The best 20 minutes of the year for eBay deals

[rxmd]

The next twenty or thirty minutes are probably great for getting good last-minute deals on rangefinder gear on eBay, because all the collectors who are usually on the watch to snipe things at the last minute will be busy elsewhere, watching livestreams and hitting Leica's servers.

 

[dcsang]

hehe...
I believe you're right.. the "live stream" is currently down from my neck of the woods - I'm receiving a page load error on Leica's U.S. page 🙂

Cheers,
Dave

 

[dng88]

Understand but you can listen to it and continue bidding!

 

[rxmd]

OK, it's over, RFF is back up again, life as we know it can continue.

 

[dcsang]

So what exactly was the "big news"? 😉

Dave

 

[SolaresLarrave]

A full-frame Leica that won't need UV filters.

 

[dcsang]

Ya.. I saw the DPReview stuff - along with their "Leica-isation" of their site 😉 (take a look at the logo).

I've found only one DPReview sample image that was shot at ISO1600 - personally, considering the advances in high ISO a la Canon and Nikon, I'm not that impressed by it.

That said, clearly this is a lot better and what most (if not all) Leicaphiles and RF folk wanted.

I wonder why they decided to go with 18 MP though. The images would be a lot cleaner if they went with a 10 MP full frame sensor - and you'd still be able to blow up the images to "uber poster" size 😀

Cheers,
Dave

 

[elshaneo]

The Leica M8/M8.2 sensor pixel size is 6.8um x 6.8um.

The Leica M9 sensor pixel size is also 6.8um x 6.8um. I guess Leica wanted to keep the same pixel size, that's why the Leica M9 has a full frame 18.5 Megapixels sensor 😉

I wonder why they decided to go with 18 MP though. The images would be a lot cleaner if they went with a 10 MP full frame sensor - and you'd still be able to blow up the images to "uber poster" size 😀

 

[dcsang]

The Leica M8/M8.2 sensor pixel size is 6.8um x 6.8um.

The Leica M9 sensor pixel size is also 6.8um x 6.8um. I guess Leica wanted to keep the same pixel size, that's why the Leica M9 has a full frame 18.5 Megapixels sensor 😉

That makes sense 🙂

I've just looked at Erik's sample images - even though they've been compressed to all hell by Flickr 😉 - they don't look that bad @ ISO 1600 from DNG to JPG in terms of noise and "feel" a lot better than the ones over at DPReview.

That said, still, for $7000 USD I'd rather buy an entire D700/5D MK II kit - it would be more useful to me - but for folks who can afford the M9 (and there's plenty who can) I'm sure they'll be plenty satisfied 🙂

Cheers,
Dave

 

[Benjamin Marks]

Dave:

I thought the same thing about the ISO 1600 image at DPReview. I was pretty impressed by the lack of fall-off in the wide-angle pictures though, given the number of "it can't be done" opinions voiced here and elsewhere about a full-frame RF camera. The price tag will be difficult for me to swallow, though. I'm settling in for a long wait on this one. Without getting in to the gory details, I paid full price each for the R-D1, the M8 and the D3 over the last five years and it is time to sit back and take a deep breath. More fool me, of course, for purchasing at full-retail. It's funny. I just bought Picket Wilson's RB67 off the classifieds with a lens, back, shade, folding hood and prism viewer for $250. That's right. $250. I had always wanted one of these and at that price, I just jumped. Now, I will use this camera in very different ways than my smaller gear. But this set up will be enough to produce world-class images for quite a while. In digi-land, the M8 and the D3 are a dynamite combo. You've got your telephoto and high-ISO situations covered by the D3 and your wides/stealth/street covered by the M8 -- and that is pretty much all I need hand-held cameras for. I won't deny the tug of what Leica is offering. But $7 grand is about two year's hobby expense for me. So "uncle" - I will have to sit this hand out.

Ben Marks

 

[Rayt]

I keep telling myself I don't want it I don't need it but pretty much know I'll end up with it eventually.

 

[dcsang]

My thoughts exactly Ben.

I had the M8 (also paid full retail price for it) and while it was handy for traveling to Australia with, I couldn't justify hanging onto it in a year where I new I was going to have to upgrade my 5D's (and eventually switch systems).

At $7,000 USD - the M9 is a "no brainer" - i.e. there's no way I'm going to be able to afford one 😀

I was just doing some of the usual comparisons in my noggin - what $7,000 USD will buy me nowadays - it's equal, currently, to about $7,700 CAD.

