aizan
Veteran
It looks like that might be the best option, along with the 21/2.8 Distagon ZM. Giving up a bit of speed might not hurt that much on the new sensor.
Except if I have to deal with an accessory viewfinder, the Ricoh GR III comes into the picture, which is practically the same at about 1/3 the price. Decisions, decisions...why can’t someone make it dead easy?
Emile de Leon
Well-known
If I had the Pixii..I would use my WATE and a fast 35 and/or 50.
boojum
Ignoble Miscreant
I'm willing to admit ignorance. What is a WATE?
Johngwill
Invicta
boojum
Ignoble Miscreant
I get really stupid in that price range. LOL
Emile de Leon
Well-known
Hey..you can get the WATE for 3K used mint.
Godfrey
somewhat colored
The notion started the way most notions and products start, I'm sure. I was in that business for a long, long time, working for tech companies.. I am very familiar with the process.
But that doesn't stop the fact that engineering is a cool, rational, methodical, analytic process. A lot of tedium, a lot of very hard work, and a few lovely "Ah Hah!" moments along the way. As example: Look at Edwin Land and the Polaroid SX-70 camera. He had the creative notion of what he wanted to make right at the very beginning, but it took 40 years and a veritable phalanx of dedicated engineering people to make it into a reality. It was a much more complicated thing to bring into reality than something like a GoPro, which was little more than re-use of some already available hardware along with creative notions that people would find such a thing useful, and how to package it.
I hope for Pixii, that they continue to stay inspired and that they continue to work the details. Beyond that, well, I don't usually try to imagine how CEOs, CTOs, etc manage their vision and their businesses. In the world of photographic equipment, I like to see what's there, acquire what I think will work for me, and learn how to use it to suit my interests and make my photographs. That's the fun part, to me. Not conjecturing about what the company might or might not do in the future.
Yeah, I'm a stick in the mud. But I have a fabulous singing voice... LOL! ;D
G
But that doesn't stop the fact that engineering is a cool, rational, methodical, analytic process. A lot of tedium, a lot of very hard work, and a few lovely "Ah Hah!" moments along the way. As example: Look at Edwin Land and the Polaroid SX-70 camera. He had the creative notion of what he wanted to make right at the very beginning, but it took 40 years and a veritable phalanx of dedicated engineering people to make it into a reality. It was a much more complicated thing to bring into reality than something like a GoPro, which was little more than re-use of some already available hardware along with creative notions that people would find such a thing useful, and how to package it.
I hope for Pixii, that they continue to stay inspired and that they continue to work the details. Beyond that, well, I don't usually try to imagine how CEOs, CTOs, etc manage their vision and their businesses. In the world of photographic equipment, I like to see what's there, acquire what I think will work for me, and learn how to use it to suit my interests and make my photographs. That's the fun part, to me. Not conjecturing about what the company might or might not do in the future.
Yeah, I'm a stick in the mud. But I have a fabulous singing voice... LOL! ;D
G
Godfrey
somewhat colored
Oh yes:
Well, UPS is batting a thousand this week. I had three packages coming via UPS this week. The first was due Monday, arrived Wednesday. The second was due Wednesday, arrived Thursday.
The third was the Pixii: It was due here today. But it's stuck in the UPS in Kentucky, no entries or evidence of movement since 1:06am. I drove over to the local dispatch office at 4pm because they close at 5pm and I thought they might have more information. Nope. "Just wait until Monday. It might arrive tomorrow or Sunday, but we're closed those days so you couldn't pick it up anyway."
Such it is. I'm going to make dinner and enjoy a nice shot of single malt scotch whiskey.
G
Well, UPS is batting a thousand this week. I had three packages coming via UPS this week. The first was due Monday, arrived Wednesday. The second was due Wednesday, arrived Thursday.
The third was the Pixii: It was due here today. But it's stuck in the UPS in Kentucky, no entries or evidence of movement since 1:06am. I drove over to the local dispatch office at 4pm because they close at 5pm and I thought they might have more information. Nope. "Just wait until Monday. It might arrive tomorrow or Sunday, but we're closed those days so you couldn't pick it up anyway."
Such it is. I'm going to make dinner and enjoy a nice shot of single malt scotch whiskey.
G
boojum
Ignoble Miscreant
Oh yes:
Well, UPS is batting a thousand this week. I had three packages coming via UPS this week. The first was due Monday, arrived Wednesday. The second was due Wednesday, arrived Thursday.
The third was the Pixii: It was due here today. But it's stuck in the UPS in Kentucky, no entries or evidence of movement since 1:06am. I drove over to the local dispatch office at 4pm because they close at 5pm and I thought they might have more information. Nope. "Just wait until Monday. It might arrive tomorrow or Sunday, but we're closed those days so you couldn't pick it up anyway."
