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Thoughts about buying a T at this point?


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I'm a Q owner and love my camera. My plan is to slowly transition to all Leica equipment. I have a lot of heritage (aperture ring) Nikon glass, and I'm thinking of buying a used T in good condition (they cost ~500-800) and use my Nikon lenses in manual mode with an adapter. Eventually buying a new Leica body and probably some Leica auto focus glass (as my eyes are aging). 

 

I haven't really handled a Leica T nor do I have an adapter yet to try non-Leica lenses on it. My assumption is that a T without the Visoflex would frustrating to focus manually. Is that a fair assumption? Is there anything else I should know?

 

many thanks.

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I'm a Q owner and love my camera. My plan is to slowly transition to all Leica equipment. I have a lot of heritage (aperture ring) Nikon glass, and I'm thinking of buying a used T in good condition (they cost ~500-800) and use my Nikon lenses in manual mode with an adapter. Eventually buying a new Leica body and probably some Leica auto focus glass (as my eyes are aging). 

 

I haven't really handled a Leica T nor do I have an adapter yet to try non-Leica lenses on it. My assumption is that a T without the Visoflex would frustrating to focus manually. Is that a fair assumption? Is there anything else I should know?

 

many thanks.

Yes, I would say a Visoflex is a plus plus if you shoot manually. It might end up costing nearly as much as a used T, though. The other thing to realize, the older T is lower resolution. Your Q will outshine in that department, plus be a lot speedier. I have both Q and the original T. It never disappoints. Fun to use.

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I have the Q, CL and older T.  The Q is stellar.  The CL is superb - fast AF and an excellent EVF. 

 

But, the there's just something about the T.  It feels great in hand and snapping the shutter feels great. 16mp is plenty. AF could be better, and is not up to par with the Q or CL, but the software updates have made it very usable.  The camera build is solid and it looks and feels like you are carrying a piece of sculpture.

 

I wish the jpegs were better and one must use dng files.  Yes, you'll need the visoflex.  The TL lenses are superb. The prices of original Ts are a real bargain and there seem to be plenty around.

 

Rob 

 

Here's one with the original T and the Noctilux @ 0.95. Achieving fine focus is very doable using the visoflex.

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Edited by ropo54
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Adding to the replies from Belle and Rob, my time with T's has had and not had the inclusion of the Visoflex.

 

Last year for example I used the T in Europe with just the 23 Summicron attached, and as a unit it was (to me ) unbeatable. Small, light, discrete.

Being an AF everything lens helped, and I simply used it as such. I took a CV15mm as well, and managed without the Visoflex (I actually had it with me but it adds to the size/bulk/weight a bit).

 

I even used my 35, 50, and 90 Summicron R lenses (I had them with an R6 and Leicaflex SL), and while not super simple to use, they worked OK.

 

Get a T, try it. Adapters are also available cheaply, albeit not the genuine one, but to simply try it they are more than sufficient.

Gary

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I have a T and i have used the Nikon to Leica adapter without the visoflex 020 finder. The photos look good , but do require some post processing to look nicer. I now have a minolta to Leica t adapter, and Leica T to Leica M adapter, and I also bought a Visoflex 020 finder. The Finder cost me more than the camera body, but I really think its the only way to go. I use screwmount leica lenses with a leica scewmount to bayonet mount adapter and it works wonderfully. The camera is well made and solid. Here what it looks like with finder and adapted lenses.

 

 

 

 

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you sold your SL ?

 

No, it is getting a minor repair to the memory card hold. A spring, or something, is not holding the card in place. It went to NJ and they returned it after 6 weeks, but the repair was never addressed, so Leica Miami kindly expedited it to Germany for quick resolution. Fingers crossed it may be back next week sometime.  

 

I'm also dabbling with jumping into medium format at the moment. So . . .I'm all over the place in a greatly confused state of mind! :)

 

Rob

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6 weeks and no repair for a spring ? interesting.

 

 

 

No, it is getting a minor repair to the memory card hold. A spring, or something, is not holding the card in place. It went to NJ and they returned it after 6 weeks, but the repair was never addressed, so Leica Miami kindly expedited it to Germany for quick resolution. Fingers crossed it may be back next week sometime.  

 

I'm also dabbling with jumping into medium format at the moment. So . . .I'm all over the place in a greatly confused state of mind! :)

 

Rob

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You’re getting very sound advice here. I share the opinion that the original T is still a very viable camera. You won’t want to give up good Nikon lenses but it won’t be long before you want to add one of the very fine TL lenses. You’re bound to want at least one AF lens to go with your AF camera.

