Did you give up SLRs for Leica?

[lct]

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I will add this: IMHO current digital SLRs are just oversized cell-phones...without the phone...

Haha and the M9 looks like a gameboy with its mandatory chimping i guess.

Besides oldies from the sixtees what you describe is a good FF DSLR with Brightscreen focus screen and Zeiss lenses don't you.

[Pindy]

You can do nearly every job/picture with a SLR - but not every with a M.

 

So the answer ist clear enough.........

 

Greetings

Heinz

 

Some very insightful replies here. This is true, but it also assumes that I want to be that well-rounded! I'm feeling like 80-90% of what I shoot is handled perfectly by an M system camera. I don't shoot sports and while I admire all the Strobists & Joe McNally's of this world, I don't really do "posed" (read: captive subject) photography so the notion of keeping a DSLR for it's prowess with flash is a waste. I can take the 3 group photos I take per year with pocket wizards, the Nikon flashes I own and an M.

 

Macro photography isn't important to me but I do like the 200mm focal length for landscapes. Beyond 200mm I don't have much of a need for telephoto. The DSLR has become this bloated beast that makes me feel deeply self-conscious when I hold and carry one. I wouldn't care if it were out in a field, but I'm seldom out in a field.

 

I'm predicting the DSLR (it's a D700) will be relegated to one or two tasks but I no longer feel like I want to carry it with me. Nobody pays me for my work so I'm free to indulge my creature comforts. Most of what I do on a daily basis is to be stealthy, quiet and invisible:

 

[Pindy]

I will add this: IMHO current digital SLRs are just oversized cell-phones...without the phone.

 

But if there was a current digital SLR equivalent to (take your pick) Nikon F/F2/F3, Canon F-1, Contax RX, Leica M9 - i.e. with a BIG viewfinder, split-image focus screen, no little AF-point doodads scattered around the finder, shutter dial, aperture rings on the lenses, lenses optimized for manual focus and handling - and, optionally: built-in motor and a pop-off prism for low-angle work...then I might become interested again.

 

I expect that is what the Leica R users were hoping for in an R10.

 

I agree 100% with all the mod cons of the SLR, only they are so loud and the lenses so large (I require f/2 or faster) that they, for me anyways, invite scorn in many of the environments in which I make photographs. There are often microphones listening to my every release. The "quiet modes" of the new Canons are half-useless because you must focus via the LCD—not my favourite way to live. So seldom can I crack off an in-focus picture this way, that I've given up. Mirrors suck.

 

BUT— most of you have convinced me that I will need the D700 for SOMETHING. The rest of you have convinced me I don't really need the D700. I think it'll stay just for the remote triggering that I use more often than I thought I would.

 

Again, my many thanks to you all.

[Guest henri klein]

You shall not set up rules in photography. You shall not try to impose the rules you've deliberately chosen to adhere to upon others.

 

schwätzer

[Photon42]

The G1 is just another sort of SLR no?

 

well - the reflex is gone Sure you're right. So I haven't given up totally, but maybe to 80%

 

Cheers

Ivo

[henry34n]

I gave up my EOS 5d for the new m9 and i`m happy!

[adan]

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Haha and the M9 looks like a gameboy with its mandatory chimping i guess.

Besides oldies from the sixtees what you describe is a good FF DSLR with Brightscreen focus screen and Zeiss lenses don't you.

 

I don't chimp - but I do play "Tiger Woods Golf" on my M9 screen during slow moments on shoots

 

No, I'm not aware of any current "good FF DSLR" with a shutter dial (knob with numbers engraved on it, not control wheel + LCD).

 

Zeiss ZE and ZA lenses for Canon and Sony have lost the aperture rings, just like the OEM lenses, unfortunately.

 

The Brightscreens for the D700 or D3 (Nikon being the only player still using at least aperture rings) are only available as cut-down MF screens with huge 13mm-wide focus aids (They make a smaller version, the #4, but not for those cameras).

 

If I could live with 1.3 Mpixels and a tethered hard-drive the size of two shoe boxes, I guess a Nikon/Kodak DCS (DCS100) would come the closest: Kodak DCS 100

[Pindy]

I gave up my EOS 5d for the new m9 and i`m happy!

 

I suppose it's nice to actually find one.

[LondonM]

Yup. Gave up my D80 and 3 fast VR lenses. Not missing the long lens yet (70-200 f2.8 VR), but when I get out to photograph my wife on her horses in competition I may well. Have to practice my technique with teh RF.

[Pindy]

Yup. Gave up my D80 and 3 fast VR lenses. Not missing the long lens yet (70-200 f2.8 VR), but when I get out to photograph my wife on her horses in competition I may well. Have to practice my technique with teh RF.

 

Good point. If you NEED a 70-200, nothing else really substitutes. Which makes me question the need for such an expensive DSLR. If my DSLR needs are mostly telephoto in nature, in daylight, a D300 would probably suit those needs better. D700 + 70-200 or 300 f/2.8 or 200 f/2 and a monopod at least. At that point, I would feel too much like a paparazzo.

 

Another good use for a DSLR is the "other person" factor. You cannot readily hand a Leica M to someone else to take a photo without considerable instruction on focusing due to the unfamiliarity.

 

Okay, you guys talked me out of it.

