LEICA Visoflex 2, What do you think?

[hdmesa]

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18 minutes ago, jakontil said:

You managed to scratch the LCD on M11 already? I m hurt… yeah using the gorilla glass, their strength is on not easy being scattered  but to compensate it, more flexible which is more prone to scratches… 

Yes. Quite painful. But it's not really deep – only scratched the anti-glare coating, so I can't see it except in bright sunlight and only from certain angles. Metal bracelet on the wrist or my knife that clips to my front pocket with a metal clip – one of them was probably the culprit. A screen protector should make it disappear completely.

[Photoworks]

12 hours ago, hdmesa said:

We haven't talked Visoflex 2 in a while, and I just got one, so:

Blurry? No way. Trouble in low light? No way.

Turn off full-time exposure preview and set it to shutter-press – that will give you a brighter image when focusing in darker areas. And I think you had your diopter screwed up or had a defective unit – or we got a stealth update in firmware 1.4.0 that improved the experience. The diopter adjustments are smaller increments than previous Leicas, so I had to spin mine super far to get the screen perfectly sharp, and I only wear 1.25 readers. Adjust the diopter using the menu screen lettering and adjust until you can see the individual pixels that make up the letters. Adjust the diopter by only using/looking-at the center of the screen since the slightest movement of your eyeball toward the corner will change the focus in the corners. Never adjust the diopter to a live view image – always use the menu screen.

Even though the resolution is 3.7mp, the magnification seems crazy big. It feels like a drive-in theater versus the Q2. It feels like it's magnified to larger-than-SL2-S viewing size. I don't think the specs back that up, but that's just what it feels like. 

Regardless of how it compares to the Q2/SL2-S, it's leagues better than the Visoflex 020 on the M10 variants was. The 020 was just horrible (IMO), and the live view blackout on the M10s was atrocious. With the Visoflex 2, I can now use this like I did the SL2-S with M lenses but with the benefit of automatic zoom when focusing. This is faster. And with EVF Extended mode, the LCD stays off, and the EVF only activates when I put my eye up to it. And it doesn't activate when I'm looking through the rangefinder. Perfect, as I'm a right-eyed shooter.

And low-angle shooting? Easy. This is way better than low-angle shooting with the SL2-S where I have to get down in the dirt to get the shot. The tilt at full vertical makes the M11 feel like an old medium format film camera where I'm looking down at the ground glass. Chef's kiss. Just like my old GFX 50S with the tilt adapter. Magnet closure is genius, and the force of the closure is perfection. The bag it comes with is just fine, not sure why I'd want moisture-holding leather to hold the EVF. And what makes the provided bag even better is the base will hold onto the rubber protective bottom cover, so when I lift out the EVF, the rubber protector detaches and stays in the bag. Nice.

I wasn't going to get the Visoflex 2, but I saw it come in stock at Leica USA store, so thought I'd give it a try. Going to keep it. Really impressed.

//

Now that we have such a good external EVF, we need aspect ratio crop options in firmware. I would love to be able to look through the EVF and see a square, 4x5, or 16:9 and have those crop instructions written to the DNG for use in Lightroom.

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ouch!

sounds like a new user excitement , but if you use it for 6 months you will run into the limitations.

Is it better than Q2? I don't think so. Is it better than SL2? No way

but it is a big improvement over type 020.

[hdmesa]

1 hour ago, Photoworks said:

ouch!

sounds like a new user excitement , but if you use it for 6 months you will run into the limitations.

Is it better than Q2? I don't think so. Is it better than SL2? No way

but it is a big improvement over type 020.

I don’t mean to give the impression that it was better than the Q2 or SL2-S as far as overall performance — only making a comparison as to how the size of the projected image appears to my eye versus those — and the usability comparison for low-angle shooting.

Of course there are limitations at the moment like occasional flicker, etc., but the issues I’ve run into so far are due to the LV of the M11, and I also experience them when using the LCD.