 

I think it’s vital that you examine the camera before you buy. You won’t have handled a camera quite like it before and the interface is novel. For some of us it was love at first sight. Others dislike the very idea of it. The visoflex is worth having. It does its job very well. I find the flip mechanism a useful plus.

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Aye, Euston brings a very valid point, not ALL like the T, it IS different, and you either love it, or don't.

Find one you can touch and drool over and go from there.

Most here love it, but there are plenty who thought and still think it is a piece of superfluous jewellery.

Gary

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6 weeks and no repair for a spring ? interesting.

 

I sent it in through Leica Miami, and they were just scratching their heads when it came back unfixed (despite it supposedly being fixed)!  So, they called Germany and asked for an expedited repair in light of circumstances.  Should be back any day now.

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Rob, I had the same problem with my M240 and it turned out that a tiny corner of plastic from SD card had chipped off and lodged deep in the slot.  An SD card could still be inserted fully, but it wouldn't catch.  A paper clip was about to solve the problem when the chip fell out on its own.

 

And so as not to be totally off topic, yeah, my now-departed T was a robust, versatile, compact device that delivered great .dng files.  In some ways I found it to be preferable to the TL2.

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Thanks so much everyone for these reactions. My take away is that the T is a really, really good value camera right now. Realistically, given my aging eyes and the fact that I will start out with manual focus lenses, it's likely that I'll need a Visoflex. Still, that's only about 1k, which, for a Leica, is almost illegally inexpensive. OTOH for a "mere" $1800 more I can get a new CL, with its excellent viewfinder, and that will set me up until I just can't stand not having those utterly fantastic SL zooms, and want the SL to balance them.

 

I used to sneak new bikes into our garage at night....

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please let me know your experience, Daniel. Since I wrote the above, a mere 2 days ago, I've once again gone back and forth (silly, really: I just love using my Q so much that I'm not ready to be distracted by other focal lengths). But I'm still strongly considering the T again as a stop gap to use my Nikon glass until a CL or an SL (too old for an M10 which is the most magnificent piece of machinery I've ever held).

 

But I don't think you should wait for a TL3: that might never happen, and the CL is so new and so beloved, it will be 3 or 4 years at least before they upgrade that one.

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please let me know your experience, Daniel. Since I wrote the above, a mere 2 days ago, I've once again gone back and forth (silly, really: I just love using my Q so much that I'm not ready to be distracted by other focal lengths). But I'm still strongly considering the T again as a stop gap to use my Nikon glass until a CL or an SL (too old for an M10 which is the most magnificent piece of machinery I've ever held).

 

But I don't think you should wait for a TL3: that might never happen, and the CL is so new and so beloved, it will be 3 or 4 years at least before they upgrade that one.

Yeah I'm more interested in buying lens now. Will let you know once I get use to it. Waiting for it to be delivered to me. Last time I used it felt great in the hands.

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Having the T now for a little bit I'll say don't buy. I like it but the cost into the system is way to high for a apsc camera. First if you buy a used T it will cost $500 then add visoflex $575 now a native lens cheapest is $1295. That's about $2400. Now if you want to get all lens for TL apsc there more than $10,000 combine. You can get leica m and a summicron. A gfx with two native lens. To be honest just save up and buy a leica sl and 90-280 and you will be good to go. Sorry for bad grammar.

Edited by DanielJr
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Having the T now for a little bit I'll say don't buy. I like it but the cost into the system is way to high for a apsc camera. First if you buy a used T it will cost $500 then add visoflex $575 now a native lens cheapest is $1295. That's about $2400. Now if you want to get all lens for TL apsc there more than $10,000 combine. You can get leica m and a summicron. A gfx with two native lens. To be honest just save up and buy a leica sl and 90-280 and you will be good to go. Sorry for bad grammar.

Well, you were warned about cost of visoflex. It’s not a necessity. Only really needed if shooting manually with a non TL lens. So, why go for TL lenses if you got the visoflex? It’s still a huge bargain over investing in a new CL or TL. Who buys all TL lenses available? Ha! I bought two and then got rid of them. I just use my existing M lenses, which are superb, I have owned forever. There are cheaper options for lenses out there as well.

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I can see both sides of this discussion, Belle is correct, the Visoflex is not mandatory, I used my T mostly without, and that's with T (AF) lenses and M lenses.

The AF/AE T lenses make the camera easier to use of course, point and shoot. But the M lenses are of course usable as well.

In the end you bought a used T, why not also source a used Visoflex?
Gary

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I would say it is fairly easy to find the 23mm, the 18-56mm and the 11-23mm (the oldest lenses) used.  

 

That being said none of this should have come as a surprise.  The prices are well documented.  Why complain about this after the purchase?

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