Such it is. I'm going to make dinner and enjoy a nice shot of single malt scotch whiskey.
G
G. - What a miserable weekend. However, the postponement will only heighten the joy when that Pixii shows up. Do I see a sudden onset of illness when the camera arrives, necessitating not going in to work? I'd do it. What the hell man, how many of these nouvelle vague cameras will you ever be getting? Allez-y/Go for it.
boojum
Ignoble Miscreant
For lenses, that price gets me up to ~IQ 75, still pretty stupid, but closer to home.
ranger9
Well-known
Yeah, but the rangefinder cutoff issue isn't an issue unless we're talking about lenses larger than 58mm in diameter or longer than 36mm from the mounting flange. I don't think any of the candidates here are in that size range (as long as you take the hood off the Ultron.)
Anybody who is interested in this size issue is invited to download a copy of my Pixii-friendly lens cheat sheet. Reminder: This cheat sheet is NOT a precise resource; I made it by rolling pieces of paper into tubes of various sizes, trimming them to various lengths, and noting when they started to intrude into the rangefinder field. But as far as I know it is the only resource on the internet that deals with this question in a systematic way.
boojum
Ignoble Miscreant
Out of general interest in the camera and how it tests I snagged this: https://www.dxomark.com/pixii-a1571-sensor-test/
https://www.dxomark.com/Cameras/Pixii/A1571
As with others my test is what do the pics look like but the testis interesting so there it is.
https://www.dxomark.com/Cameras/Pixii/A1571
As with others my test is what do the pics look like but the testis interesting so there it is.
ranger9
Well-known
I received my Pixii last October, and since the beginning of the year I have been carrying it to work every day and using it at least several times a week. The photos I make are mostly routine documentation pics showing daily activities at the arts center where I work in marketing; we use them for email newsletters, social media posts, our website, and occasionally in printed publications and grant reports. I gathered up a small collection of typical examples that you can see in this gallery.
When I first got the Pixii, it seemed frustrating and quirky, to the point that in my original YouTube review I likened it to a "temperamental French girlfriend" and wasn't even sure I would keep it after my trial period expired. I did keep it, though, and thanks to more familiarization and some timely software updates, most of my issues evaporated. It's now the camera I reach for first; when I have to use my Fujifilm X-T4 -- because I need a longer lens, for example -- my initial reaction is always, "Yuck, back to THIS clunky old thing." It's not that there's anything wrong with the X-T4, which I liked a lot when I got it; it's just that I learned photography on rangefinder cameras, and using the Pixii reminded me of how much I prefer that way of working.
So yes, I'm satisfied with my decision, and I certainly wouldn't have put the same money toward a used Leica or a used anything. People on RFF are always blithely assuring you that yes, of course you can buy a used but absolutely rock-solid, near-mint X for Y dollars with a seller warranty; however, my own experiences haven't been nearly that uniformly satisfactory, and I don't especially enjoy the "thrill of the hunt" aspect that goes into finding a good specimen of the camera you want being offered for sale by a dealer who isn't the Bernie Madoff of photo retailing. In buying the Pixii I liked knowing that I was buying a brand-new, manufacturer-warranted product from a company that has been in business for several years and offers excellent product support (for example, scroll up the thread to my story about discovering my rangefinder needed adjustment, and getting emails from a Pixii SAS engineer assuring me that I could do it myself, supplying complete illustrated directions, and offering to get on a video call with me if I wasn't sure I could do it.)
Still, the Pixii would strike me as an odd choice for mainstream newspaper photography, especially if it's going to be your main or only camera for that purpose. An M8 would strike me the same way, and presumably you've adjusted to that, but I'd still suggest several reservations:
- Lack of lens versatility -- you're limited to a range from semi-wide to short telephoto.
- Lighting limits -- there's absolutely no flash sync of any kind, so if you want to add supplementary lighting to your photos you're restricted to using LED video lights or similar.
- Power consumption -- often I'll shoot a couple of hundred photos during a session of a couple of hours, but to do that I need to rotate through three batteries and keep recharging them in succession. That works for me because I work in an office, but it might be more of a problem if you're out and about (although a PD battery pack might be a solution.)
Godfrey
somewhat colored
As a long time Leica RF owner/user, I don’t need any more lenses for the Pixii. I already have 10, 21, 24, 28, 35, 43, 50, 75, 90, and 135 mm lenses I like. Bought a finder for the 10mm, a few spare batteries, and a 512G dual connector thumb drive so it’s easy to move files from the camera to the computer, or back up the camera when the storage is full.
I use the same lenses with both my CL (digital) and M4-2, so although it’s a lot, it’s all worth having. Obviously I didn’t buy them all at the same time—that’s a lens kit I assembled over the course of 15-20 years.
I only rarely carry more than a couple of lenses at a time. Which two depends on my mood and intent.
