maitani
Well-known
I'm posting it here because the main part is about the Leica M's
Leica M-E
I like the purist approach, I dislike the Anthracite with ‘greenish’-tint lacquer (it doesn’t fit nor black nor chrome lenses really..) don’t know what they were thinking.., makes the camera look cheap,
No frame selector, no usb plug, imo inacceptable. Get a used M9 instead (same sensor, more features) I was surprised that they said the M9 and M9P are going to be discontinued, and only the M-E would remain, so I can see growing appeal
In those body mid term. The ‘same sensor as M9 and M9P’ are not a minus in my book, as this is a very capable sensor, with very special output.
Leica M(-ilestone)
I’ll start with the minus… the red dot is too big, the round buttons of the monochrome/M9/M8 were better in my book, I kind of miss
The frame illuminator window just for the looks..
other than that THIS IS IT!
The Illuminated Frames look great and are very well defined and precise (you can select WHITE or RED in the menu, very cool....)
the Battery looks like a big chunk (so I guess the advertised 800 shots could be true) this is the first workhorse Leica.
I was lucky to run into the project responsible for the M so I got some ‘insider info’
The camera is extremely fast and responsive, it feels like a nex or so when you use in LV mode, write times are quick, video is excellent.
The display on the back is now up there with the rest
The viewfinder is the same like Olympus Pens just branded Leica, I guess even the slot would fit, but I’m not sure about it.
I didn’t go crazy about the finder, but it’s great you can put it ‘visoflex’ style if you work with longer lenses. For the short to medium
Lenses the big display with focus peaking or/and magnification is more than enough, you can enable manual focusing with
A small pressing of the new button on the front side.
Focus peaking works superb, even with light-monsters like the noctilux (tried it) oh damn…
Finally Spot- and Center weighted metering methods are available! for a Leica this is an unexpected breakthrough..
The best about it while recording video, you can take a picture whenever you want, the video just continues where you left, right after the image was recorded.
It will just ad a ‘lag’ in this position. (they told me they recorded as ‘easter egg’ the shutter sound of the M7 (which they found the smoothest of the Film M’s…) only in the sequence.
Hi ISO compared to the M9 looks superb (at least on display zoomed in…)
Very nice build quality, they told me Wafers are being made made in Switzerland, Sensor is finalized in CMOSIS In Belgium
Hi-iso up to 3200 looked superb imo, which is what I was waiting for, even up to 5000 it was easily usable, iso 6400 had some obvious banding, but I was not allowed
To put a SD card as apparently Sensor optimization is taking place right now, and is one reason, why the M-(ilestone is available from 2013 only..)
apparently a reason they didn't buy a 'stock' CMOS from japanese companies is, they wanted to retain that unique CCD look (known from the M8/M9) but with
the added benefits of CMOS technology, therefore this new sensor is unique. So it's a CMOS yes, but it's optimized for that CCD look.
Imo this is the must have camera of 2013 and for the years to come. Finally the camera has matured to a point if you can live with manual focus it can replace your Fullframe Nikon for the Job, and serve as universal Digital back, for countless of legacy lenses, without the
Crop factor (My OM lens collection is looking at me….) Compared to what the Leica M9 was new, this one is unmatched value for the money and yes rather ‘cheap’ for what it can do.
Leica M-Monochrome
Easily the second best camera on the fair right after the M, Impressive Hi-Iso and sharpness, due to the lacking bayer colour array, a specialized tool for the Artist. (from the looks it easily beats the M-(ilestone) too.. ☺
Panasonic GH3
I’m an admitted fan of the GH cameras, I still use a GH-1 exclusively for my video projects, compared to all previous
M43 cameras this seems like the most advanced to date, much better ergonomics than the (for me) too small OMD,
Magnesium alloy body with great ergonomics (feels like a Panasonic L10 in size and weight, but without
The mirror. Real swivel display (as all GH-series)
A small minus in my book, the ‘multi-aspect’ sensor of GH-1 and GH-2 seems to be gone, so this looks
Like the Sony sensor too.. but this could be good news for the hi-iso performance
Hasseblad Lunar
A nex7 ‘covered’ in finest materials, I was ready to be hugely disappointed (I already had opened up a bashing topic…)
To stay fair, Ergonomics, maybe the best of the last decade, the grip is really excellent, you wonder why
nobody did a similar grip ergonomics before (the best since the mighty E-1 Olympus) feels solid
massive and great when you hold it. Also the camera shoots so fast you can almost shoot videos in 24mp.
