Bash the S !!!!

[Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS]

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Love the S but what I hate is that the rubber on the memory card door keeps coming lose!

 

It's already been replaced at Leica once, but now only a few months later it has come lose again... 

 

S00????

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[Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS]

Stuff happens... it's how the company communicates and responds that warrants harsher critique IMO. The biggest frustration of the dealer with whom I spoke was not the failures (although that was important); it was the lack of timely response, information and service, even with him as a key seller.

 

I'm still interested in the system...provided Leica can get ITS act together.

 

Jeff

 

Jeff

After my initial disappointment with the Leica S system, Leica CS has been fantastic, and as you already know offered to make me a custom S180mm lens with an updated AF motor drive.............. Im waiting for the up and coming 300mm lens instead

[mwilliamsphotography]

Marc,

 

It's fair to challenge me on the "every post", so I'm checking.

I'll exempt this thread for obvious reasons.

The images thread is too long to go through. I didn't find any S bashing the the 10 pages I looked at.

Wish List is fairly clean.

Fuji Medium Format is rife.

Permanent fix is pretty bad.

S(006) robbed. Sad, but free of bashing.

S image problems - poster joke about bashing Leica, but aren't actually. I'm confusing this thread with the getDPI version.

Bye Leica - incessant.

100 vs. 120 - free

Flash - free

Choosing lenses - starts off well, descends badly

M adapter - free

Leica NJ - free.

 

So how am I doing? I count 4 out of 11. So I retract my "every" statement. My further statement about repetitions would take more effort to justify. I will also grant that I am oversensitive to gratuitous internet hostility (even as I probably display it myself). Ah well, facts are precious things.

 

As for people being frustrated and using this forum as an outlet - that certainly is the case. I don't know if it does as much good as venting that frustration to Leica's dealers, product managers, and executives. Repeating the problem to them will almost certainly help more than repeating it here. Certain problems cry out for legal recourse. In which case, the less said in public, the better. Then there are those who claim to no longer be invested in the system. What problem are they trying to solve by continued complaining?

 

Money is a difficult issue. It's very hard to see the problem from the point of view of someone in different financial circumstances. I qualify as a wealthy amateur (ok, mildly professional, but still). But I know quite well someone who makes his entire living with the S, and deals with the (very few) problems that arise the way all professionals do - backups (Contax lenses, an SL, even the Q can save the day) and good dealer relationships. If I felt my livelihood were threatened by broken promises or unprofessional dealings, I'd probably respond as uncivilly as anyone here.

 

But I ramble. I thank you for your (always) clear and informative posts, and even more for the examples you post from time to time of your wedding work, which is extraordinary.

 

Best,

 

Matt

 

 

Matt, thank you for the compliment regarding my wedding/event work ... however, that is only part of the work I do, and wedding/event work is mostly done with other cameras ... only supplemented by the S when appropriate.

 

Primarily, the S system replaced a Hasselblad H system for commercial photography ... a lot of Advertising/Product/Industrial/Automotive/Fashion images using lighting in studio, on location and outdoors. Which is why all of my lenses are CS versions except the S-100/2. I switched from the H because it was strictly a leaf-shutter kit limited to 1/800 shutter where the S syncs to 1/1000 and can be used as a focal plane shutter to 1/4000 ... and I think the S lenses are consistently better across the focal lengths.

 

For example, here is a recent advertising "branding campaign" for a Pilates studio that is looking to build a franchise network. I used the S with powerful lighting to create a consistent graphic brand look for all of their eventual communications, from internet, to ads, to large posters and billboard placements.

 

https://fotografz.smugmug.com/Marketing-Photos/FotografzCommercialPhotos/

 

95% of the commercial work I do is with MFD gear and always has been ... because it can be adapted to a wide variety of applications and uses by my clients, and I NEED leaf-shutter.

 

https://fotografz.smugmug.com/Marketing-Photos

 

So, it is all well and good that your professional friend has "very few" problems, and deals with those like any professional ... with back-ups. So do I. However, my issues are legion not just a few, and I correspond with other S users that also have an extraordinary number of failures, often at the most inopportune time. To properly back-up my S system would require a mountain of cash ... Contax lenses are NOT leaf-shutter, and if the SL was enough I'd have one, but it isn't. The Q is a non starter for the commercial work I do and the clients I service. Besides, most photographers do not have 2 of everything when it comes to MFD gear ... not even pros.

 

I do have a Sony A7R-II and Zeiss lenses that now can better back-up the S because Profoto finally offered the Sony AIR transmitter with TTL/HSS which I now use with B1 and B2 strobes. It'll work in a pinch, but it is no Leica S and HSS is NOT the same as leaf-shutter sync.

 

I would say that the real source of consternation here is the lens failures. It is conceivable to have a second S body (a S2 would do), but the lenses keep failing in the middle of a shoot with no consistent looking back-up other than a second one of that lens (which would be ridiculously expensive). Sometimes you can keep shooting using manual focus but not always. 1/2 of the failures I've experienced shut me down on the spot.

 

Anyway ... sigh.

 

- Marc 

[jip]

S00????

 

 

S006, same happened on the S2 etc etc. It's just horrible shitty quality glue they use or the rubber, I don't know. But it's shit! 

[Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS]

S006, same happened on the S2 etc etc. It's just horrible shitty quality glue they use or the rubber, I don't know. But it's shit!

the same happened on my S006. Up to now my S007 has been fine

[mgrayson3]

Marc,

 

I understand. Your situation is quite different, and my experience has so little overlap that I don't have a useful opinion. Sadly, that never stopped anyone from posting before.   I'd forgotten that Contax have no leaf shutters. I have three as backups, but don't shoot with leaf shutters, so I don't think about it.

 

I suspect what we have in common is the different response to picking up an S vs. a Hasselblad. Either will get the job done - I'd just much rather use the S. In truth, a Sony/Zeiss system would probably serve my photographic needs better. I just can't stand using the A7 series if I can avoid it. When it's the only thing that will get the shot, out it comes.

 

Please understand that I'm not trying to sound condescending when I talk about "This guy who has no problems." It's just what my experience with the system has been. I have been fortunate to have had no problems with any Leica gear ever (except I can't focus a rangefinder). I can't say the same about Canon, Sony, or Phase One/Cambo/Schneider - it took two trips to Europe and it wasn't free, and the lens still wasn't as good as before. Oh, and it was my fault, so it shouldn't have been free, but it should have been TESTED the first time before returning and billing. 

 

I had seen some of your commercial work in another post. The Pilates group is quite powerful.

 

Well, here's hoping for quickly and permanently solved lenses!

 

Best,

 

Matt