For that, I can:
- rent a nice 1 bedroom condominium on the waterfront in downtown Toronto for about 5 months.
- fill my Honda civic 183 times (that's about 3 years worth of gas there... once a week fill up)
- buy a brand new Vespa LX150 AND all the gear required to ride it AND the cost of getting a motorcycle license to drive it
- buy groceries for a year ($120 per week x 64 weeks)
etc. etc. etc.

For me, the Leica M's (as much as I've tried to integrate them) are strictly for "personal" photography - professionally, I have to stick to the big AF dslrs - that's just me - others may be able to do it but I haven't gotten around to being able to do so yet. So, $7700 CAD is a lot of coin to put out just for 'personal' use where I will not be able to apply any depreciation or write offs to the equipment. 🙂

Cheers,
Dave

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

- fill my Honda civic 183 times

...with twenty-dollar bills.

 

[dcsang]

...with twenty-dollar bills.

Yep... it only takes two $20 bills fill my honda civic 🙂

Cheers,
Dave

 

[Benjamin Marks]

Ha. As with many of these discussions, in my household the topic eventually comes up in conversation with my wife. When I casually mentioned the price tag on this one, she was shelling beans or otherwise engaged. Her casual comment: well, you won't be getting that as a birthday present.

I know I've mentioned portions of this story before, but when I was in college there was a guy named Brett who ran a camera store down the street. He sold paper and chems to the college kids -- nice fellow generally. But because he knew there were college kids with disposable cash down the street he kept a couple of Leica SLR's around in display cases. The R4s was the camera-du-moment. Oh, man, I wanted that thing. I just liked the way the shutter sounded. I was sold on the mystique. But the COST! I forget the actual dollar amount, but it was an amount of money that put all my ancillary college costs (books, food, beer, film) in the shade. It was an amount of money that was so large, I couldn't even think of asking my parents to help foot the bill. They would have objected on principle, I think, even if I had proposed to split the cost -- it was simply too much money to spend on a camera. Well years passed and I became a professional with a decent living and generaly kept the obsession with photo gear. And I have enough equipment to take the pictures I want, with relatively little compromise. This sort of price announcement puts me right back where I was as a 19 year old. See the pretty thing. Want the pretty thing. Read the price tag. Go back to reading my book.

[Shakes his head - we never learn]

Ben

 

[-doomed-]

Ill wait the next three years and buy the M9 when its successor comes out , that's the best I can do, my film M3 and epson v300 scanner get me by just fine right now.

 

[dcsang]

What planet do you live on? 😛

Right here 🙂

I'm a single guy - and I don't buy a whole crap load of food and it's not hugely expensive (for what I buy/eat) so I know what my budget is like 😀

If I had a family - ok, that's a different story 🙂

Cheers,
dave

 

[majid]

That said, still, for $7000 USD I'd rather buy an entire D700/5D MK II kit - it would be more useful to me - but for folks who can afford the M9 (and there's plenty who can) I'm sure they'll be plenty satisfied 🙂

I have the complete 5DmkII kit (and before that a decent D3 kit). That said, I find I use my M8 far more often than the 5DmkII, mostly because it is so compact and easy to carry anywhere.

Ya.. I saw the DPReview stuff - along with their "Leica-isation" of their site 😉 (take a look at the logo).

Phil Askey has also come out of the closet as a Leicaphile:

Full disclosure - personal bias

Before the M8 review I had no experience of rangefinder photography, something I considered relegated to history. During the review process (and thanks to input from those who had used rangefinders before) I gradually began to ‘get’ the advantages, being better ‘connected’ to the subject thanks to the huge bright viewfinder, and being forced to focus manually, alwys select the aperture, and think more about the shot. Not to mention in the case of the M8, the look from those gorgeous prime lenses (amazingly sharp at the point of focus fading smoothly to silky bokeh). Hence not long after posting my review I bought an M8 for myself (along with a bunch of lenses), and ever since (and unconsciously) all of my personal favorite photographs have come from the M8.

I've found only one DPReview sample image that was shot at ISO1600 - personally, considering the advances in high ISO a la Canon and Nikon, I'm not that impressed by it.

Neither am I, it is roughly comparable to a Canon 5D and nowhere near a D3/D700 or 5DmkII. Considering Kodak makes it, it could have been far, far worse.

 

[Pherdinand]

Dcsang- what planet are you living on, that goes around the Sun in 435 days?

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Wait for the Superbowl.

Football been Very, very good to me...

I've saved hundreds of dollars on cameras thanks to Football games.

Dave is from the future. Earth slowed down in its Orbit. I estimate he is from 10,000,000,000 AD. The M1000000 is being announced for 70,000 quatros.