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Leica T - crazy cheap - any good?


Tobers

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I was amazed to find a chap in the Leica store in Mayfair buying a "refurbished" Leica T, in the box with all the bits, for £300 last Friday. This is an amazing price. I bought mine 2nd hand from MPB, no box, for £359. The one in Mayfair looked brand new.

The guy said that he'd bought it from Germany but he seemed to be picking it up in the UK. Weird. I've done a bit of searching but can't find any refurb offers at Leica dealers - if anyone knows do shout!

For those who already have some TL lenses, and maybe a CL or TL/2, the old T could make for a very good backup or 2nd body. This is why I bought my T a few weeks back. I've written up my thoughts on whether it's worth it or not at the link below. TL:DR - yes it is.

http://tobinators.com/blog/2019/02/uncategorized/the-leica-t-crazy-cheap-any-good/

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Love your blog and photos. Keep going. 

Your landscape pictures are very inspiring. 

At first your blog got me convinced to buy the CL more than one year ago. 

Then you (again with Joerie blog 😉) convinced me to buy the T. Love it too. I am using it for macro shots with tripod. And as you wrote, the non sticky self-timer is quite annoying. But I can setup through my iPhone Fotos app : big and better remote screen and no need for self timer, with the remote shutter. 😌

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Just ordered a silver one with box and original charger/strap etc from Red Dot for a play. They are listed as ex loaners w no warranty (but regular distance selling 14day UK return option).

I was heading in next week anyway as I need to rationalise my m lens/body collection(!) and I have bought/sold a lot of stuff through them so if there’s any problems I can drop it back. I wouldn’t think that Ivor would take on any kit that wasn’t up to spec and I went for the best condition one (for £300). I will try it with the 11-23 to see how far off the 21 SEM/24 Elmar it is as a travel option with an M+50lux.

Your blog post helped, and if I like it I’ll then have to look at a TL2 or CL no doubt.....

Edited by NigelG
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OK the T arrived and seems in perfect condition, boxed and with an unused strap/charger etc. It looks like it was only charged with the usb connection as everything else in the box is untouched!

It's running Firmware 1.2 and my question is - what is the best firmware to update to? Some forum posts seem to describe problems with some later firmware versions (EVF lag etc) so I wonder if the later versions are targeted to the TL2 which has a faster processor I think?

Any opinions (before I do any irreversible firmware updates.....)

EDIT - I should say that I'm not that interested in Wi-fi/Apps/Fotos etc and will be using it with the 11-23 and m lenses. Digging into forum posts a little further version 1.4 seems to be a general "speed up" version but after that I'm not sure....

Edited by NigelG
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On 2/27/2019 at 12:29 PM, MRTEE said:

Red dot camera's in London have a lot of Leica T models in their "clearance" section, starting at £250. Worth a look I would say.

Yes 8 bargain T cameras in their 'new' clearance section … https://www.reddotcameras.co.uk/374-new-clearance

… for the birders they're also listing a Leitz 280/2.8R with 1.4x APO for just £2K … which will couple up to a T/CL via an adapter as a FF equivalent

588mm f4 … add a 2x APO extender = 840/5.6 … stack both for a FF equiv 1176/7.8 … it's a lens which does work fine with stacked APO extenders provided a decent support is used. 

https://www.reddotcameras.co.uk/r-lenses/14581-leitz-apo-telyt-r-280mm-f28-14-apo-extender-case.html

dunk

 

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16 hours ago, NigelG said:

OK the T arrived and seems in perfect condition, boxed and with an unused strap/charger etc. It looks like it was only charged with the usb connection as everything else in the box is untouched!

It's running Firmware 1.2 and my question is - what is the best firmware to update to? Some forum posts seem to describe problems with some later firmware versions (EVF lag etc) so I wonder if the later versions are targeted to the TL2 which has a faster processor I think?

Any opinions (before I do any irreversible firmware updates.....)

EDIT - I should say that I'm not that interested in Wi-fi/Apps/Fotos etc and will be using it with the 11-23 and m lenses. Digging into forum posts a little further version 1.4 seems to be a general "speed up" version but after that I'm not sure....

My T has Firmware 1.9 installed and I only use the 11-23mm and legacy lenses - latter with 'M adapter T' and other non-Leica T adapters. Using the 11-23mm I can half depress the shutter release after several exposures in continuous mode and can almost immediately focus again … but with M lenses and legacy lenses it's a longish wait until the image/images are written to the card before I can recompose / focus again. I've learnt to live with the lag … far from perfect … but in other aspects it's a better camera for all the firmware updates particularly as regards AF speed. 

dunk

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Firmware updated to 1.9....

I tried updating to the intermediate stage (1.4 something) which definitely speeded things up a bit - but I then suffered the previously reported issue where at full aperture my 11-23 gave "Looney Tunes" concentric circles over every image sometimes including completely black broad rings.  

After a bit of a fright I ran the latest updater without the lens attached as I figured (hoped) it was a bug with the lens firmware and this would "force" the lens to update when attached afterwards (assuming like Fuji the lens is part of the firmware tweaks).

It now seems to be working fine and I'm going to test it against the Fuji 10-24 on the XPro 1 and 2.....

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What is this "generic battery charger"?

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!

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There is a Titan T used for sale at the norwegian importer:  https://interfoto.no/brukt-innbytte/leica/digitale-kameraer/leica-tl-titan-bruktsalg-tilstand-2-05161385-p0000060588

3499,- NOK = 309,- British Pounds. That is cheap, but I am not sure about the look of Titan. If Reddotcamera sells without VAT to Norway it will come to about the same price I guess with 25% VAT.

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9 minutes ago, Nordvik said:

I went all the way to the check out and they still want UK VAT even though I am living outside EU. I hope this is not legally binding.

Their 'Terms and Conditions' include treatment of VAT for sales outside the EU. If VAT is chargeable it is refunded:

https://www.reddotcameras.co.uk/content/3-terms-and-conditions

If goods are secondhand there might not be any VAT charged … but there might be a VAT liability when imported into a non-EU country. 

dunk

 

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Echoing Dunk, I see on the pages that I looked at (T mainly, but probably others). I don't know how your VAT works, but they spell it out.

"PLEASE NOTE THERE IS NO RECLAIMABLE VAT ON THE ABOVE ITEM"

The ex-demo body however has a VAT exclusive price listed as well.

Gary

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