boojum
Ignoble Miscreant
Bench pressing two batteries here! On a lot of protein shakes, though.
spb_ch
Member
Take care with those batteries man!
boojum
Ignoble Miscreant
It's those damned anabolic steroids. I wear the special weightlifting belt when I am pressing.
boojum
Ignoble Miscreant
Blues are doubtful here. Hmm. Here is an early morning shot this morning when I let out the dog. Done with an M9 and Amotal lens. This is from an uncompressed DNG SOOC which was exported from Darktable as a JPEG and then reduced in size by GIMP. No other modifications were made.
spb_ch
Member
Yours may be an accurate vision of what one saw with one's own eyes, for me I would have it modified very slightly..... this is all VERY subjective though.
boojum
Ignoble Miscreant
And you are correct. The exposure compensation on the camera was at - 1/3. I had just moved it back to 0 when I saw your post. You confirm that 0 will be better. And note the blue, the point of the shot, we get a lot of it here. The US Pacific Coast has clean, clear air off the Pacific. The Sunset District in San Francisco has light like the Alps it is so blue and clear. Startling the first few times you see it.
spb_ch
Member
Thanks, I used Capture One to alter the colour temperature slightly, until it looked more natural to my eyes on my calibrated screen.
Ok, are the people who bought it still using it and, if so, how are you liking it? I know Godfrey returned it, but how about the other 1 or 2 that received it?
spb_ch
Member
Hopefully they are happy! I have one coming in the next week or so now, and I hope I will be happy!
boojum
Ignoble Miscreant
Mine is deadlined. The camera firmware is kaput, it works but oddly. I cannot get the app on my Android phone to work correctly. Other than that it is great. LMAO I will try and get David Barth to come on-line in and work some magic on my Pixii which he can do with Teamviewer. It has been a disappointment. As much as I groan and moan about the Uebermechlilchkeitkopf of Wetzlar their cameras work when I pick them up and render good images. I have been playing with the Sony A7M III and have been reminded of just what a wonderful camera it is. Point it at something and you will get a picture. And it will be in focus and correctly exposed. You have to say something about that. So for batting averages it is Sony, Leica and Pixii bringing up the rear, way back. I do not even have a lens on the Pixii. Why would I? It doesn't work. I must contact Barth at Pixii and see what he can do to make Pixii into Lazarus. I know it works well when the firmware functions right. So it is on me to get Barth to do his black arts.
I have gotten some very good images with the Pixii when it worked.
I have gotten some very good images with the Pixii when it worked.
Man, sorry to hear that. No fun. I am leaning towards a used M262 or M240 at this point.
boojum
Ignoble Miscreant
I have an M240 I like but prefer the M9. This is just me. Other folks are having better luck.
ThatOtherZoey
Newbie
I received mine with a vertically misaligned range finder patch (likely due to rough handling in shipping). David was very helpful in coordinating to have it shipped back to the factory for realignment and a fix put in to avoid a repeat of the shipping induced alignment issues. I am slightly near sighted and without a diopter, focusing is already a challenge. However the alignment vastly improved things for me.
The camera has it's quirks with very unreliable and unpredictable white balance, and a color shift from the center to the edges of the frame (field curvature?). However, since I got it back, around the time that Mattias posted his Monochrome video, I have given the monochrome mode a try and I have to say I am very intrigued. I have never been that interested in Monochrome photography, as on most of the cameras I own(ed) it seems boring to me. But I have been trying to compare the output against my Fuji X-pro3 in Acros film simulation and I'm starting to appreciate it's potential. I hope to also find the time to shoot my Epson R-D1 side by side with the Pixii soon.
In all honesty I do understand why most people wouldn't want to keep it, or wouldn't even consider one in the first place. But I am keeping mine because I appreciate what Pixii is trying to do and really want to see where they go with this. I'm not a Leica owner and never really plan to be. But my Epson is very dear to me. I wish I could have a second one, but they are increasingly hard to get which is what led me to be interested in a Pixii. I figured the Pixii might be an interesting alternative to pair with my Epson so I don't wear it out too soon.
The camera has it's quirks with very unreliable and unpredictable white balance, and a color shift from the center to the edges of the frame (field curvature?). However, since I got it back, around the time that Mattias posted his Monochrome video, I have given the monochrome mode a try and I have to say I am very intrigued. I have never been that interested in Monochrome photography, as on most of the cameras I own(ed) it seems boring to me. But I have been trying to compare the output against my Fuji X-pro3 in Acros film simulation and I'm starting to appreciate it's potential. I hope to also find the time to shoot my Epson R-D1 side by side with the Pixii soon.
In all honesty I do understand why most people wouldn't want to keep it, or wouldn't even consider one in the first place. But I am keeping mine because I appreciate what Pixii is trying to do and really want to see where they go with this. I'm not a Leica owner and never really plan to be. But my Epson is very dear to me. I wish I could have a second one, but they are increasingly hard to get which is what led me to be interested in a Pixii. I figured the Pixii might be an interesting alternative to pair with my Epson so I don't wear it out too soon.