For mortals, this camera is DEFINITELY NOT worth the money, hard to justify such an amount
For a ‘beauty-cased’ APS-C sensor camera.
Although I’m pretty sure this camera will sell well to a certain clientele, Imo with a FF sensor this camera would
Have hit heavy.
Sony RX1
Unfortunately no hands-on was possible, the camera was shown below a glass-vitrine only, this looks
Like THE serious point and shoot of this decade, they guys on the stand said, it beats the A900 sensor (which was not bad either)
By about the factor 2.5 in dynamic range, really curious to see, as Sony sensors are really the best of the bunch at the moment
Could be a game-changer around the corner.
Sony A99
A big chunk of camera, I guess this is what ‘minoltians’ have been waiting for, one serious camera for
The Pro looking for a workhorse body, great ergonomics, even if big, I liked this camera.
I can see the appeal of it as a workhorse, although the electronic viewfinder (which is excellent btw)
Is definitively not for me, but I’m sure many people will be happy about this.
Epson
They had some prototypes of New generation EVF display which are not used in any camera yet, those were extremely impressive. Makes what we know from the
Actual generation EVF’s look really old… they mentioned it’s QVGA resolution.
Nikon D600
Nothing unexpected, a ‘small’ and great camera in every regard. Fullframe for the ‘rest of us’
Canon 6D canon
Same as D600
Voigtlander
The 21 1.8 looks impressive, a rather big lens, I can see some sales to enthusiasts though, excellent lens,
Voigtlander has an really great lineup now with the top range primes. (would be nice to see an updated 50 1.1 though..)
Plustek
The Plustek 120 is impressive, huge, heavy, well finished and stylish, output on a huge monitor was
fantastic, implementation with silverfast seems to work fine,
The scanner is surprisingly low noise when scanning, much more silent than the coolscans I had.
The motorized ‘sled’ is noisier than the scanning process itself, the film holder are excellent really
Well made and heavy, also incredibly versatile, you can combine multiple film formats as you
Like to get the best out of the full scanning surface, the scanner scans from front load, and rejects the
Film holder on the back when finished, so It rather takes a big working space.
Reason for the delay was they want to make the Macintosh driver perfect, this is the final development
Step taking place now. This is THE must have for the medium format crowd, finally a Scanner
With driver support and Service support.
Ilford
Gold cotton textured line, really great new paper, available in textured and smooth
Artisan and Artist
Great new bag on the horizon for ‘bagsters’ in the nice A&A canvas fabric (item number PH-12 and PH-13) (they showed a prototypes only..)
This is one I’m looking for (no information on the price yet)…. Bag opens up by a zipper in the middle, padded inlay which
Can be removed, by opening the zipper, you get a nice weekend-travel bag
Leica Gallery
Some fantastic work was published at the Leica Gallery wonderful prints of many classic pictures mainly from magnum photographers.
This is it for the moment.
Leica M-E
I like the purist approach, I dislike the Anthracite with ‘greenish’-tint lacquer (it doesn’t fit nor black nor chrome lenses really..) don’t know what they were thinking.., makes the camera look cheap,
No frame selector, no usb plug, imo inacceptable. Get a used M9 instead (same sensor, more features) I was surprised that they said the M9 and M9P are going to be discontinued, and only the M-E would remain, so I can see growing appeal
In those body mid term. The ‘same sensor as M9 and M9P’ are not a minus in my book, as this is a very capable sensor, with very special output.
Leica M(-ilestone)
I’ll start with the minus… the red dot is too big, the round buttons of the monochrome/M9/M8 were better in my book, I kind of miss
The frame illuminator window just for the looks..
other than that THIS IS IT!
The Illuminated Frames look great and are very well defined and precise (you can select WHITE or RED in the menu, very cool....)
the Battery looks like a big chunk (so I guess the advertised 800 shots could be true) this is the first workhorse Leica.
I was lucky to run into the project responsible for the M so I got some ‘insider info’
The camera is extremely fast and responsive, it feels like a nex or so when you use in LV mode, write times are quick, video is excellent.
The display on the back is now up there with the rest
The viewfinder is the same like Olympus Pens just branded Leica, I guess even the slot would fit, but I’m not sure about it.
