Pixii - complementary or competition? [Merged]

[ramarren]

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17 minutes ago, SrMi said:

The problem with MATE is that every time you change the focal length on MATE you need to go into the menus to change the framing guide as well.

That's a minor inconvenience to me. The value of it, for me, is to have three high quality lenses in a useful range available in one unit, minimizing the number of things needed for travel or carrying on the bicycle.

G

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[Chris W]

It IS designed to use M lenses. For decades the most popular M lenses have been 28mm, 35mm and 50mm.

It's ridiculous to suggest it is my prejudice rather than the weight of (35 format) history.

Yes, I agree, the Pixii is just fine if your view of photography is a traditional 50mm, you can just use a 35mm lens.

If you are happiest at 28 or 35mm viewpoint your options are more compromised either by price, size or f stop.

[pop]

1 hour ago, Chris W said:

It's ridiculous to suggest it is my prejudice rather than the weight of (35 format) history.

It's neither, of course. It's just your preference. I prefer longer lenses and use wide angles only when the subject actually requires those, such as pictures of architecture. But then, a camera with an optical rangefinder is often not the best choice for shooting architecture.

Hence, a camera with an APS-C sensor using M lenses is my personal sweet spot. It isn't yours, it seems. No cause for excitement.

It's now more than a century that one Oskar Barnack decided that for some cases a smaller format camera has lots of advantages.

[GLAUMAX]

I also find the APS sensor is a non issue. It can be a strength. 

I am not a wide angle guy and I like that my super compact 28mm (Summaron) is now acting as a 42mm. 

For me Pixii is complementary to a full frame M.

For my next travel, I will take the M (262) and the Pixii. With probably two or three lenses (Elmar 24, Zeiss Contax G 45mm and Cron 75mm), I will have a nice set of focal lengths : 24, 36, 45, 67, 75 and 105mm.

 

[ramarren]

Still waiting for my Pixii to arrive. It's been stuck in Customs in Kentucky since Thursday. A day on the phone with UPS, an email to folks at Pixii, some effort by the Pixii folks to discover and fix the problem in US Customs, and it seems to be slowly moving through the system again. Ugh. While I wait, I do other things to distract myself. 

Can't remember whether I posted it on here or not... I have the teensy MS Optics Aporia 24mm f/2 lens which could be a "perfect" compact 35mm eFOV for the Pixii. Since I've been testing the new Color Skopar 21mm I bought recently, a couple days ago I decided to fit the Aporia to my Leica CL and revisit the use of this lens. I posted some test snaps from that day's walk:

https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzKdTk

I think that will be a delight fitted to the Pixii too.  

... And, up thread, the notion of a MATE as a high quality "three lenses in one" option for use with the Pixii piqued my curiosity. My preferred dealer and friend happens to have a rather used looking example of this lens in stock at present. A phone call, and he sending me the lens on spec to see if it works out well and whether I like it, want to buy it, etc. Should be here Thursday ... Maybe the Pixii will be too.  

(I have to say, it is above and beyond a pleasure to have a dealer I can trust and who trusts me to work with. Great people whom you can rely upon are the true gold in life, not how great the cameras and lenses you have on the shelf are. The folks I've communicated with at Pixii seem of the same cloth. It's best to remember that rather than dwell on the often irritating arguments about what one or another likes and doesn't like about the Pixii, to me.  😃 )

onwards, G

"Equipment is transitory. Photographs endure."

[loloboubou1]

2 hours ago, GLAUMAX said:

I also find the APS sensor is a non issue. It can be a strength. 

I am not a wide angle guy and I like that my super compact 28mm (Summaron) is now acting as a 42mm. 

For me Pixii is complementary to a full frame M.

For my next travel, I will take the M (262) and the Pixii. With probably two or three lenses (Elmar 24, Zeiss Contax G 45mm and Cron 75mm), I will have a nice set of focal lengths : 24, 36, 45, 67, 75 and 105mm.

 

If you can, don't forget to take a 15 (Voigt for example). You will be pleasantly surprised and if you want to frame precisely an external viewfinder 21 (I have an inexpensive ricoh) will be perfect (I regularly do freehand panoramas with the Fusion function of Lightroom CC)

 

26 minutes ago, ramarren said:

Still waiting for my Pixii to arrive. It's been stuck in Customs in Kentucky since Thursday. A day on the phone with UPS, an email to folks at Pixii, some effort by the Pixii folks to discover and fix the problem in US Customs, and it seems to be slowly moving through the system again. Ugh. While I wait, I do other things to distract myself. 