G
I use the same lenses with both my CL (digital) and M4-2, so although it’s a lot, it’s all worth having. Obviously I didn’t buy them all at the same time—that’s a lens kit I assembled over the course of 15-20 years.
I only rarely carry more than a couple of lenses at a time. Which two depends on my mood and intent.
G
presspass
filmshooter
I do have a Canon DSLR system for when I need auto focus longer lenses and rapid sequences. The M8 and perhaps a Pixii go with an M mount rangefinder film set in case I need color to go with B&W film images I can scan. Or when I don’t have to haul the Canon system around. Neither the M8 nor a Pixii are intended to replace the DSLR kit, just to supplement them. Thanks.
boojum
Ignoble Miscreant
Same church, same pew.
However, as sweet as the M8.2 B&W's are the Pixii seems able, on paper, to beat them. When my Pixii arrives I will run some tests of the M8.2 and Pixii side by side. If the Pixii is as good or better as the M8.2, why schlep the M8.2?
Godfrey
somewhat colored
My "fast shooting, long lens" camera is and has been for years an Olympus E-M1 (with battery grip) paired with an Olympus ZD 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 (and optionally an ZD 1.4x teleconverter). For my uses (motorcycle road racing mostly), it's a superb system and performs brilliantly, and is more compact and lighter than a FF format system of equal performance. Not to mention that I've been shooting with it for so long now that whatever the system cost was is long, long forgotten.
I haven't had the need to use it for a while, but I'm very reluctant to ever let it go; it works that well. I do want to winnow down on some of the excess I'm storing... LOL!
I do a lot of tabletop and macro work. This is where the Leica CL with my collection of Leica R lenses and close up accessories has been utterly brilliant. That will continue.
The Pixii slots into my equipment mess for when I want a digital camera that's compact and has an optical viewfinder for sunny days and hand-held shooting. Nothing beats an optical finder for manual focusing with the wide to short tele range in daylight, for me anyway, and I nearly always get better results with manual focus ... autofocus just gets in my way most of the time.
We all have our personal predilections, eh?
G
I haven't had the need to use it for a while, but I'm very reluctant to ever let it go; it works that well. I do want to winnow down on some of the excess I'm storing... LOL!
I do a lot of tabletop and macro work. This is where the Leica CL with my collection of Leica R lenses and close up accessories has been utterly brilliant. That will continue.
The Pixii slots into my equipment mess for when I want a digital camera that's compact and has an optical viewfinder for sunny days and hand-held shooting. Nothing beats an optical finder for manual focusing with the wide to short tele range in daylight, for me anyway, and I nearly always get better results with manual focus ... autofocus just gets in my way most of the time.
We all have our personal predilections, eh?
G
boojum
Ignoble Miscreant
Draws shipped oar, puts it in the oarlock and then dips it into the water, . . .
If I am as enthralled with the Pixii after it gets here as I am now I figure I will use it with a complement of WA's: Canon 28, Canon 35, Jupiter 12, CV 35, CV 40 and then the good old non-WA Jupiter 8. I'll select out of that pack a precious few faves. That and the trusty Sony A7M III with the lovely 24 - 240 zoom which is a do it all lens of good character, color and definition.
I may define myself in the future as "a reformed Leica user." ROTFLMAOAPMP
I kind of like the ring of that. ;o)
If I am as enthralled with the Pixii after it gets here as I am now I figure I will use it with a complement of WA's: Canon 28, Canon 35, Jupiter 12, CV 35, CV 40 and then the good old non-WA Jupiter 8. I'll select out of that pack a precious few faves. That and the trusty Sony A7M III with the lovely 24 - 240 zoom which is a do it all lens of good character, color and definition.
I may define myself in the future as "a reformed Leica user." ROTFLMAOAPMP
I kind of like the ring of that. ;o)
aizan
Veteran
Looking at selling prices of Epson R-D1's, the Pixii isn't that crazy for APS-C:
$3000 R-D1x, new in box
https://www.ebay.com/itm/165347752728
$2000 R-D1, excellent
https://www.ebay.com/itm/313880292646
And the Epsons have an ancient, 6mp sensor.
But I still can't believe Pixii repeated the Epson's set of framelines.
$3000 R-D1x, new in box
https://www.ebay.com/itm/165347752728
$2000 R-D1, excellent
https://www.ebay.com/itm/313880292646
And the Epsons have an ancient, 6mp sensor.
But I still can't believe Pixii repeated the Epson's set of framelines.
aizan
Veteran
I don't get why the Pixii has the same framelines as the Epsons despite the difference in viewfinder magnification: 0,67x vs. 1.0x.
Does the Pixii viewfinder have a lot of eye relief, or is the image much smaller than the Epson?
Does the Pixii viewfinder have a lot of eye relief, or is the image much smaller than the Epson?