I didn’t go crazy about the finder, but it’s great you can put it ‘visoflex’ style if you work with longer lenses. For the short to medium
Lenses the big display with focus peaking or/and magnification is more than enough, you can enable manual focusing with
A small pressing of the new button on the front side.
Focus peaking works superb, even with light-monsters like the noctilux (tried it) oh damn…
Finally Spot- and Center weighted metering methods are available! for a Leica this is an unexpected breakthrough..
The best about it while recording video, you can take a picture whenever you want, the video just continues where you left, right after the image was recorded.
It will just ad a ‘lag’ in this position. (they told me they recorded as ‘easter egg’ the shutter sound of the M7 (which they found the smoothest of the Film M’s…) only in the sequence.
Hi ISO compared to the M9 looks superb (at least on display zoomed in…)
Very nice build quality, they told me Wafers are being made made in Switzerland, Sensor is finalized in CMOSIS In Belgium
Hi-iso up to 3200 looked superb imo, which is what I was waiting for, even up to 5000 it was easily usable, iso 6400 had some obvious banding, but I was not allowed
To put a SD card as apparently Sensor optimization is taking place right now, and is one reason, why the M-(ilestone is available from 2013 only..)
apparently a reason they didn't buy a 'stock' CMOS from japanese companies is, they wanted to retain that unique CCD look (known from the M8/M9) but with
the added benefits of CMOS technology, therefore this new sensor is unique. So it's a CMOS yes, but it's optimized for that CCD look.
Imo this is the must have camera of 2013 and for the years to come. Finally the camera has matured to a point if you can live with manual focus it can replace your Fullframe Nikon for the Job, and serve as universal Digital back, for countless of legacy lenses, without the
Crop factor (My OM lens collection is looking at me….) Compared to what the Leica M9 was new, this one is unmatched value for the money and yes rather ‘cheap’ for what it can do.
Leica M-Monochrome
Easily the second best camera on the fair right after the M, Impressive Hi-Iso and sharpness, due to the lacking bayer colour array, a specialized tool for the Artist. (from the looks it easily beats the M-(ilestone) too.. ☺
Panasonic GH3
I’m an admitted fan of the GH cameras, I still use a GH-1 exclusively for my video projects, compared to all previous
M43 cameras this seems like the most advanced to date, much better ergonomics than the (for me) too small OMD,
Magnesium alloy body with great ergonomics (feels like a Panasonic L10 in size and weight, but without
The mirror. Real swivel display (as all GH-series)
A small minus in my book, the ‘multi-aspect’ sensor of GH-1 and GH-2 seems to be gone, so this looks
Like the Sony sensor too.. but this could be good news for the hi-iso performance
Hasseblad Lunar
A nex7 ‘covered’ in finest materials, I was ready to be hugely disappointed (I already had opened up a bashing topic…)
To stay fair, Ergonomics, maybe the best of the last decade, the grip is really excellent, you wonder why
nobody did a similar grip ergonomics before (the best since the mighty E-1 Olympus) feels solid
massive and great when you hold it. Also the camera shoots so fast you can almost shoot videos in 24mp.
For mortals, this camera is DEFINITELY NOT worth the money, hard to justify such an amount
For a ‘beauty-cased’ APS-C sensor camera.
Although I’m pretty sure this camera will sell well to a certain clientele, Imo with a FF sensor this camera would
Have hit heavy.
Sony RX1
Unfortunately no hands-on was possible, the camera was shown below a glass-vitrine only, this looks
Like THE serious point and shoot of this decade, they guys on the stand said, it beats the A900 sensor (which was not bad either)
By about the factor 2.5 in dynamic range, really curious to see, as Sony sensors are really the best of the bunch at the moment
Could be a game-changer around the corner.
Sony A99
A big chunk of camera, I guess this is what ‘minoltians’ have been waiting for, one serious camera for
The Pro looking for a workhorse body, great ergonomics, even if big, I liked this camera.
I can see the appeal of it as a workhorse, although the electronic viewfinder (which is excellent btw)
Is definitively not for me, but I’m sure many people will be happy about this.
Epson
They had some prototypes of New generation EVF display which are not used in any camera yet, those were extremely impressive. Makes what we know from the
Actual generation EVF’s look really old… they mentioned it’s QVGA resolution.
