Micro 4/3 as backup for M8

Fred Burton said:
The manual focusing is going to be the make or break deal with this camera since most people seem to want to use it as a cheap digital camera to use their Leica lenses on. There is so much interest, it's likely to kill the market for film M's if it works out.
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If it did work, that would be a very cool thing indeed. I could really get into a pocketful of my LTM lenses, an adapter, and this camera. We'll see!
 
What I still can't understand is why people would want to put Leica lenses on a cheap digital camera. The reviews I read says the image quality is about on par with a Canon Xsi. What's the point?
 
Fred Burton said:
What I still can't understand is why people would want to put Leica lenses on a cheap digital camera. The reviews I read says the image quality is about on par with a Canon Xsi. What's the point?
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I don't know what the image quality is of a Canon Xsi, but if it is as good or better than my Pentax *ist DS, then I'd be reasonably pleased with it.
 
And a very nice compliment that is.....

And a very nice compliment that is.....

Fred Burton said:
What I still can't understand is why people would want to put Leica lenses on a cheap digital camera. The reviews I read says the image quality is about on par with a Canon Xsi. What's the point?
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Now, go read the image quality reviews on the XSi. Per Steves Digicams:

[FONT=arial,helvetica]The XSi's image quality is excellent, and has improved at high ISO settings over the former model. Images were consistently well exposed with natural color saturation and accurate white balance. When shooting portrait style photos, skin tones were also very pleasant. Noise is absent from test images shot at ISO 100 and ISO 200, barely detectable in shadow areas at ISO 400 and 800, and noticeable in shadow areas at ISO 1600, but these images are still very usable.

Per DCResource:

[/FONT]Straight out of the box, the Rebel XSi's photo quality is a mixed bag. The biggest problem I have with the photo quality is that JPEGs are way too soft at default settings, especially if you've seen how they look in RAW mode. The good news is that you can increase the sharpness with the Picture Styles feature, and get much better results. Exposure was very good and colors were accurate. The XSi is a superstar when it comes to noise performance: there's minimal noise, even at ISO 1600.

Per DPreview on the XSi:
The new sensor is superb, and from a resolution point of view puts the EOS 40D to shame without losing any of the high ISO performance that has been Canon's trump card for so long. Canon was never going to take any risks with its biggest breadwinner, and we feel the EOS 450D is a significant, albeit incremental step in the right direction.

I do hope the Panasonic G1 that I am about to order shoots this well....... But, I've heard reports that it's better.

I will agree with you that I can't see the advantage of using Leica lenses on the camera. Why jerry rig a lens solution that was not engineered into the system. Perhaps those who have a significant investment in Leica lenses (which would be what... one lens? or more) need to find some way to continue to use that investment, but I can't imagine it would make the Panasonic G1 into either 1) a rangefinder or 2) a superior camera over it's intended market application. That target market is as a high quality, small, interchangable lens digital prosumer camera with a larger sensor than most. additionally it will fill a market niche as a fantastic "bridge" camera for those moving from small sensor, fixed lens compacts to a mid range/large sensor with interchangable lens capability.

I do believe that the system will hit a home run in it's intended market. I don't believe you can make a pseudo Leica out of the system.
 
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Fred, that's what I was thinking. It looks like a pretty cool camera with the lenses designed for it. I don't know about hanging Leica glass on one, though. :)
 
Ah, a question. Do the lenses designed for the camera stop down automatically? I assume you view and focus wide open like an SLR. What happens when you have that Leica lens set at F8 to meter? Will the finder go dark?
 
I would not buy it based on what M glass I could put on it. But if I did buy it, I wonder if the Nokton 40mm f1.4 wouldn't make a nice portrait lens? :)

What I'm not seeing that I need to see are primes. The 20mm is the only one in the pipelines from Pany. Perhaps oly will do more.

On my other, other hand, with the 20mm prime as the every day lens, maybe I could live with a big slow zoom to handle all other shooting. Hard to imagine.
 
user reports on the G1 manual focus

user reports on the G1 manual focus

Scho;

your report is quite glowing, is it really that good?

The equipment listed in your profile Gear: Leica M8, Bessa R3M, Zeiss Ikon, + full set of lenses.

Leads one to put some stock in what you have to say about MF, and how viewfinders compare.

Any additional thoughts would be appreciated.

Dave
 
djonesii said:
Scho;

your report is quite glowing, is it really that good?

The equipment listed in your profile Gear: Leica M8, Bessa R3M, Zeiss Ikon, + full set of lenses.

Leads one to put some stock in what you have to say about MF, and how viewfinders compare.

Any additional thoughts would be appreciated.

Dave
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Dave, I bought the G1 as a backup for my Oly E3 and Leica M8 since the G1 can use lenses from both with adapters. I have been so impressed with the performance and image quality of the G1 so far that roles are now reversed and the M8 and E3 are seeing a lot of closet time. Take a look at Vivek's images and experience with the G1 and legacy lenses (including a Canon f/0.95) in this thread.
http://forum.getdpi.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4194

Carl
 
I really think it is more likely to be the Leica film camera killer than the M8 (although it would certainly hurt sales there, too). There are a lot of people shooting film M's (or Bessa's or whatever) that are doing so because they can't afford M8's. Film Leicas are the market (new or used) that an inexpensive digital camera that takes M lenses would hurt.

Still, the crop factor and the hassle of viewing through the lens that has no automatic aperture might be a problem for many. With lenses designed for it, though, the camera looks very interesting.
 
I think it could really be something... I myself seldom use the rangefinder much, I go by zone focusing a lot of the time. In really low light I use Nikon anyway, which means this is really interesting as backup for the M8 when travelling, say.

So, instead of getting another M8, which I am planning on, I could really be tempted to test this out if it gives good picture quality... And I wouldnt worry about focusing at all, especially as it would be a backup...
 
Well - I have just laid my hands on the G1...

One way or other I really think I will end up with one during the next half a year or so.

I just wonder - when will someone make adapters available? If I could have bought both an M and a Nikon F adapter on the spot I am afraid that I would have shelled out for all of it today, even if I cannot afford it quite yet...
 
Although the 2x crop isn't the greatest thing about it when it comes to wide angles, it does mean the enlargement required for a given print size is such that the faster 50's will have razor thin DOF wide open.. That would make them 50's gorgeous portrait lenses.
 
I dont know about the design - it felt good handling-wise and that is what counts for me.

I have been thinking of getting a compact again from time to time, but this feels much more attractive... I guess it will be close to compact with a 25 on it! (got to check that right away - are fixed lenses in the pipeline?)
 
aniMal said:
I dont know about the design - it felt good handling-wise and that is what counts for me.

I have been thinking of getting a compact again from time to time, but this feels much more attractive... I guess it will be close to compact with a 25 on it! (got to check that right away - are fixed lenses in the pipeline?)
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Panasonic has announced a 20mm f1.7. No idea what oly will come up with.
 
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