Can't remember whether I posted it on here or not... I have the teensy MS Optics Aporia 24mm f/2 lens which could be a "perfect" compact 35mm eFOV for the Pixii. Since I've been testing the new Color Skopar 21mm I bought recently, a couple days ago I decided to fit the Aporia to my Leica CL and revisit the use of this lens. I posted some test snaps from that day's walk:

https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzKdTk

 

Ramarren ... I fully share your opinion both on the kindness of the Pixii "factory" team and on the interest of the 24. I don't know your Aporia but if it has a rendering close to that of my apoqualia 28 he will get along perfectly with Pixii! I frequently use an Elmar 24 (which is to say that in APS-C it's perfect everywhere with this type of lens) and to frame more easily than using the entire window of the VF I use an external viewfinder from my screwed leicas (SBOOI). It's perfect again!

If you are in a hurry to receive your pixii we are in a hurry to see your images, especially with your MS-Optics Aporia 24!

Edited April 12, 2022 by loloboubou1

[loloboubou1]

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I'm just as eager to know how the MATE behaves with Pixii and its telemetric base. I don't think its dimensions are a bit too big, aren't they?

[ramarren]

Thanks!

I have a Voigtländer 35mm viewfinder that does an excellent job of framing for 24mm on APS-C if the Pixii native viewfinder seems underwhelming to use for the task. A Ricoh 28mm viewfinder proves close enough for the Color-Skopar 21mm, and a Voigtländer 15 viewfinder does an excellent job for the HyperWide 10mm.

At the other end of the spectrum, for use with 75/90/135 lenses, well, the Pixii isn't ideal for any of those of course, but I do have an old Voigtländer 90mm viewfinder somewhere around my junk that I think will be just fine ... with such a setup, you just center target the lenses and imagine the framing around that point. I once had one of the Leica VariFocal viewfinder like you do but I found it so difficult to see through due to the tiny ocular and my glasses that I sold it. Perhaps I'll look for another and put up with it...

What makes the MATE so ideal on the Pixii (compared to on a Leica M, for instance) is that the short zoom range means more on APS-C than it does on FF: from a modest portrait tele to decent wide, rather than just normal-wide-slightly wider on FF. (As an oddball analogy, I switched my Brompton bicycles standard 3speed hub to the wide-ratio 3speed hub, used on the higher end models along with a derailleur for a six speed setup, and I greatly prefer the wider 3gear spacing...  ). Looking at specs (and that gentleman's chart of lens compatibility posted elsewhere), the MATE should *just* sneak in under the wire and not occlude any of the rangefinder window, at least without the lens hood fitted. 

But that's the joy of having it sent to me 'on spec' before buying. I'll get to test it specifically on the Pixii and see whether it works physically/optically, see how it weighs on the camera, and see how it performs in use before deciding one way or another. I surely don't really need it since I have the whole range from 10mm to 135mm M-mount covered already, but a travel and cycling kit of Pixii plus 10mm, Aporia 24mm, and MATE seems potentially a wonderful range in a very compact and light bag. 

I look forward to the adventure. 

G

[Chris W]

On 4/12/2022 at 9:56 AM, pop said:

It's neither, of course. It's just your preference.

Pixii chose rangefinder and the M mount for a reason right? Their preference, or because of the history and prestige of rangefinder use - very largely using 28mm to 50mm lenses.

Longer lenses are YOUR preference. That's 100% fine. I'm just pointing out that their choice of a crop sensor renders many M user's 28mm and 35mm lenses redundant. It makes the product much less attractive to M users who prefer medium-wide photography.

The RD1 was short lived, as was the M8.

Edited April 14, 2022 by Chris W

[Chris W]

On 4/12/2022 at 4:29 PM, ramarren said:

I have the teensy MS Optics Aporia 24mm f/2 lens which could be a "perfect" compact 35mm eFOV for the Pixii.

Adds a grand to Pixxi's price tag.

[ramarren]

Sheesh, Chris W. 

Obviously you do not like or want the Pixii because of its format. And now, it seems, my having a lens that performs well on the format and does what I want, and that I paid for happily, is somehow offensive to you as well.

Why do you go on so? It's just a camera. Pick another one that you find more suitable to your desires and traditions, focus on that. There are any number of Leica M digital cameras with a 24x36 mm sensor that will give you exactly what you're looking for.  

I already own, and use, the Aporia 24mm f/2 lens ... so it doesn't add a penny to the cost of the Pixii for me. I use it now, while I wait for my Pixii to arrive, on a Leica CL and a Leica M4-2. It's a lovely lens on both of those, regardless of format.

G

Edited April 14, 2022 by ramarren

[ramarren]

On 4/12/2022 at 9:00 AM, loloboubou1 said:

I'm just as eager to know how the MATE behaves with Pixii and its telemetric base. I don't think its dimensions are a bit too big, aren't they?

