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Pogue Review of the Leica T


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I wonder if the whole hot spot thing is an error. I had one of the first EP-5's in the wild with v0.99 FW. The only way i could get the wifi working was with a hotspot. When the production FW came out, the camera changed to being its own hotspot but Olympus did not document it properly. Having to have an external hotspot seems very clunky to me.

 

Wilson

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Meanwhile, this whole argument passes by all those who don't have an iPhone. I hope an android app comes out soon.

 

Check out Leef Bridge 3.0 for Android. They will be reworking the UI to make it more convenient soon.

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Hi

 

I'm truly shocked to read through this thread only to realise there really isn't ad hoc network support for the new Leica T. I too thought Pogue had got it wrong.

 

A few days ago, a helpful Leica staff in Singapore tried unsuccessfully to setup an ad hoc network with the Leica T one day before launch date, and was getting worried as the next day was the shipping date for Singapore (26th May) and she wanted to know how to do it before the questions came in.

 

Being in the store at that time checking out a possible M240 upgrade for my M9, and being rather tech savvy, I confidently stepped in with an offer to help, only to fail too,

 

We both concluded that the demo Leica T in store must had an earlier firmware which did not allow that.

 

After all, the "cheap" Leica C I had could setup an ad hoc network without any problem, so surely the T would have had the same functionality right?

 

IMHO, the lack of this feature is a glaring omission. I know many Leica users do not transfer images and post to Facebook, and pooh pooh their noses at Instagram, but if Leica wants to sell more cameras and appeal to the "iphone" generation, which I assume they really want to, with the touch screen and gestures and all, they really need to up the ante where software is concerned.

 

The target market for the Leica T isn't going to be as tolerant of software failures and bugs compared to the older generation touting the early buggy versions of the Leica m8/m9. At age 39, I do not consider myself young anymore, but having grown up during the dotcom boom and the growth of social media and all, I'm pretty much posting pictures from my other Japanese mirrorless cameras to social media directly using ad hoc wifi functionality.

 

In fact, during the recent fashion shoot, I was required to file early pictures for web news posting, and I beat all the other guys with Canon and Nikon DSLRs by filing pictures wirelessly using ad hoc wifi transfer to my iphone, and then sending them wirelessly before the other guys got their CF cards out into their computer.

 

Wifi is the one functionality I sorely missed with my M9. Part of my reason for wanting to upgrade to the M240 was that I supposedly offer compatibility with wireless SD cards.

 

Leica needs to update the T with this functionality asap with new firmware. Look, if even the entry level Leica C compact camera can do it, so should the much more expensive T with its wireless capabilities. Of course, the Leica C's software is probably all written by Panasonic engineers.........

 

Btw I do not think Pogue deserve some of the rather unkind words thrown about here. I don't believe he ever called himself a photographer - he approached the camera from a camera user's point of view (remembering that new market is what Leica wants), and found it wanting. Rather than criticising him and rushing to defend Leica, perhaps there is something Leica can learn from it......

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Whomever coded the network part reminds me of an apprentice who told me, "Pico, nobody cuts code from scratch anymore. They copy scraps from the Internet."

 

I fired her.

 

 

 

Sent from my Etcha-sketch.

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I wonder if the whole hot spot thing is an error. I had one of the first EP-5's in the wild with v0.99 FW. The only way i could get the wifi working was with a hotspot. When the production FW came out, the camera changed to being its own hotspot but Olympus did not document it properly. Having to have an external hotspot seems very clunky to me.

 

Wilson

 

 

It would be very encouraging if the issue could be fixed that easily.

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Making a so-called network connection to a local device is trivial. There are several ways (protocols) to make it happen. Leica simply messed up. What Leica is thinking is like polling a first-year networking students for solutions.

 

 

Sent from my Etcha-sketch.

Edited by jaapv
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For about $20 to 30 one can buy a portable, battery powered wireless router, hot spot WIFI with usb ports. It does not have to be connected to internet.

It should not be a big deal to connect T to it, + laptop, + HD (wireless or USB) or your phone same time. Batteries supposed to last 24 hrs.

Jan

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Making a so-called network connection to a local device is trivial. There are several ways (protocols) to make it happen. Leica simply messed up. What Leica is thinking is like polling a first-year networking students for solutions.

 

 

Sent from my Etcha-sketch.

 

 

To be honest, I hope that's the worst of it.

 

I still haven't finished reading the manual, but I was delighted to read that you can fine tune AF using the focus ring - you just need to have the shutter release button half pressed. Not sure why, but at least that works.

 

It seems to me a lot of thought has gone into this camera. For those who want more/less/different, it is what it is. I wish it was full frame, but it isn't. My reservations about APS-C seem to have been unfounded.

 

It is very different from any camera I've had before, and I am enjoying getting to know it. One thing is immediately clear - the touch screen, ergonomics, menus and buttons do not get in the way of taking pictures, and I've been very pleased with the results so far.

