35mm FF FL - a year late

[Tseg]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

A year ago, 12 years after buying my Sony RX1 35mm full frame fixed lens camera at launch, I decided to get back into the forums to see advancements of this camera concept that allowed me to liquidate the rest of my camera gear for over a decade.  
Now a year later I have a Q3 43 and a complete M setup with 4 lenses since Sony faltered and had not provided an RX1 update in nearly a decade.  I just saw Sony is releasing the RX1rIII in the near future… 35mm / 61MP sensor with Sony AF goodness.  WHERE WERE YOU A YEAR AGO!?  
$45K later I doubt I’ll be going back to Sony.  Timing is everything.  My 35mm APO Summicron lens arrived less than a month ago for my M11-D.

Edited July 15 by Tseg

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[Smogg]

Thanks to Sony for releasing such a camera!! 2.36 Mp EVF!! No need to continue further... Thanks to Sony for the fact that I do NOT need this camera and I do not experience GAS🤣

[Tseg]

Yeah, the EVF resolution at half of the Q3 is a big miss.

[Guest]

29 minutes ago, Smogg said:

Thanks to Sony for releasing such a camera!! 2.36 Mp EVF!! No need to continue further... Thanks to Sony for the fact that I do NOT need this camera and I do not experience GAS🤣

Because Leica refuses to allow you to expand the digital crop area to the full size of the EVF the effective resolution reduces dramtically as does the effective magnification. 

I have a Sony A7CR with the same size viewfinder and it's more than adequate. Although a higher pixel count I've never been impressed with the Q3 EVF.

And let's not even talk about Q3 AF!

The Q3 is a great camera, but the Sony will certainly have appeal and it's good that there is competition.

[bobtodrick]

13 minutes ago, Corius said:

The Q3 is a great camera, but the Sony will certainly have appeal and it's good that there is competition.

Completely agree on both counts.

[SrMi]

1 hour ago, Smogg said:

Thanks to Sony for releasing such a camera!! 2.36 Mp EVF!! No need to continue further... Thanks to Sony for the fact that I do NOT need this camera and I do not experience GAS🤣

Dito.

The EVF seems to be the same as in the a7CR, which is not that good.

[JNK100]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

43 minutes ago, SrMi said:

Dito.

The EVF seems to be the same as in the a7CR, which is not that good.

I wouldn't like to have to use that EVF everyday.

[Olaf_ZG]

2 hours ago, Tseg said:

A year ago, 12 years after buying my Sony RX1 35mm full frame fixed lens camera at launch, I decided to get back into the forums to see advancements of this camera concept that allowed me to liquidate the rest of my camera gear for over a decade.  
Now a year later I have a Q3 43 and a complete M setup with 4 lenses since Sony faltered and had not provided an RX1 update in nearly a decade.  I just saw Sony is releasing the RX1rIII in the near future… 35mm / 61MP sensor with Sony AF goodness.  WHERE WERE YOU A YEAR AGO!?  
$45K later I doubt I’ll be going back to Sony.  Timing is everything.  My 35mm APO Summicron lens arrived less than a month ago for my M11-D.

Ten years ago the camera had my interest, but was out of my budget. Main USP was the Zeiss. Will this still be its USP?

[LocalHero1953]

But will the Sony have a digital crop that expands to fill the EVF?
Would that be the same sensor as the Q3? It would make an interesting colour comparison.

[SrMi]

1 minute ago, LocalHero1953 said:

But will the Sony have a digital crop that expands to fill the EVF?
Would that be the same sensor as the Q3? It would make an interesting colour comparison.

Same sensor, much worse EVF, probably crop expands, better AF, no LPC.

[SrMi]

Also, no stabilization in Sony.

[Smogg]

Moreover, the differences in size and weight of the new camera from the A7CR paired with the Sony 35 2.8 or Samsung 35 2.8 are not that great. At the same time, stabilization is lost, the battery is worse and the price is radically increased. What's the point?

[Tseg]

2 hours ago, Olaf_ZG said:

Ten years ago the camera had my interest, but was out of my budget. Main USP was the Zeiss. Will this still be its USP?

I'm curious whether it is still the same Zeiss lens?   At the time, the lens was fantastic... but now with APO lenses out there it is clear the 35mm f2.0 Zeiss Sonar T* has CA fringing issues that are more obvious vs. today's expectations.

[Tseg]

10 minutes ago, Smogg said:

Moreover, the differences in size and weight of the new camera from the A7CR paired with the Sony 35 2.8 or Samsung 35 2.8 are not that great. At the same time, stabilization is lost, the battery is worse and the price is radically increased. What's the point?

There remains quite a size difference:

A7CR

5 7/16" W

2 15/16" H

2 1/2" D w/o lens (Zeiss f2.8 = another 2.2")

RX1rIII

4 1/2" W

2 3/4" H

3 1/2" D w/ lens (Zeiss f2.0 Sonar T*)

 

Now, 13 years ago, discarding all my kit for a single fixed lens camera was liberating and a cost savings... so that was the point.   Now I'm in a different place in my life and the Q3 was an enabler for me to discover the M... and less inheritance for the kids.

[Stuart Richardson]

Just looking at the specs and prices, I would go for the Q3 43 for sure. Stabilization is so useful for a compact handheld camera, and the EVF is pretty much the main vehicle for conveying the camera user experience in EVF cameras, so having a low resolution one is a big hit for me. I guess the Q3 is even more expensive, but over 5000 dollars for the Sony? No thank you. I think I would also prefer a Sigma BF in this segment. If it is primarily about compactness, the Ricoh GR series is way better for that purpose, and if it is about quality and user experience, it seems like Leica beats it there. Not sure I clearly see the user base for this right now, other than for people who just like Sonys, or who really really need the best possible AF in a 35mm compact. 

[ApoVision]

EVF resolution is XGA (1024 x 768), introduced in 1990. We can still hope the new M will come with a few more dots

[Kevin94]

I was waiting to see if Sony would release another fixed lens camera, but this finally convinced to just get the Q3 43, which I have been testing for a bit and like quite a lot more than the A7CR I used to have. This RX1R III seems to be worse than the A7CR in every way other than its small size and leaf shutter.

[frame-it]

amazing thread..

nobody cares about how good the quality of the Rx1R images were, [though its AF was total shit and that's why i sold mine] 

seems like most people are heavily dependent on high res EVFs and love high MP but don't mind paying a Red-Dot premium for bad AF  [and still love their M OVFs]

 

[Advertisement]

Hallo,

Look here: Leica Q

[zlatkob]

The new Sony looks amazing, more compact than the Q3, and likely much better autofocus. I too am surprised at how many years Sony took to release this. The RX1RIII was on a very slow schedule!

[Smogg]

3 hours ago, frame-it said:

amazing thread..

nobody cares about how good the quality of the Rx1R images were, [though its AF was total shit and that's why i sold mine] 

seems like most people are heavily dependent on high res EVFs and love high MP but don't mind paying a Red-Dot premium for bad AF  [and still love their M OVFs]

 

An OVF gives me a sense of being part of what I'm shooting. A good EVF tries to recreate that same feeling. A low-quality or low-resolution EVF completely destroys the unity with the world and is like working with a video editor where you have to freeze frames during editing. For many, especially M-series fans, unity with the world is extremely important when shooting, it allows you to take completely different shots, getting to know the world and yourself in this world, without stumbling over the obvious artificiality of the picture.