What Is Your Favorite Digital Rangefinder Camera?

[jaapv]

Misnaming a camera the "M" in the face of 60's years of what, close to a 600,000 + M's before it, is the real misnomer.

Instead of mindlessly following official the Leica misnomer Metropolis style,
it would b good to see more Leica owners appreciating Leica's heritage and wake up
to protest this bad PR foolishness and lack of awareness of all the M's that preceded THE M.

Stephen

I'm sure calling the M3 the M3 instead of the iv f gave the same reactions. 😀
I think I qualify as a traditionalist, but I don't see the problem.

 

[raid]

I have used only the M8 and the M9. The M9 is more versatile, and it has a FF sensor. The M8 allows faster back to back photos due to the shorter buffer time. Both are great cameras to me. One day, I will add the latest model digital Leica.

 

[Godfrey]

Misnaming a camera the "M" in the face of 60's years of what, close to a 600,000 + M's before it, is the real misnomer.

Instead of mindlessly following official the Leica misnomer Metropolis style,
it would b good to see more Leica owners appreciating Leica's heritage and wake up
to protest this bad PR foolishness and lack of awareness of all the M's that preceded THE M.

Stephen

It is the manufacturers' prerogative to set the names of their products as they choose. Leica chose to simplify the naming of all their products with a model name and a type name, for example Leica X typ 113, Leica M typ 240. It allows easier identification of models when there are several model lines being produced, for instance the M, the X, the S, and the T models lines in current Leica production.

These naming changes are inevitably a bit messy when first done, and traditionalists always balk at change. But Leica is a modern, thriving company with expanding product lines ... not just a historical artifact and heritage ... so change is inevitable. 🙂

G

 

[jaapv]

To elaborate: Leica regards this camera as a new chapter in the M story. (see 100 Jahre Leica, page 81 : "Traditionsbruch") thus thenchangemin naming convetion is logical.

 

[Vince Lupo]

I'm sure calling the M3 the M3 instead of the iv f gave the same reactions. 😀
I think I qualify as a traditionalist, but I don't see the problem.

And then the M2 came out and then the M1, then the M4, then the M5. So nothing necessarily makes numeric sense in the world of Leica 🙂

BTW I voted Monochrom - or MM as you call it.

 

[Pete B]

BTW I voted Monochrom - or MM as you call it.

😀


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[jaapv]

And then the M2 came out and then the M1, then the M4, then the M5. So nothing necessarily makes numeric sense in the world of Leica 🙂

BTW I voted Monochrom - or MM as you call it.

From time to time , when I am feeling lazy- it is a Putsism..😀

 

[EpicRavenLord]

Digital Rf should be more popular!

Digital Rf should be more popular!

I cast my vote for the only digital RF I've actually owned... The RD1-X it was very nice to use. I will say if they ever come out with a Zeiss Ikon Zm digital with one of those amazing low light Sony sensors I'd shoot exclusively rangefinder and sell my Nikon gear no questions asked. I don't see why they haven't yet.. Ziess has a great selection of rangefinder lenses ready to go!

That would be my favorite Digital rangefinder for sure.

 

[Keith]

I cast my vote for the only digital RF I've actually owned... The RD1-X it was very nice to use. I will say if they ever come out with a Zeiss Ikon ZM digital with one of those amazing low light Sony sensors I'd shoot exclusively rangefinder and sell my Nikon gear no questions asked. I don't see why they haven't yet.. Ziess has a great selection of rangefinder lenses ready to go!

That would be my favorite Digital rangefinder for sure.

I've said it before and I'll say it again ... shoehorn a Foveon sensor into the old RD-1 and I would never need another camera! 😀

(and I wouldn't care about the crop sensor)

 

[jaapv]

With the incidence angle of a Foveon sensor APS-C wouldn't be small enough. I think it would need to be half as small again...

 

[Sparrow]

I've said it before and I'll say it again ... shoehorn a Foveon sensor into the old RD-1 and I would never need another camera! 😀

(and I wouldn't care about the crop sensor)

... yep, that would be a great bit of kit, I've always liked that sensor ... and judging by the results of these polls the RD1 is clearly the peoples' favorite digital RF camera

 

[Dante_Stella]

Poll originally started by Raid.

This is a new version with more voting options.

Votes have been reset to zero.

Stephen

1. If you are going to lump all RD-1 models together, you should lump all color M9 into a single line and M 240 variants together into another.

2. By the poll, 73% of people prefer Leica products to Epson, and the overwhelming majority of them prefer the 24x36mm sensors.

Dante

 

[neonart]

1. If you are going to lump all RD-1 models together, you should lump all color M9 into a single line and M 240 variants together into another.

2. By the poll, 73% of people prefer Leica products to Epson, and the overwhelming majority of them prefer the 24x36mm sensors.

Dante

Agreed. The M9, M9-P, and M-E are the same family with identical IQ and near identical ergonomics. The M240 and M-P240 are also about the same. Same with the M8 family.

 

[krötenblender]

Agreed. The M9, M9-P, and M-E are the same family with identical IQ and near identical ergonomics. The M240 and M-P240 are also about the same. Same with the M8 family.

Well, I don't agree. As I understand it, the poll is not about which digital RF sensor one prefers, but about the camera as a whole.

E.g. the missing frameline selector makes the ME a totally different camera as the M9 for me. I really miss the selector on my M240. You might not care about it, but some do, and so it it justified, to count them separate. The Epsons could be two groups for the same reason. Two with the swiveling screen and the one without. Sometimes small technical differences make the big difference if one loves or hates a product.

Anyway, even if you put all Epsons in one block and also group similar Leicas, it is very impressive, how many people prefer the images or handling of the old and outdated Epson.

 

[CameraQuest]

Anyway, even if you put all Epsons in one block and also group similar Leicas, it is very impressive, how many people prefer the images or handling of the old and outdated Epson.

Except for the complicated dial on top and loud shutter, Epson and Cosina got it right the first time.

Many consider the RD1 family to handle substantially better than the digital Leica rangefinders. I am one of them.

Stephen

 

[Darthfeeble]

The Epson, just for its retro features.

 

[Sprocketdog23]

The Epson R-D1, for the 1:1 finder, the wind on lever, I can hide the Display, the dials give a fun element.

 

[EpicRavenLord]

Can't agree due to one thing.

Can't agree due to one thing.

I've said it before and I'll say it again ... shoehorn a Foveon sensor into the old RD-1 and I would never need another camera! 😀

(and I wouldn't care about the crop sensor)

Given the nature of rangefinder photography the sensor would have to be a lowlight beast... The Foveon is not. Slap an A7s full frame sensor into an Ikon ZM ... And fear no light... Or lack there of.

 

[Keith]

Given the nature of rangefinder photography the sensor would have to be a lowlight beast... The Foveon is not. Slap an A7s full frame sensor into an Ikon ZM ... And fear no light... Or lack there of.

I agree that the Foveon is no low light wonder but its black and white output is unmatched IMO and is usable up to 6400 in the little Sigmas with the correct post processing. I think it has a better monochrome output than the MM. It can be stretched to 1600 in colour provided your exposure is accurate and I love the handling of the Epson. 🙂

 

[jaapv]

The problem with the Foveon sensor is that due to its construction in three layers the pixels are quite deep. Thus it has quite narrow incidence angles. This will produce problems on short register cameras like rangefinders. If the sensor is any reasonable size, there will be severe vignetting and colour shift effects towards the edges and corners.