 

It makes a fantastic compliment to my Monochrom and M9 - I love using my M lenses on it. Much like Jono's comment about the XV, the T is currently the camera I grab as I head out the door.

 

Then again, my aspirations are modest :-)

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Check out Leef Bridge 3.0 for Android. They will be reworking the UI to make it more convenient soon.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, but from a quick scan of their website I don't see how it helps. Isn't it just a storage device that interfaces with android systems?

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It would be very encouraging if the issue could be fixed that easily.

 

John,

 

Do remember that Olympus were the guys who were able to upgrade their elderly EP-2 with FW to work with the new VF-4 finder. I regret I am somewhat less sanguine about Leica's ability to correct coding or structural bugs in the firmware, at least in anything approaching a short time scale. Last week Olympus upgraded the EP-5 firmware to correct the shutter impact bug (a mismatch between the image stabilisation and shutter vibrations at certain speeds). They introduced a new bug relating to live exposure updating without shutter presses. It took them two days to issue a further update of FW.

 

Wilson

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Making a so-called network connection to a local device is trivial. There are several ways (protocols) to make it happen. Leica simply messed up. What Leica is thinking is like polling a first-year networking students for solutions.

 

I rather disagree - I don't think they messed up, they simply failed to take into account that US service providers have scotched a perfectly respectable way to make a hotspot from a phone which everyone in Europe seems to have available . . . I'm not excusing it, but having used both methods I rather prefer the phone/tablet making the network to the camera (and that is what we're talking about - right?

 

I sincerely hope that they incorporate ad - hoc networking from the camera . . . but I also hope they maintain the hotspot networking from the device, which is what I'll continue to use.

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We’ll most likely never know, but I would be fascinated to learn the reason for Leica’s choice. Everything about the camera has been designed and considered so thoroughly that this decision must have been thought through to the end as well.

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I rather disagree - I don't think they messed up, they simply failed to take into account that US service providers have scotched a perfectly respectable way to make a hotspot from a phone

 

And that is enough to consider them incompetent. The ad hoc solution would work for everyone. They were not thinking!

.

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We’ll most likely never know, but I would be fascinated to learn the reason for Leica’s choice. Everything about the camera has been designed and considered so thoroughly that this decision must have been thought through to the end as well.

 

My guess is that it's a cost cutting measure ... along with sensor cleaning and image stabilisation.

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My guess is that it's a cost cutting measure ... along with sensor cleaning and image stabilisation.

 

 

Image stabilization tends to increase the size of the camera/lens. I suspect adding a sensor cleaning mechanism also adds to the size. It could be that cost cutting we're amongst the reasons for not including I'm-camera image stabilization and sensor cleaning system, and it could also be that they were not included to keep the size of the camera body down.

 

I don't see how adding one type of wifi support is less expensive than the other (I'm assuming both systems use the same hardware but different codes- my assumption could well be false). I think Leica assumed a) every one has equal access to hotspot on mobile devices (reasonable since it seems us Americans are the only ones lagging in this), or B) their average target customer has no qualms paying for extra features on their mobile devices.

Edited by CaptZoom
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I rather disagree - I don't think they messed up, they simply failed to take into account that US service providers have scotched a perfectly respectable way to make a hotspot from a phone which everyone in Europe seems to have available . . . I'm not excusing it, but having used both methods I rather prefer the phone/tablet making the network to the camera (and that is what we're talking about - right?

 

I sincerely hope that they incorporate ad - hoc networking from the camera . . . but I also hope they maintain the hotspot networking from the device, which is what I'll continue to use.

 

Jono,

 

I don't have hotspot facility on my iPhone from my French network provider (Orange) either, unless I pay quite a bit extra. I have an incredibly good tariff in France that is very cheap and other than hotspot, which I don't really need anyway, suits me to a T. I don't want to do anything to upset it as I am sure Orange will spot (hotspot??) that I am on far too cheap a tariff of just €9/month with unlimited internet and will "upgrade" me.

 

Wilson

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Image stabilization tends to increase the size of the camera/lens. I suspect adding a sensor cleaning mechanism also adds to the size. It could be that cost cutting we're amongst the reasons for not including I'm-camera image stabilization and sensor cleaning system, and it could also be that they were not included to keep the size of the camera body down.

 

I don't see how adding one type of wifi support is less expensive than the other (I'm assuming both systems use the same hardware but different codes- my assumption could well be false). I think Leica assumed a) every one has equal access to hotspot on mobile devices (reasonable since it seems us Americans are the only ones lagging in this), or B) their average target customer has no qualms paying for extra features on their mobile devices.

Possibly that was considered; but that would not make them prefer this system over the other.

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And that is enough to consider them incompetent. The ad hoc solution would work for everyone. They were not thinking!

.

 

I’m sure they were thinking. And incompetent they are not, the rest of the camera contradicts that . This is a design choice; I’m intrigued to the reason. Without that knowledge we are indulging in hollow finger-pointing. Somehow resembles some of Apple’s decisions (like not supporting Flash) in a small way.

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