My Pixii camera is, as yet, stuck in the bowels of UPS and US Customs in Louisville, Kentucky. Repeated inquiries by both myself and by the folks at Pixii SAS have thus far resulted in zero motion from there. It's definitely there since there's been a fresh package scan notation every night. There's nothing further to do other than wait and see if it will get cleared and transported to me in the next few days, or rejected and sent back to France. If it does get rejected and sent back, I've been assured by Pixii that they will not wait for the inevitably very slow return of the camera to them: they will jump start manufacture of another camera for me immediately and ship it via another carrier. Such it is. 

Meanwhile, the MATE lens sent for inspection arrived today. It's in nicer shape than the photos of it showed. It's a version II MATE, just a few serial numbers before the version III model, and has the six-bit lens code (I doubt that was standard in year 2000 manufacture). The lens is about 58mm long, a simple cylinder in shape, and about 53mm in diameter. It's about twice the length and weight of the Color-Skopar 21mm f/3.5 v1 that I bought recently.

It should sneak in just under the limit for occluding the bottom of the rangefinder window according to the diagram for Pixii-friendly lenses I have. It has typical Leica construction: solid, robust in feel, and smooth in operation. I've snapped a few test photos with it around the condo today (it's a bit rainy outside) and the sharpness/etc all look fine at the three focal length settings and various distances. I'll do some testing with the CL and the M4-2, and hope the Pixii arrives before I need to make a decision as to whether keep it or send it back. 

Such it is.

G

[lct]

Just beware of some nasty flare at 50mm when strong light sources are outside the frame. Easy to avoid with TTL cameras, less so with rangefinders.

[ramarren]

28 minutes ago, lct said:

Just beware of some nasty flare at 50mm when strong light sources are outside the frame. Easy to avoid with TTL cameras, less so with rangefinders.

Sounds similar to my Summilux 35mm pre-ASPH without the lens hood. Thx. 
G

[ramarren]

23 hours ago, ramarren said:

My Pixii camera is, as yet, stuck in the bowels of UPS and US Customs in Louisville, Kentucky. Repeated inquiries by both myself and by the folks at Pixii SAS have thus far resulted in zero motion from there. It's definitely there since there's been a fresh package scan notation every night. There's nothing further to do other than wait and see if it will get cleared and transported to me in the next few days, or rejected and sent back to France. If it does get rejected and sent back, I've been assured by Pixii that they will not wait for the inevitably very slow return of the camera to them: they will jump start manufacture of another camera for me immediately and ship it via another carrier. Such it is. 

...

Another 2.5 hours on the phone today and it looks like I've broken the logjam that's been blocking the Pixii shipment. They were "missing" a piece of information (tax ID) needed to release the camera through Customs ... yeah, the same information I sent them three days ago. I know it's moving now because I've been charged for Customs Duty and Brokerage fees, those are paid, and the website indicator on tracking now says "on the way" rather than just "import scan". Yay! 

[loloboubou1]

Il y a 1 heure, ramarren disait :

Encore 2,5 heures au téléphone aujourd'hui et il semble que j'ai brisé l'impasse qui bloque l'expédition Pixii. Ils "manquaient" une information (carte d'identité fiscale) nécessaire pour libérer la caméra par les douanes... oui, les mêmes informations que je leur ai envoyées il y a trois jours. Je sais que ça bouge maintenant parce qu'on m'a facturé des droits de douane et des frais de courtage, ceux-ci sont payés, et l'indicateur du site Web sur le suivi dit maintenant "en route" plutôt que simplement "l'analyse d'importation". Ouais !

Courage. Be strong !

[oldwino]

1 hour ago, ramarren said:

Another 2.5 hours on the phone today and it looks like I've broken the logjam that's been blocking the Pixii shipment. They were "missing" a piece of information (tax ID) needed to release the camera through Customs ... yeah, the same information I sent them three days ago. I know it's moving now because I've been charged for Customs Duty and Brokerage fees, those are paid, and the website indicator on tracking now says "on the way" rather than just "import scan". Yay! 

What's the import tariff on French rangefinder cameras these days?

[ramarren]

20 minutes ago, oldwino said:

What's the import tariff on French rangefinder cameras these days?

The total for Customs Duty and Brokerage Fees came to about $183.00. 

G

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Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[loloboubou1]

10 hours ago, oldwino said:

What's the import tariff on French rangefinder cameras these days?

in the USA the import taxes are different from one country to another?

[jaapv]

43 minutes ago, loloboubou1 said:

in the USA the import taxes are different from one country to another?

zero on digital cameras as far as I am aware.