Nikon D600
Nothing unexpected, a ‘small’ and great camera in every regard. Fullframe for the ‘rest of us’
Canon 6D canon
Same as D600
Voigtlander
The 21 1.8 looks impressive, a rather big lens, I can see some sales to enthusiasts though, excellent lens,
Voigtlander has an really great lineup now with the top range primes. (would be nice to see an updated 50 1.1 though..)
Plustek
The Plustek 120 is impressive, huge, heavy, well finished and stylish, output on a huge monitor was
fantastic, implementation with silverfast seems to work fine,
The scanner is surprisingly low noise when scanning, much more silent than the coolscans I had.
The motorized ‘sled’ is noisier than the scanning process itself, the film holder are excellent really
Well made and heavy, also incredibly versatile, you can combine multiple film formats as you
Like to get the best out of the full scanning surface, the scanner scans from front load, and rejects the
Film holder on the back when finished, so It rather takes a big working space.
Reason for the delay was they want to make the Macintosh driver perfect, this is the final development
Step taking place now. This is THE must have for the medium format crowd, finally a Scanner
With driver support and Service support.
Ilford
Gold cotton textured line, really great new paper, available in textured and smooth
Artisan and Artist
Great new bag on the horizon for ‘bagsters’ in the nice A&A canvas fabric (item number PH-12 and PH-13) (they showed a prototypes only..)
This is one I’m looking for (no information on the price yet)…. Bag opens up by a zipper in the middle, padded inlay which
Can be removed, by opening the zipper, you get a nice weekend-travel bag
Leica Gallery
Some fantastic work was published at the Leica Gallery wonderful prints of many classic pictures mainly from magnum photographers.
This is it for the moment.
maitani
Well-known
forgot to add, the thumby on the M w, feels good, and helps well stabilize longer or heavy lenses.
also the added thickness is not an issue imo.
release noise is completely different to any digital M before, the shutter mechanism is completely new designed, it feels 'quicker' than the M9 shutter, about the same loudness, not as loud as the first M8 shutter. somewhere in between..
also the added thickness is not an issue imo.
release noise is completely different to any digital M before, the shutter mechanism is completely new designed, it feels 'quicker' than the M9 shutter, about the same loudness, not as loud as the first M8 shutter. somewhere in between..
paulfish4570
Veteran
thank you, sir ...
rodt16s
Well-known
Thank you for the concise update.
So the Plustek ejects the film holder from the rear of that huge box.. Hmm, not what I was expecting.
But at least you saw it work and some sample scans.
So the Plustek ejects the film holder from the rear of that huge box.. Hmm, not what I was expecting.
But at least you saw it work and some sample scans.
kmallick
Well-known
Thanks for the detailed report. Very informative.
I am for one glad to hear that you saw the Plustek 120 in action.
I am for one glad to hear that you saw the Plustek 120 in action.
jbrubaker
Established
Thanks for the eyewitness report! How did you feel about the size of the GH3 compared to your GH1? thanks ---john.
Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
My Epson normally sits on my desk in front of a window. Luckily the window opens so when the scanner finishes I'll only have to go outside, through the rear door and around to the open window to remove the film holder.
When scanning during bad weather I'll just have to remember to keep an umbrella by the door!
maitani
Well-known
to be honest, I expected it to be bigger from the first pics, it is a little higher than the GH-1/GH-2 body, and the grip is thicker. It felt exactly like a Panasonic L10 camera but thinner, I liked the increased bulk, It's not much heavyer than before, still a very light body compared to mid class dslrs. also the overall haptics are better (magnesium body/weather sealing) than before. great balancing with those 2 new f 2.8 zooms
Lss
Well-known
Your workflow needs to go on youtube.
giellaleafapmu
Well-known
So sad/strange to read that a camera which costs ten times more that a nex is "great" because if feels "like a nex or so". I guess that the end for small company has really come now that electronic is so predominant in cameras, hopefully the end of company like Leitz will not come soon.
GLF
maitani
Well-known
I believe if you use it as LV camera nex is definitely the best and fastest out there, leica managed to be on par, which is excellent news imo. you can use the M just like your M9 as pure rangefinder, the rest is just a plus.
rodt16s
Well-known
I was thinking I would mount it vertically over the rubbish bin.. just to reduce my normal neg handling path..