Leica T als on alternative to the DMR?

[MacSpikes]

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I still use my DMR for wildlife photography and still love the results. The problem is that my DMRs (I own two) are not very reliable anymore. From time to time they freeze up and the only solution is to remove the digital back and the battery for about 10 seconds.

 

I was wondering if maybe the new T with the right adapter(s) could be a nice alternative. The optical viewfinder is missing (like with the M240 solution), but the sensor is about the same size as the original DMR. Coupled with the EVF it could be a good and portable solution.

 

Any thoughts on this subject?

[stuny]

If you stack adapters: R to M adapter plus M to T adapter it will work. Both Jono Slack and David Farcus liked the results using R lenses that way.

[topoxforddoc]

Have you cleaned all the contacts on the DMR and the batteries?

[sc_rufctr]

Yes it would work but why? The ergonimics of the R8/9-DMR are brilliant.

 

The T is a fantastic camera in concept and design but the R lenses would be just too BIG (most of them) and would spoil the handling IMO.

... However the idea of an affordable R solution is certainly attractive compared to the cost of an M240.

 

I have tried R and even M lenses on a Sony NEX and it really is cumbersome. I don't get why people think they can use this setup daily.

[luigi bertolotti]

My thought is that it's all about handling/balancing and, given that you speak of wildlife pics, which lenses and accessories are you accustomed to use with the DMR : I have noticed that the EVF of T, though with a very high resolution, has a 30 fps refresh rate... and this means that with long lenses handeld it can result not so effective to use : if you work, typically, with a tripod and focals in the 280 to 560 range I think it could be on the contrary a very good solution, even with the "old long Telyts" (400 & 560) for which the crop factor of T can be an advantage, as I experienced with M8 (given their optical schema, they always show a certain degradation at corner / borders, cut away on cropped sensors).

[MacSpikes]

For wildlife I typically use the 180 & 280 apo with or without the 2x apo extender on a tripod. For macro work I have the 100mm apo as well. The balancing and ergonomics are wonderful and I really love this setup. With regards to the reliability it might indeed be a good suggestion to clean all contacts and see if this improves stuff. Thanks for all the replies!

[luigi bertolotti]

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For wildlife I typically use the 180 & 280 apo with or without the 2x apo extender on a tripod. For macro work I have the 100mm apo as well. The balancing and ergonomics are wonderful and I really love this setup. With regards to the reliability it might indeed be a good suggestion to clean all contacts and see if this improves stuff. Thanks for all the replies!

 

Well, if on tripod, I wouldn't be surprised if the Leica T can make an excellent job with 180 / 280 : I mean, if this is your favorite field of photographing , the alternative of a Leica M is a lot more costly, and some of its added values (RF, great WAs...) are not significant in this context.

[wattsy]

I appreciate that sometimes you have to use what's available (however Heath Robinson) to get the results you need (and it's the results that ultimately count) but it strikes me as more than a bit unwieldy and odd to attach "serious" manual focus lenses of the calibre of the R lenses to what is a very consumer orientated camera like the T. As far as I know, the new camera doesn't even have something as basic as a cable release option. IMO a bit of a barmy idea.

[luigi bertolotti]

Uhm... not a bad observation, but the longer the lens, the more you indeed "attach" a body to it, and not vice-versa... ... the (not so many) times I use my monstrous Telyt 800, I really feel that I am simply attaching a sensor to it... ... the whole setting up and positioning of the lens + tripod is much more hard working than the final moment in which you do attach that little body.... (and of course, I'd be delighted to try it "as a 1200"... but won't buy a T just for this... I suppose that cropping the M240 file is about the same)

 

The absence of a cable release facility sounds indeed not so fine : but, by my side, I often use the electronic delayed shutter instead of it... even on M8/M that have the facility.

[wattsy]

Uhm... not a bad observation, but the longer the lens, the more you indeed "attach" a body to it, and not vice-versa

 

Yes, that is of course true but it wasn't so much the physical imbalance between an R lens and a T body that I was referring to when I described the combination as unwieldy. The R system is "mechanical", manual and designed and built using a classic form-follows-function approach with the end user qua user in mind. The T system is a consumer orientated, marketing driven fluffy product where form most definitely doesn't follow function (hence the lack of a cable release option and a "fly-by-wire" approach to setting aperture and shutter speed, etc.) and which inhabits a whole different world to the R system. Look at an R8 and then the T and I think you'll see what I mean.

[janki]

I just posted this poster in the "Full frame T?" thread. Perhaps it might be easier than we think to use R lenses with the new T mount?

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-t/329855-full-frame-t-5.html