jaques Posted January 6, 2010 Share #1 Posted January 6, 2010 Advertisement (gone after registration) I have had my m9 for a few weeks now. It really is fantastic as far as I can tell but I know I need more practice to get used to shooting RF style. I have had some experience with rangefinders but over the last few years have used DSLR's for rapid product photography mostly. I am not under any delusions that an M9 could compete in this type of work. It is an altogether different camera. My main attraction to the M9 is actually size: the idea of carrying around a bulky DSLR with all those lenses puts me entirely off photography outside of work. I love the small size of the M9, and am beginning to appreciate the subtlety of using RF focusing and composing through brightlines... However today I was looking at an old 1970's Minolta XD-7 (XD-11) SLR I have, with a lovely MD Rokkor 50/1.4 lens. This is a small all metal bodied camera, it has superb aperture/shutter auto priority modes, manual mode, manual focusing. A very simple intutive mechanical camera (takes superb pictures BTW), that has the same simplicity as a leica M. It is also really very small, the body is lower than the M9, and other than the prodruding lens mount considerably thinner. It feels very comfortable enclosed in the hands- and with the 50 1.4 it is still very compact. Some of the old manual focus SLR lenses are also very compact... I am wondering if it would be possible to make an extremely small DSLR camera, with manual focus lenses, that could compete agianst an M9 in the size department, using the same/similar type of sensor technology as the M9? Don't get me wrong: I don't want to debate the merits of SLR's V RF... and I am perfectly happy with my M9 as is... this is just a hypothetical. I would love to see the same leica craftmanship approach applied to a manual DSLR- a body milled out of a solid block of brass, etc. A super soft mirror slap... I wonder which classic lens mount would be the best? You can buy superb Minolta glass for next to nothing these days- $65 for a top of the Rokkor 1.4 50- etc. For years I traded in photographic equiptment and I developed a real appreciation for some of the early manual focus SLR's from Japan- the Nikkormats, Minolta 101 series cameras- and the wonderful Xd-7- really superb craftmanaship and simple functionality. I actually never liked all the cameras of the 80- with their autofus, program modes, plastic bodies and broken LCD displays... ugly bastards. The M series Leica cameras exmplefy the quality of pre-1980's camera manuafacture in Europe and Japan... Out of interest I wonder what the smallest DSLR with a sensor to match the M9 full frame quality currently is? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted January 6, 2010 Posted January 6, 2010 Hi jaques, Take a look here M9 sensor technology in slr body?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
jaapv Posted January 6, 2010 Share #2 Posted January 6, 2010 Out of interest I wonder what the smallest DSLR with a sensor to match the M9 full frame quality currently is? The Canon5DII... Draw your own conclusions Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
markowich Posted January 6, 2010 Share #3 Posted January 6, 2010 The Canon5DII... Draw your own conclusions wait until the second week of february and check out nikonrumors...---)))p Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
elansprint72 Posted January 6, 2010 Share #4 Posted January 6, 2010 Out of interest I wonder what the smallest DSLR with a sensor to match the M9 full frame quality currently is? Why restrict yourself to M9 quality if you are discussing full frame sensor capability? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baptiste Posted January 6, 2010 Share #5 Posted January 6, 2010 wait until the second week of february and check out nikonrumors...---)))p Hummmmm???? What do you mean? New things to be announced? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
markowich Posted January 6, 2010 Share #6 Posted January 6, 2010 Hummmmm???? What do you mean? New things to be announced? ----)))) p Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted January 6, 2010 Share #7 Posted January 6, 2010 Advertisement (gone after registration) wait until the second week of february and check out nikonrumors...---)))p Ah- a next round of leapfrog Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andybarton Posted January 6, 2010 Share #8 Posted January 6, 2010 That'll be the D700X, I assume... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
