Should I consolidate to just Leica?

I liked my Nikon SLR gear too, but it was gathering dust on the shelf so I sold it all last year and bought a Nikkor medium zoom and a Fuji S5 for the color family/event snaps, and I have my rangefinders for 95% of what I do, B&W film. Very happy.

Do it. You only live once.
 
If you don't need what a D/SLR kit can offer you then I would sell it all and own all Leica.

Unfortunately, I can't do that. I have kids in sports and I prefer ( not need ) auto focus and a decent zoom lens--D2Hs and 80-200 AF-S does all I need. Sure I could get some photos of them with my RFer kits, and I have done that, but in the end, I just prefer to keep the two separate.

Regarding the Hermes MP. If I had the dough, I'd go ala carte or look for a MP3 😎

MP and M9 sounds so nice.
 
Quote: To be honest, the main difference I saw with having the Leica over my Nikons was the 35mm f/1.4 as opposed to a 50mm f/1.4. The success rate was actually a bit worse than my cheapo F65 nikon film camera, and the M6 is bigger too!

Daniel, reading about your former experience with Leica, my recommendation is to keep the Nikon. 🙂
 
snaggs said:
Wow, this is the handling that I wanted in a digital. Simple mechanical like my FM3a.

Now the question is, I have a bunch of Nikon stuff, and if I ebayed the lot, I could buy the Hermes MP + 35 cron thats on ebay atm.

28mm AI-S PC-Nikkor (NIB, never got round to using it!)
35mm AI-S f/1.4
85mm AI-S f/1.4
Nikon F6
Nikon FM3a & the rare tiny SB-30
Nikon AI-P 45mm

Its hard to sell things you like, but I would have a film body to accompany my M9 and all one system.

Do you think it would be a dumb move?

Daniel.
Click to expand...

The M8 isn't a "mechanical" camera. But, i know what you mean : )
So, you have an F6, but you're using all manual focus lenses on it.... I/m not mocking you. I have a similarly 'odd' situation. An F6, with only ONE lens - a manual focus 50/1.8 Series-E, a $50 MF lens on a $1500 AF body.... Silly.

Okay, so sell the F6. Get an F100. You could recoup over a thousand dollars right there, and not miss much at all. Sell the unused 28mm PC lens.

Get an M7 instead of the MP. The M7 user experience is closer to that of the m8/9, and since the M9 isn't really "mechanical" it's not really like you have to have an MP to under any particular rationale. As said above, skip the 'luxe' edition and recover with Cameraleather if you want an aesthetic boost. Cameraleather really is that good. I've used it for a Leica CM and a Zeiss Ikon, and in both cases the results were easily better than the stock coverings.
 
I switched over from an FM3a and a few of the same lenses you have (to an M system)... The only thing I miss is close focusing on the odd occasion where I want to get Eugene Richards close (which isn't often enough to worry about)
 
maddoc said:
Quote: To be honest, the main difference I saw with having the Leica over my Nikons was the 35mm f/1.4 as opposed to a 50mm f/1.4. The success rate was actually a bit worse than my cheapo F65 nikon film camera, and the M6 is bigger too!

Daniel, reading about your former experience with Leica, my recommendation is to keep the Nikon. 🙂
Click to expand...

I don't seem to be having the same issues with the Cron asph as I did with the old flare queen summilux! That certainly did turn me off a bit.
 
Do you want the M to take pictures with, or just for aesthetic value?
Is a pink Rolls Royce a better car for driving than a black one?

Save the money you would have spent on the Hermes and buy a good, but cheaper M body and some good Leica glass. Lose the Nikon stuff you really don't use (the F100 post is a good one - a great camera)...maybe keep a body and a couple of lenses.

That way you keep the flexibility of the Nikon if you find you still need it.
 
I don't think you should let go of your Nikon gear until or unless you are sure an all-rangefinder outfit will meet all your needs. There are times when an SLR is essential. The need might be for more accurate framing, and/or more accurate focusing with long lenses. Did you know the MP and M6 have framelines that are undersized for all but close-distance shots? The 50mm frameline covers the same field as my 60mm Elmarit on my R5. You have the 85/1.4? That's one of Nikon's best. SLR viewing and focusing is a clear-cut asset with that lens.

Consider a middle-ground solution. maybe you'd like to shoot with rangefinder wides, and SLR longer lenses.

I would suggest you shoot with the M9 and the Nikon all summer, and see how you feel later. The urgency to convert to an all-Leica rangefinder outfit might go into remission in only 30 to 90 days!
 
kemal_mumcu said:
Only sell stuff that you no longer use and haven't used in a while. It's a lot more expensive to re-buy it all back later again.
Click to expand...

I use to own 5 Nikon Pro bodies and culled down to only 3. Would of culled down to only two, but F3's have proven durable, there is a great oversupply of used F3's, and I was offered too little money.

Sold two F2AS's because they needed maintenance and then sold a lot of unneeded glass that went unused. I ended up buying a Rolleiflex 3.5F, a Leica IIIG and more Leica glass with the funds, but I kept some usefull Nikon SLR gear.

Although I have a 35mm Cron V.4, I still love my 35 Nikkor-O. I maintain 55mm Macro capability for slide copying, kept a 105/1.8 AIS for shooting portraits, and I like having a 24/2.0 AIS for street shooting.

I say sell the gear you are unlikely to use that is not going to have a future and begin to recycle gear that you have outgrown. I spent a lot of time obsessing and thinking because I did not want to have any future regrets. Seems like you are like me, but it helped that I thought things out for the long-term.

Perhaps if I had the opportunity to go all Leica I would of. A M9 MP pair with shared glass is an awsome kit, but I can be happy with what I have.

Calzone
 
Thanks for all the responses, I was only allowed to buy another lens for the M9 if I sold all my other gear, so I just put it all on ebay, including my 5000 ED scanner!

The upside, is I just bought a 75mm V2 Summilux to ease the pain.

Packing the FM3a and F6 was painfull though 🙁

Daniel.

PS. I bought a cheap Rollei 35RF (like Bessa 2) body for the occasional B&W
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom