Zeiss Ikon vs Leica

[Roland X]

I use Zeiss, Leica nd CV lenses but favor the Zeiss in general.

Hi X-ray
Would you care to elaborate? What's your faverite Zeiss lenses currently in use? Your B&W Gallery is amazing!

 

[richard_l]

I would probably buy a ZI before an M7, but neither really interests me very much. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with AE, but it can encourage sloppy photography. Unless one sets the exposure appropriately using exposure lock, the camera will assume that the central part of the scene averages out to a middle gray, and it will set exposure accordingly. Of course, using modern wide latitude film, one may never know the extent to which one is over or under exposing. 🙁 Admittedly the same thing can occur with built-in metering.

All sorts of automation can be good for fast action photography but not necessarily for other genres.

Richard

P.S. I take back that last paragraph. AF and AE are not always faster. Street photographers (and others) know how one may eliminate any automation delay whatsoever by pre-setting focus and exposure.

 

[peter_n]

Richard I use the AE on my M7s and I find it works pretty well. However I also carry a small lightmeter switched to incident so I can take a quick reading if I feel the light is dodgy. I arrived at an AE Nikon F3 from long use of standard manual SLRs and didn't need a reflected light meter then because I used sunny 16. I liked the F3 and I like the M7 and use the AE quite a bit. Its sort of like an automatic and stick shift car, as an ex competition driver I'm skilled with a stick shift but I love my automatic! 🙂

 

[Olsen]

With the prices of Leica these days, people who buy them ought to be concerned about shutter quality and body quality. Certainly people aren't buying them for the 1/50 flash sync or the accuracy of the cloth shutter compared to the Zeiss electronic shutter.

A Leica is now like a mechanical Swiss watch. While Swiss watches are used on a daily basis to tell time, they are certainly not as accurate as a $9.99 Timex. So the argument to buy a Leica is not just about features or specs. It has to do with perceived quality, luxury and reliability/longevity. So when one compares to a ZI, that has to be taken into account.

I would make it simple-- if you want features/specs, go for Bessa R2/R3/R4, if you want quality, luxury, reliability, longevity-- go for Leica. ZI sits in the middle between the Bessas and the Leicas.

I agree, - 100%

 

[matt fury]

I wish there was a place locally where I could try a ZIkon, but there isn't in all of Vegas.

 

[x-ray]

I would probably buy a ZI before an M7, but neither really interests me very much. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with AE, but it can encourage sloppy photography. Unless one sets the exposure appropriately using exposure lock, the camera will assume that the central part of the scene averages out to a middle gray, and it will set exposure accordingly. Of course, using modern wide latitude film, one may never know the extent to which one is over or under exposing. 🙁 Admittedly the same thing can occur with built-in metering.

All sorts of automation can be good for fast action photography but not necessarily for other genres.

Richard

P.S. I take back that last paragraph. AF and AE are not always faster. Street photographers (and others) know how one may eliminate any automation delay whatsoever by pre-setting focus and exposure.

For many years I've used manual M's and up untill twelve years ago always used the MR meter or hand held. I purchased a M6 and fell in love with the internal ,meter. Now I shoot MP's and last year was looking at the M7, ZI and Bessa auto bodies. I finally settled on the Zeiss and have never regretted it. Only one time in a couple of hundred rolls have I taken it off of AE and only a few have I used compensation. My missed exposures were due to not beliving the meter. Exposures are as accurate as the meter in my MP's. Consider what the MP and M6 meters do. They read a central spot and make it 18% gray just like every other meter. The Zeiss reads a stripe across the frame not just the cneter. All average to 18%.

When I first got into auto cameras I had a problem trusting the meter. When I started using autopilot when flying I had a problem trusting it too. Now I trust both and use them to my advantage. The autopilot relieves the load when flying instruments and allows me to concentrate on other parts of the flight, radio communications, systems of the aircraft and navigation. The AE allows me to concentrate on the creative side of the shoot without being loaded up with mechanical opperations. The same is true of auto focus on slr's. Both autopilot ans auto functions on a camera require your attention to effectively use them but used properly they relieve the work load and allow you to concentrate on other aspects of your journey whether travel or photography.