My last digital M was the M9. I would rather have the high iso capability of the cmos. Plus I don’t want a sensor issue.
boojum
Ignoble Miscreant
My M9 has had the sensor and board replaced by the company. CCD is not a problem for me. I remember when Tri-X hit the market and was high speed magic. ISO 160 for day and 640 for night on the M9 work just great for me. How much color film is ISO 640? I do not think the M240 has as good color and image but that is just me. Yes, I know you can dick around with the image in edit and make it "look like" CCD. But that effort is tacit admission that CCD is better. So why bother? Just shoot CCD to begin with. And if it ever does get weird I can have Jadon Rosado (https://www.instagram.com/reddotrepair/) do his magic on the sensor. But as the sensor has the factory sensor and circuit board upgrade I think I am OK.
All that said, the M240 is a fine camera and a good buy. I know you can work some magic with it. Look out, Santiago! Cuidado, Santiago!
Leica no longer does those replacements for free though as they should. I am not into those expensive third party replacements either. Too much of a gamble for me shipping wise from Chile. As far as me liking high iso, it is the one modern convenience, well maybe great AF too, that I actually like. As far as CCD being better I just do not agree. That is subjective. I prefer CMOS, but I am also not looking to have my digital look like film. I like the look of modern digital.
Yes, it is not perfect but for me it is the lesser of evils all considered. So thank you y si cuidado haha. What is funny is I most likely will not use it for street. I prefer my Fujis for that. I do a lot of non street photography these days too.
Emile de Leon
Well-known
3 separate RFF PIXII customer experiences..
And to think..some here including the head bartender..got on my case bad for my stating that...PIXII...is a real mess of a camera..
Getting on my case for an honest opinion..
Before they blew their $3K..and regretted it..
And quick as a bunny...shipped right back to France.....for a loss..
I had a car like that back in the day..was a Renault..everything that could go wrong..did...and then the engine blew up and it went to the junkyard..
Dont say I didnt warn ya months ago...
And to think..some here including the head bartender..got on my case bad for my stating that...PIXII...is a real mess of a camera..
Getting on my case for an honest opinion..
Before they blew their $3K..and regretted it..
ptpdprinter
Veteran
Some have already moved on to the next shiny object. GAS is a cruel master.
boojum
Ignoble Miscreant
You neglect to account for those who are having quite good luck with the Pixii and getting better photos than many do with any camera. As for French cars I can say I had a Renault, good car. I have a 2CV, good car. Any sampling with one observation is notoriously inaccurate. Your bad luck with a Renault means you had bad luck with a car. Maybe you just do not know how to maintain a car. How do we know?
I had an Oldsmobile convertible that was a piece of junk. Does that mean Oldsmobiles were bad? Does that mean GM was bad? Does that mean American cars and therefore other American products are bad? Your reasoning would suggest that. It is invalid.
However if Schadenfreude is your thing, and it seems to be, have at it as it seems to be one thing which you find pleasure in and you must need it desperately to act as you do.
Godfrey
somewhat colored
Emile,
If you're referring to me as that first quote, well I don't appreciate the snarky, 'know it all" BS tone.
I didn't lose anything, I gained the experience and the knowledge I was after, and I did exactly what my plan was. To wit: Obtain one, see if it was suitable for my use, keep it if yes, return it if not. The only thing I "lost" was the time involved, but that's the price of actual information from first hand experience. In fact, it led me to understand even more clearly what I was after, and led me to buy the M10 Monochrom which I'm absolutely delighted with.
If you want to be snarky about it, you could say that the Pixii caused me to spend an additional US$6000 ... but the M10-M is such an amazing camera, I am happy to have done so.
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Regards the M9 vs M240 (and M262) ... I've had all of them and used them extensively. I was never all that happy with the dynamics of the M9 in use—it always seemed to be just slightly slower and slightly unresponsive in use than I was happy with, and I disliked the JPEGs it made with the weird color casts. They never reminded me of any film that I'd be inclined to use. It's raw files were good, but it has significant limitations on sensitivity and noise. The M240 is a far more responsive camera, produces excellent JPEG and raw files, has much better battery life per charge.
Since I almost always used/use raw files rather than JPEGs with either, the difference in the raw files (presuming a decent camera calibration profile which neither of them seem to have from Leica to my eye) makes choosing between CMOS and CCD based on what I see a toss up ... there's no detectable difference in the rendered images that isn't fundamental to the ISO and noise thresholds of the bodies. The M262 is just like the M240 minus a few camera features; and mostly identical in the imaging realm.
The M10-M is simply in a different plane of existence compared to all three of those. Significantly more sensitivity and resolution at my disposal, extremely responsive, all the features of the M240 and just a little bit slimmer, tighter, and more responsive. Monochrome only, of course, so if color is important it's not the right camera for you.
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I still think the Pixii is a good effort and can/will be a good choice for many who want a less expensive, new, digital RF camera. It's early development times still for it. But there's no denying that it is not yet mature enough in its development history for most, and no amount of price advantage takes the place of consistency and reliability for me. Leica stuff just works, you get what you pay the big bux for. Same goes for other popular brands like Sony, Olympus, Nikon, Canon, etc and lower prices to boot... but none of them are RF cameras, and they don't take the primary set of lenses I have and want to use natively.
G