much as we'd like to, the current electronics industry thrives on "buying new", and it has virtually no incentive to make things last in the same sense that, say, an M2 was built to last.

How will the M9 become obsolete?

There are many ways, and it is not exclusive to Leica:

1) DNG file support. Even though it's "open", Adobe owns the baby. If they go belly-up, along with the ACR infrastructure, that's it: it'll be a slow death. The whole reason for its existence, to have a file format that is not proprietary, ironically, would come full circle.

Files created with the first versions of DNG can be opened right now, but they (Adobe) keep on accessorizing it with new features that are exploited by Lightroom, Photoshop, etc.


2) Microsoft and Apple seize to exist (natural disaster, sudden market crash, etc.): bye-bye support for the very thing you need to process the files (Nikon's, Canon's, Leica's, Panasonic's...)


3) Raw materials availability, prices, viability: the CCD for a specific camera has this weak point, as well as the long chain of companies tied to it (Kodak, Sony, Canon, Leica, Chinese government...it's a veritable bordel).


Those are just few. It's a subset of the whole "digital vs. film archival" debate.

If I can't see an improvement is a double-page spread (and you won't, over 18 megapixels), then what will a newer camera do?

I did not discuss that, only the inherent short (or "not very long") lifespan of all things "digital". Within the context of buying "any" digital camera, never into M9 vs. M10.

Higher ISO would be nice, but not worth the money to me. That's about it. Leica promised 20 years support after the intro of the M9, and if I live long enough, I may well hold them to it.

Same. Again, my point was on the pseudo-pointlessness of "waiting" for "the next one" in the digital world.

The "digital" reality vs. the "mechanical/film" reality cannot be compared (yet). A different expectation for electronics (as of this writing) must be had when coming from an analog point of view. Shopping in 2011 is not the same as it was in 1980. Most corporations have sold their soul to Wall Street.



Regards.

 

[Austerby]

I recall being in a minority when the X100 was announced in that I thought the M9/T was a more interesting and significant camera.

I've seen nothing about the X100 that has changed my opinion.

I'm happy to accept that it's a fine camera in its own right, with its own strengths and weaknesses.

But it's clearly not the camera it was anticipated to be by some.

 

[gavinlg]

But it's clearly not the camera it was anticipated to be by some.

Maybe a very few - there's a lot of people who absolutely love the camera. I know there's a few magnum photographers using them right now...

 

[sparrow6224]

Kiyatkin: sell the x100 and try the Nikon D7000. Amazing -- putatively far better -- high ISO image quality and for a dslr, quite small. with the AF 50mm 1.8 a coat-pocketable (maybe....) size. Or the AF 20mm or the 24mm or the Nikon 35mm DX 1.8 which is just an outstanding $200 lens. It glows. Superior viewfinder (though still not up to analog standards) and better in all respects. Just doesn't look like an old Leica. Other than that, better in every way. Really. Check one out. They're on display and everything.

 

[benlees]

A friend of mine, who normally sports just a 5D, got an X100. He seems to love it, uses both, and seamlessly moves from one to the other. This was the first time I had seen one. I was amazed! Much smaller than I had imagined, lovely viewfinder, and a nice feel in the hand.

What do they say on the 'net? Haters gonna hate...

 

[kuvvy]

I was an early adopter of the X100 and I love the quality of the shots. Yes, it may not be perfect but what is? The OVF is what made it for me. The EVF, any EVF for that matter, is just like sitting too close to the TV and I just don't like them.
I'm gonna sell my G11 soon now that I'm happy with the Fuji.
The only camera I walked away from was the M8. I ended up getting the RD1 instead.

 

[gavinlg]

Kiyatkin: sell the x100 and try the Nikon D7000. Amazing -- putatively far better -- high ISO image quality and for a dslr, quite small. with the AF 50mm 1.8 a coat-pocketable (maybe....) size. Or the AF 20mm or the 24mm or the Nikon 35mm DX 1.8 which is just an outstanding $200 lens. It glows. Superior viewfinder (though still not up to analog standards) and better in all respects. Just doesn't look like an old Leica. Other than that, better in every way. Really. Check one out. They're on display and everything.

Really? It's like twice the size of the x100, three times the weight, you can't get a 35mm f2 lens for it (unless you buy a 24mm f1.4G for $2200), it's an SLR with a loud shutter, doesn't have framelines or the ability to see outside of them, and don't get me started on nikon skin tones...

They're two very different cameras, really.

 

[DamenS]

EVERYBODY has walked away from something. If it doesn't feel right, don't do it (unless you have to). I remember being a bit disappointed when I first handled an M3. Nothing wrong with the M3, just the amount of crap on the internet about this Leica had increased my expectations to a level probably beyond reason (I was probably expecting God's-own buttery smooth peach-tasting and peppermint-scented camera covered in the hide of Unicorns). I did not expect it to belong to the real world. I also had high expectations because the Nikon F2 is not chopped liver - not at all. In short, the choir didn't sing for me and I was underwhelmed whilst recognising my expectations were probably unrealistically high. If it doesn't feel right, walk away. Try again later. Rinse and repeat.

 

[taskoni]

Yesterday I went to my local hi-tech camera shop with the intention of getting an X100. I'm not anti-digital as such, but when I buy (another) digital camera, I want it to be the last one I'll need/want to buy.

At first sight of it in the display case, it looked even better in real life than on screen. The case was opened, I held it and... oh... felt nothing. I didn't like it, it just didn't feel good in the hand. And that EVF - horrid, what's that all about?

Kind of like a internet date that's fallen flat within the first two minutes (I expect).

After 5 minutes with it, I just said, you know what, I won't bother. I'll wait for the next one.

Anybody else just walked away?

Interesting, I had exactly the same experience with X100!

 

[back alley]

my experience was the opposite...

i didn't want to buy one without handling it first, when i had the opportunity to play with one i was hoping not to like it.
i left the shop with no intention of buying one but went back the next day and did buy one...have not looked back.
my other gear has been gathering dust since.