[Guest NN57204]

I gave up my Pentax-Equipment six weeks ago - and made the step to a M8 with some nice lenses.

[Pindy]

Mrs Pindy told me she would be very sad if I gave up the D700, so my plan is to buy an M6 TTL and a used 50mm Summicron probably and get in on the ground floor of the system, become more proficient, all the while saving for the M9, which will take a while, but it gets me using the M hopefully within a month. I'm borrowing an M6 TTL + 35mm Summilux ASPH from a friend now and cannot keep doing so for much longer.

[norsk]

Mrs Pindy told me she would be very sad if I gave up the D700, so my plan is to buy an M6 TTL and a used 50mm Summicron probably and get in on the ground floor of the system, become more proficient, all the while saving for the M9, which will take a while, but it gets me using the M hopefully within a month. I'm borrowing an M6 TTL + 35mm Summilux ASPH from a friend now and cannot keep doing so for much longer.

 

Yes - I think a 35 mm would be better to buy. I think 50 mm is very often to small.

 

Greetings

Heinz

[Pindy]

Yes - I think a 35 mm would be better to buy. I think 50 mm is very often to small.

 

Greetings

Heinz

 

You could be right, and I could get my portraits with a 90 or 75.

[norsk]

Good point. If you NEED a 70-200, nothing else really substitutes. Which makes me question the need for such an expensive DSLR. If my DSLR needs are mostly telephoto in nature, in daylight, a D300 would probably suit those needs better. D700 + 70-200 or 300 f/2.8 or 200 f/2 and a monopod at least. At that point, I would feel too much like a paparazzo.

 

Another good use for a DSLR is the "other person" factor. You cannot readily hand a Leica M to someone else to take a photo without considerable instruction on focusing due to the unfamiliarity.

 

Okay, you guys talked me out of it.

 

To make pictures of myself I have a tripod with me. And all my (Nikon-)cameras has a selftimer. And I have an "engine" (sorry don´t know the english word) to make pictures from myself up to a distance of 80 m with me !!!

 

Regards

Heinz

[Guest mc_k]

Battling some feelings at this moment ...I just was hoping a few of you had a story of no longer needing a reflex camera once you discovered the M did what you needed.

 

I started with the RF camera. I think these discrepancies ("can't do macro," "can't do action," etc.) are really opportunities for creative workarounds, not drawbacks.

 

I did buy an SLR but never really got started with it. I do struggle with moving subjects and ISO performance of the M8, but I think by adaptation I can take better pictures in the end. I think that too many tools can lead to a homogenized kind of photography.

[tobey bilek]

Tried but could not. Bought some visoflexes and all the adapters and focus mounts and bellows. Finally bought into the R system so I had both.

 

I retrospect, the viso should have been sufficient. Now that is old and all the parts are difficult to find. I don`t care as mine has been complete for 20 years.

[onechopstick]

Since I got the M8, I've been using less and less of the DSLR mainly because of the weight of it for everyday use. So small camera in bag with superb quality and used everyday won hands down for me. If I get rid of my DSLR, it's only to fund for a new lens for my M8. But then again, if I were a pro and depended on my cameras for a living, I would keep both systems.

[lieberdavid]

Hi Everyone,

 

I started with Leica in the 70's with an R3 SLR and subsequently bought one of each of the R4, R5, R6, R7, and 2 R8's and a lot of lenses in the bargain. I still have a lot of lenses and the R6 and the two R8's. I have always loved the R system: the color enlargements are better than I had thought possible with 35 mm.

 

A very good friend, who had encouraged me to buy Leica, had an extensive M system. For years I didn't give it much thought, having not used a range finder camera since I was in high school. When the MP came out, though, the well known devotion of M users to the M system, together with the appeal of the MP camera itself, eventually became too much to deny, in spite of my telling myself for years that I did not want to support two different lens systems, especially at Leica prices. So I got an MP and have now a few lenses for it.

 

The MP has become my favorite camera. I use it by default now. I love the quality, the feel, the process, the small size and light weight, the results. I still use the R system for particular projects, macro, really wide angle, and telephoto. I do a lot of railroad photography and the R system is excellent for that. I also travel a lot. Which system I take along depends on what I expect I might see.

 

Although it is still a question whether Leica will provide a digital solution for the use of R lenses, it doesn't really concern me very much. I'd welcome an R 10, but it will have to be substantially better than any DSLR currently available if it is going to improve on the quality of the results I have been getting already for years with my film R's.

 

Cheers!

David

[Guido]

While waiting for my M9, I unexpectedly found a quick buyer for my M6. In search of a 35mm solution to bridge the gap until the M9 arrives, I picked up a... Canon A-1 SLR from 1978 (!!!) with 35/2 and 50/1.4 lenses for petty cash on eBay.

 

One cannot believe how much fun I had so far with this cute little, yet so powerful combo. One of the first cameras in history to provide full program automatic, plus Av, Tv, and manual modes! First camera ever to feature an 8-segment red LED viewfinder display! And a dozen or so other historical "firsts" in a tiny (by today's standards) package which rivals the weight and size of a compact digicam, or a 4/3-system.

 

So I actually went the opposite route - I gave up a Leica for a SLR. Temporarily, of course!

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Hallo,

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