So I had the fling with Df. It lasted about 7 days and I did have fun
with the prime once it arrived (not so much with the zoom). The
problem is that Df is too good. It is too nice to use, the sensor is
too great, the lenses too good for the value. I saw immediately that
prolonged relationship with it will mess up my good thing with Leica.
With Df and the soft zoom returned in time, I can sigh from relief. It
felt bad to return a perfectly fine camera, if not a perfect camera,
but I can always return to it if circumstances change.
I have these two lenses as shrapnel from the incident.
- 85 f/1.8 AF-D
- 28-70 AF-D
The 85 is really great. I bet all the AF-D lenses with low element
counts are superb. The compact zoom I didn't have chance to test out,
sadly.
So, what to do?
- Sell/trade these two for something else?
- Keep them in the boxes until something happens with Leica?
- Buy an F-M adapter to be used on my Leica M?
- Buy a Leica SL, the old king of mirrorless cameras?
The SL thing is an old fantasy, I believe it's soon going to die. The
benefit of SL is that it pretty much adapts all the lenses out there.
Like CaNiSony but with the added benefit of adapting M lenses really
nicely. And I believe the German design on the UI and body is toppest
of notches.
Getting an adapter to adapt Nikon F to Leica M, and then using the
live view capabilities of my MP 240 makes sense in theory. But is it
going to be *any* fun using the slow and pixelated and laggy MP EVF
for this purpose. It should kind of work out because I'd still be
shooting 90 % native M lenses and the 10 % other ones. Leica M10
supposedly offers a more contemporary live view experience but I
haven't been able to test the camera out anywhere.
In any event, trading up my MP240 for an M10 or M10P is more costly
than just buying an SL alongside my MP... This is my main dilemma at
the moment. Also, the chances are very high that the new M11 that
might or might not come out next year is not going to offer any big
improvements in its EVF approach. And I don't even know if the M10
already wouldn't be perfect. Things like delays and lags can't be seen
in Youtube videos, one'd have to see the camera in person.
But yes, Leica SLs are dropping to around 2200-2500 € and that's a
camera that's beating a great many current MILC cameras easy peasy.
The big sadness is also about the fact that having handled Df for a
bit, many of its shortcomings would be greatly amplified in SL. Df is
pretty much like I anticipated, it's an "analog" camera in that its
viewfinder, its metering and its autofocus probably aren't as digital
as mirrorless cameras are. There's a high chance SL would fail me in
the fun factor in some ways Df didn't.
Yet again, there's no denying SL wouldn't have its pros and with these
values it's going these days there's not much of a loss crossing that
camera out of my bucket list...
What about M43?
.71x speedboosted 85/1.8 becomes a 60/1.3
.64x speedboosted 85/1.8 becomes a 55/1.2
In other words, a nice long portrait lens. But sadly I have no use for
portrait lenses for m43.
PS
I'm so happy with the Panasonic GX80 also. In that sense a push towards the heavier FF gear is not as appealing as it once was.
Heh... during my Nikon fever days I already envisioned my future with the Df, an affordable 810 as the second body, heavy tele lenses and a full on backbag to haul all that around... That idea seems again so unnecessary.
with the prime once it arrived (not so much with the zoom). The
problem is that Df is too good. It is too nice to use, the sensor is
too great, the lenses too good for the value. I saw immediately that
prolonged relationship with it will mess up my good thing with Leica.
With Df and the soft zoom returned in time, I can sigh from relief. It
felt bad to return a perfectly fine camera, if not a perfect camera,
but I can always return to it if circumstances change.
I have these two lenses as shrapnel from the incident.
- 85 f/1.8 AF-D
- 28-70 AF-D
The 85 is really great. I bet all the AF-D lenses with low element
counts are superb. The compact zoom I didn't have chance to test out,
sadly.
So, what to do?
- Sell/trade these two for something else?
- Keep them in the boxes until something happens with Leica?
- Buy an F-M adapter to be used on my Leica M?
- Buy a Leica SL, the old king of mirrorless cameras?
The SL thing is an old fantasy, I believe it's soon going to die. The
benefit of SL is that it pretty much adapts all the lenses out there.
Like CaNiSony but with the added benefit of adapting M lenses really
nicely. And I believe the German design on the UI and body is toppest
of notches.
Getting an adapter to adapt Nikon F to Leica M, and then using the
live view capabilities of my MP 240 makes sense in theory. But is it
going to be *any* fun using the slow and pixelated and laggy MP EVF
for this purpose. It should kind of work out because I'd still be
shooting 90 % native M lenses and the 10 % other ones. Leica M10
supposedly offers a more contemporary live view experience but I
haven't been able to test the camera out anywhere.
In any event, trading up my MP240 for an M10 or M10P is more costly
than just buying an SL alongside my MP... This is my main dilemma at
the moment. Also, the chances are very high that the new M11 that
might or might not come out next year is not going to offer any big
improvements in its EVF approach. And I don't even know if the M10
already wouldn't be perfect. Things like delays and lags can't be seen
in Youtube videos, one'd have to see the camera in person.
But yes, Leica SLs are dropping to around 2200-2500 € and that's a
camera that's beating a great many current MILC cameras easy peasy.
The big sadness is also about the fact that having handled Df for a
bit, many of its shortcomings would be greatly amplified in SL. Df is
pretty much like I anticipated, it's an "analog" camera in that its
viewfinder, its metering and its autofocus probably aren't as digital
as mirrorless cameras are. There's a high chance SL would fail me in
the fun factor in some ways Df didn't.
Yet again, there's no denying SL wouldn't have its pros and with these
values it's going these days there's not much of a loss crossing that
camera out of my bucket list...
What about M43?
.71x speedboosted 85/1.8 becomes a 60/1.3
.64x speedboosted 85/1.8 becomes a 55/1.2
In other words, a nice long portrait lens. But sadly I have no use for
portrait lenses for m43.
PS
I'm so happy with the Panasonic GX80 also. In that sense a push towards the heavier FF gear is not as appealing as it once was.
Heh... during my Nikon fever days I already envisioned my future with the Df, an affordable 810 as the second body, heavy tele lenses and a full on backbag to haul all that around... That idea seems again so unnecessary.
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