Someone should not expect the same performance as those EVFs. But I certainly did not find it “blurry”, nor was it any more difficult to use in low light than the M11 already is when using LV. 

And you are right about time — I always find more things wrong with a product after an extended time with it. But low angle shooting will not be one of them

[S Maclean]

I love it, and it works well.  Specially since you can adjust the viewing so you can use without glasses.  (I can also use the viewfinder without glasses but not the LCD)

I only wish it had the option for an eyecup as that would really make it a perfect viewfinder for me.

 

 

[AndreasG]

vor 2 Stunden schrieb S Maclean:

Specially since you can adjust the viewing so you can use without glasses.

This is indeed very useful according to my own experience, however, already the 020 offered this function.

[jakontil]

Is there any plan to let the 020 work on the M11?

[Photoworks]

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23 hours ago, hdmesa said:

Someone should not expect the same performance as those EVFs. But I certainly did not find it “blurry”, nor was it any more difficult to use in low light than the M11 already is when using LV. 

there are two stages to image preview.

the I shoot an image and hold pressed the preview come up as long as I hold. when shooting in High ISO that image is super grainy and softer. But when you hit play and look at it again the camera presents a different image. Looks much cleaner and defined .

[hdmesa]

41 minutes ago, Photoworks said:

there are two stages to image preview.

the I shoot an image and hold pressed the preview come up as long as I hold. when shooting in High ISO that image is super grainy and softer. But when you hit play and look at it again the camera presents a different image. Looks much cleaner and defined .

Is that a property of LV and also shows the same behavior on the LCD or is it only a Visoflex 2 issue? The image in the Visoflex 2 is gigantic compared to the LCD, so it could be making the issue more noticeable.

[Photoworks]

yes, it is on LCD too. it is more a camera issue I suppose.

I use the camera hold preview often to check images during shoot. On the SL2 I have not see this issue.

[SrMi]

5 hours ago, jakontil said:

Is there any plan to let the 020 work on the M11?

AFAIK, there’s no plan to make 020 compatible with M11.

[hdmesa]

2 hours ago, Photoworks said:

yes, it is on LCD too. it is more a camera issue I suppose.

I use the camera hold preview often to check images during shoot. On the SL2 I have not see this issue.

Could be tied to sensor/processor/thermal limitations or it could be a firmware issue. Hopefully it's tied to the firmware so it's something they can improve.

[rramesh]

Could someone give me the exact dimensions of this? Thanks

[SrMi]

4 hours ago, rramesh said:

Could someone give me the exact dimensions of this? Thanks

w:41mm d:43mm h:36mm

[lct]

9 hours ago, rramesh said:

Could someone give me the exact dimensions of this? Thanks

See specs here (link).

[rramesh]

Seems like it's the same size as the Visoflex 020 but oriented differently.

 

[trequartista]

Any experience with the new Visoflex on an M10-R?

[SrMi]

2 hours ago, trequartista said:

Any experience with the new Visoflex on an M10-R?

You may find answers in the M10 sub-forum.

[NDTPHOTOGRAPHY]

Hey all, so I figured this out with step-up rings, am using the 72mm Freewell magnetic filters which are great and make for a very light weight kit, perfect for the M11 and any lenses in the M-lineup.

[Tailwagger]

Personally, while still not quite up to the SL2, the v2 is, AFAIC, a massive improvement over the 020 in several dimensions. 

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[Jon Warwick]

I’ve tried the Visoflex on my M10 Monochrom (and also the store’s M11 to see the benefit of the “full” EVF resolution). It certainly seemed to do the job fairly well, but as expected the view through the Visoflex 2 didn’t feel anywhere as near as big compared to how I remember my SL2’s EVF - if someone knows just how much bigger the image is when using the respective EVFs on the SL2 vs Visoflex 2, I’d be intrigued to know. If set up the camera on a tripod, I can envisage myself just using the LCD on the back of the camera for focus peaking instead.