Leica TL w/ 23mm lens over Fuji X100F?

[sshamim]

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5 hours ago, colonel said:

 

Hi, did your TL and 23mm come ? how are you finding it ?

The Sony series is brilliant and the colours and colour depth of the Sony are the best out there (devastatingly neutral but the best to PP IMHO), but their lenses are large.

The TL/CL system is much more compact

 

• Yes it did. The Leica 23mm is better than Sony Zeiss 35mm in terms of sharpness, contrast and pop, but that's not "obvious" in every photo. I would love to share some sample and comparison photos, but with 0.48 MB attachment size I can't share shit here! Does Leica lens worth the extra $1000? Hard to say. I should have done more testing. I have returned the a7 (reason of this later).
   
• Moving on to camera bodies, Leica does have a better build quality that any other camera that you can find in the universe (well, maybe except titanium M?), but in terms of handling, size and weight, it's not comfortable for me. A7 looked like a toy next to it, but that toy handled much better than TL and that matters the most to me. TL is a beautiful object that can get on your way of capturing "the decisive moment".  Part of it is due to the next bullet point too. By the way, the original A7 + 35mm is NOT much bigger that TL with 23mm. In fact, they are very comparable. 
   
• This is an obvious point. TL is slower than a7 in every aspect. The most annoying things to me about TL's operation have been the shot-to-shot times and black outs. If you are planning to do street photography and capture those decisive moments, TL is not the right tool for you. So I can't call TL as an all-purpose camera.
   
• I'm having a hard time to get the colors that I like out of TL (JPEG or RAW). Leica cameras are known for excellent color reproduction, so I must be missing something or using bad editing/development tools. Also, everybody in this forum should know by now that I don't appreciate the lack of DNG only option on this camera, but seems it doesn't bother others that much. Sony colors were much better that I expected. The skin tones do need some work, but with some post-processing, you can make beautiful photos. Also, that 24 Mega Pixel resolution is excellent for cropping. 
   
• As I mentioned above, I retuned A7, not because of my Leica but because I just got a brand new Ricoh GR II for $500. Ricoh is everything that I ever wanted and is a perfect tool for the type of photography that I'm doing these days. I have tried many cameras in my life (and sold many of them at retail), and I must say GR is a masterpiece of design, functionality and image quality. Easily one of the best Digital Cameras ever made. I have been taking it with me everywhere, and I'm not sure if I'll keep the Leica around for long as I may need to make room for Ricoh GR III  
  
   

 

 

 

[Wojtek]

I owned both TL2 and X100T, here are some thoughts

TL2 (and TL)

• Better (and bigger) lens
• Interchangeable lenses
• Modern / minimalistic design
• Minimalistic UI
• DNG > RAF in most cases
• It's Leica

X100T (and especially F)

• Much faster AF
• Much faster everything
• Better controls
• Has great EVF
• Better in most situations, for most people, especially pros (assuming 35mm/2 is OK for you of course!)
• Doesn't lack basic features

Fuji is better for most people. Even if price was exactly the same / didn't matter. Assuming 35/2 is what you want of course.

X100 is probably (arguably!) the best street camera in the world. TL/TL2 surely isn't. On the other hand TL/TL2 is arguably the most beautiful camera in the world  

I love my TL2 btw. But X100F is simply a better camera if you're looking for a small 35mm f/2.0 (which can be converted into 28mm and 50mm).

 

I'd prefer X100F for: street, fast photography, travel, almost anything pro

I'd prefer TL2 for: not-in-a-hurry portraits (with 50/1.4), simple snapshots, high quality shots (any L-lens should give you better quality than Fuji's small & awesome 35/2)

 

Edit. I saw you own TL already. What I probably appreciate most about both X100 and T is that they're pretty timeless in digital standards. There are still photographers doing great work with their T's and X100's. Those cameras have their advantages and disadvantages. But working around them is often incredibly satisfying. And when you do it right, and get a little bit lucky - final result can be incredible. 

Edited February 5, 2019 by Wojtek

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[sshamim]

On 2/5/2019 at 3:36 PM, Wojtek said:

I owned both TL2 and X100T, here are some thoughts

TL2 (and TL)

• Better (and bigger) lens
• Interchangeable lenses
• Modern / minimalistic design
• Minimalistic UI
• DNG > RAF in most cases
• It's Leica

X100T (and especially F)

• Much faster AF
• Much faster everything
• Better controls
• Has great EVF
• Better in most situations, for most people, especially pros (assuming 35mm/2 is OK for you of course!)
• Doesn't lack basic features

Fuji is better for most people. Even if price was exactly the same / didn't matter. Assuming 35/2 is what you want of course.

X100 is probably (arguably!) the best street camera in the world. TL/TL2 surely isn't. On the other hand TL/TL2 is arguably the most beautiful camera in the world  

I love my TL2 btw. But X100F is simply a better camera if you're looking for a small 35mm f/2.0 (which can be converted into 28mm and 50mm).

 

I'd prefer X100F for: street, fast photography, travel, almost anything pro

I'd prefer TL2 for: not-in-a-hurry portraits (with 50/1.4), simple snapshots, high quality shots (any L-lens should give you better quality than Fuji's small & awesome 35/2)

 

Edit. I saw you own TL already. What I probably appreciate most about both X100 and T is that they're pretty timeless in digital standards. There are still photographers doing great work with their T's and X100's. Those cameras have their advantages and disadvantages. But working around them is often incredibly satisfying. And when you do it right, and get a little bit lucky - final result can be incredible. 

Thanks. I agree with pretty much everything you said except this part: "X100 is probably (arguably!) the best street camera in the world". I would personally give this title to Ricoh GR

X100F is a fantastic digital camera, but after spending some time with sample photos that I took with it, I realized the Fuji colors were not for me. Also, its size and build quality didn't work for me.

As you mentioned, I own a TL now but I'm not planning on keeping it. I have a wild idea that needs cash: A film camera with a decent digitizer (like a Kodak Pakon). Once you see something like this,  it's hard to look back at CMOS photos!