haroldp Posted January 6, 2010 Share #9 Posted January 6, 2010 There are some very compact (nikon D60 class etc.) DSLR bodies out there, which are probably crop sensor for marketing and cost rather than technical reasons. That being said, I think the convergence of camera size / sensor size-resolution will come in the new generation of 'EVIL" ( Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens ) cameras scaled up from the micro 4/3 spec. My reasoning is: - while EVF's do not yet rival optical viewfinders for clarity and speed, they are getting better over time, and I think in the next 2-5 years will get "good enough" for most applications. - Factors keeping FF DSLR bodies large are: For bright, full coverage, optical VF's require large pentaprisms. This is the main reason why the Nikon D700 is larger than the D300. The basic body is about the same. EVF's can reduce this issue. Clearance is needed for a large mirror housing. Clearing the large mirror requires that wide ( for FF 35mm wide is < 58mm ) lenses be retrofocus which complicates optical design and makes lenses bigger and heavier. However, to quote Neils Bohr: " Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future. " Niels Bohr Danish physicist (1885 - 1962) Regards ... Harold Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
haroldp Posted January 6, 2010 Share #10 Posted January 6, 2010 I neglected to mention that taking advantage of shorter lens rear element to sensor distances will present "EVIL" camera designers with the same issues that Leica had to overcome with offset microlenses. FF "EVIL" camera's may well use sensors that are closer to the Leica M9 design than to their own current crop of DSLR's. Regards ... H Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leicaiste Posted January 6, 2010 Share #11 Posted January 6, 2010 However today I was looking at an old 1970's Minolta XD-7 (XD-11) SLR I have, with a lovely MD Rokkor 50/1.4 lens. This is a small all metal bodied camera, it has superb aperture/shutter auto priority modes, manual mode, manual focusing. A very simple intutive mechanical camera (takes superb pictures BTW), that has the same simplicity as a leica M. It is also really very small, the body is lower than the M9, and other than the prodruding lens mount considerably thinner. It feels very comfortable enclosed in the hands- and with the 50 1.4 it is still very compact. Some of the old manual focus SLR lenses are also very compact... The Minolta XD-7, my first SLR ! And the base for the Leica R4 btw. Lucien Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaques Posted January 6, 2010 Author Share #12 Posted January 6, 2010 Lucien- very lucky first SLR... a real work of art. my first was a minolta 101 SRT... what a solid tank that was. hmm, my XD-7 is full frame- yet its pentaprism is quite low and doesn't add much to the cameras size... years ago there was a company that tried to float a concept called 'digital film' or some such- basically a sensor and electronic unit no larger than a roll of film- that could be put into any vintage film SLR and turn it into a full frame digital camera... it never came to fruition obviously... but this is what I would love to do to my xd-7... basically a camera as simple and seemingly anachronistic as an M9 only an SLR instead... ah well we will see. At least leica is keeping alive the old way of solidly building things out of metal- I just hope the m9 holds up as well as my 1950's F&H Rolleiflex...somehow I doubt it. I doubt I will even hold up that well... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stef63 Posted January 6, 2010 Share #13 Posted January 6, 2010 Lucien- very lucky first SLR... a real work of art. my first was a minolta 101 SRT... what a solid tank that was. Ha, my first slr was the 101 SRT and I sold it for an XD 7. Those were the days ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
markowich Posted January 6, 2010 Share #14 Posted January 6, 2010 That'll be the D700X, I assume... i do not think it will be called 'x'. rather D900. 18 or 24mpx, 1080p video and all the goodies. same color response as D3s. p Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest douglasf13 Posted January 6, 2010 Share #15 Posted January 6, 2010 Out of interest I wonder what the smallest DSLR with a sensor to match the M9 full frame quality currently is? I would say that it may be the Sony A900. Similar with "nice" looking grain and a good color filter. In fact, I'm getting ready to trade mine in for an M9, but that's primarily due to size and preferring a rangefinder. IQ wise, they are good competitors, from what I've seen. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.