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Leica CL vs Sony a7R III


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Hey All,

I got my Leica CL on Thursday, and my Summilux TL 35/1.4 came last night.  I just did a few quick shots to compare the CL (with Summilux) vs my Sony a7R III and the Sony/Zeiss 55/1.8.

I was pretty surprised at the results.  I knew the SL had more detail than comparable Sony camera/lens combos, but I actually think the CL is better too!

I'll do a full review after I can schedule a shoot with a model.

 

I'll post a pair of the crappy 500k files here, but I will also post in a Flickr album too:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/romeobravophoto/albums/72157695381814712

 

After Posting, I see it's really hard to tell the difference here (as I suspected), so please check out the Flickr link to see the differences in the detail.

 

 

Leica CL

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Sony 

 

Rick

Edited by RomeoBravo
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Leica

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Sony

 

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Your Sony has almost twice the resolution of your CL and the Zeiss 55/1.8 is one of the sharpest lenses available so i suspect something went wrong with your Sony combo with respect. BTW your link to flickr did not work for me. 

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Your Sony has almost twice the resolution of your CL and the Zeiss 55/1.8 is one of the sharpest lenses available so i suspect something went wrong with your Sony combo with respect. BTW your link to flickr did not work for me. 

Thanks lct, but I am well aware of what the Sony camera/lens can do...that's why I chose the cobo, and why I'm so surprised.  BTW, I took about 6 shots of each item and selected the sharpest one for each camera.  When I get time, I'll process them in Capture One (vs Lightroom) to see if that makes a difference.

 

Not sure why the link didn't work...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/romeobravophoto/albums/72157695381814712

Edited by RomeoBravo
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Thanks lct, but I am well aware of what the Sony camera/lens can do...that's why I chose the cobo, and why I'm so surprised.  BTW, I took about 6 shots of each item and selected the sharpest one for each camera.  When I get time, I'll process them in Capture One (vs Lightroom) to see if that makes a difference.

 

Not sure why the link didn't work...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/romeobravophoto/albums/72157695381814712

 I too was surpirsed the Sony was not the clear winner...I made a quick compare with my A7R 16-25 mm vs CL 11-23 and I decided to stay with the Sony, I am interested to see your further compare images...the link goes to your site with no compare album yet. Thanks

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 I too was surpirsed the Sony was not the clear winner...I made a quick compare with my A7R 16-25 mm vs CL 11-23 and I decided to stay with the Sony, I am interested to see your further compare images...the link goes to your site with no compare album yet. Thanks

 

Thank you both - I uploaded the photos as "Friends and Family" vice public, because I didn't want them to appear on my public feed.  I just changed them all to public, so if one of you wouldn't mind checking again, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/romeobravophoto/albums/72157695381814712

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Thank you both - I uploaded the photos as "Friends and Family" vice public, because I didn't want them to appear on my public feed.  I just changed them all to public, so if one of you wouldn't mind checking again, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/romeobravophoto/albums/72157695381814712

Thanks... my CL A7R compare 

CLA7R2-X3.jpgCL7R1-X3.jpg

Edited by tonyniev
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I have Leica T and Sony A7RII, not a direct anser to your question, but the conclusion should be the same.

Be ware that

 

-- Leica T has only 16MP

-- Sony A7R has almost 3X the pixels

-- On A7RII I am using Contax Zeiss N 17-35mm/f2.8, 24-85mm zoom and Leica M 50mm an 90mm. 

-- On Leica T I am using Leica T zooms (1-23, 18-56, and 55-135mm).  Although I can use all M mount lenses, including Zeiss ZM 25mm and 35mm and all Leica M. But I  rarely do.

-- For A7RII I use Capture 1 and LR.

-- For Leica, I use LR.

 

Sony clearly has pixel advantages, but I much prefer Leica T's color rendering and the gorgeous image, including color and B&W.

 

The Sony A7RII is now on my shelf for display. I probably should sell it when I need to make a room for something else.

 

 

  

 

 

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Honestly, the Sony A7RIII full frame 42MP Exmor R sensor runs circles around the CL sensor or the SL sensor. There is just no competition. 

 

However, this is only one (important) part of the equation. If you add a lens and your particular requirements in a particular situation, the results may not reflect the above statement.

 

 

I think, this is what it comes down to.

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Totally different beasts. Any comparison makes no sense except to determine whether one or the other is best for the purpose. And that can go either way depending on the use.

For instance, I prefer using a top-level APS sensor over cropping a full-frame one. Or using a SL sensor with M lenses over a A7 one. BTW the CL sensor is a Sony one as well

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Well, the A7RIII and the Nikon D850 as of today are leading edge when it comes to the sensor. Whether you prefer APS-C or full frame, I believe, is largely a matter of taste. I'd probably be happy with either, but since my focal length preference is the range between 20mm and 85mm, full frame suits me well. 

 

The Leica SL still has the largest resolution viewfinder at 4.4, followed by the A7RIII (A7RM3) and the rest including the CL and the original Sony A7. Manual focus on the A7RIII is a much more enjoyable experience and I can only guess that it gets better with higher resolution, i.e. the Leica SL

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Well, the A7RIII and the Nikon D850 as of today are leading edge when it comes to the sensor. Whether you prefer APS-C or full frame, I believe, is largely a matter of taste. I'd probably be happy with either, but since my focal length preference is the range between 20mm and 85mm, full frame suits me well. 

 

The Leica SL still has the largest resolution viewfinder at 4.4, followed by the A7RIII (A7RM3) and the rest including the CL and the original Sony A7. Manual focus on the A7RIII is a much more enjoyable experience and I can only guess that it gets better with higher resolution, i.e. the Leica SL

and we are about to see even better, just when an aging population needs them

 

https://www.engadget.com/2018/05/29/sony-mirrorless-camera-evf/

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<snip> 

.. BTW the CL sensor is a Sony one as well

 

Interestingly, Sony's APS-C cameras all have AA filters, while CL does not :-).

Back to the topic, IMO, Sony A7rIII has an advantage if you need large image size as uprezzing (with On1 Resize) does not produce the same amount of detail. The image quality is not all about resolution, and CL is a much more inspirable camera than Sony.

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The inspiration (that I personally would agree with) is achieved through simplicity in design and functionality - which others would call "limiting featureset", however

 

Not sure if i feel more inspired with my CL or Sony bodies but one of the reasons why i like both is their less "limiting featureset" than my digital Ms that i like also but in a different way. I still regret some limitations of the CL though, especially the impossibility to move the focus patch with M lenses and to get auto image magnification with the latters. I must pertain to the "others" category i guess...

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Once again: which focus patch do you mean? There is none in my viewfinder when I mount a manual lens, and it certainly would have no function, as it is part of the AF system..

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Once again: which focus patch do you mean? There is none in my viewfinder when I mount a manual lens, and it certainly would have no function, as it is part of the AF system..

 

My English is worse and worse it seems. When you use image magnification, you magnify only a small part (patch) of the frame. This patch is located in the centre of the frame and cannot be moved to magnify, say the bottom left corner w/o recomposing if i wish so. My Sony and Fuji cameras allow that, why not my Leica?

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