Micro 4/3 Advice needed: Wich body for Leica lenses?

The angle-of-view of a lens/sensor combination is more important to me than the optical properties of the lens' focal length i.e. depth-of-field. A lens that I like for one particular format won't necessarily appeal to me in another.
 
Nic, I think you hit it on the head. The FD lenses now are very good in price. The quality is actually better on digital than ever on film. Dunno....
My Leica lenses are great on the Nex. Sharpness, Contrast etc but for them and only them...35mm must be 35mm...50mm must be 50mm etc. I will not tolerate any crop factor on those lenses.
If it were me and I had the Leica lenses and no body, film or digital...I'd sell the lenses and get some nice Canon's or Hexanon's, maybe even a few Nikon things and adapters.
Actually the OP should get an X100 and be done with it......

you too brother Nic......
That seems like a very sound advice
 
Do I get "Leica quality" on either body? I mean do the Leica lenses stand out from the native lenses or is it just a mayor inconvenience ( no AF, manual exposure)?


I have shot with my Olympus 14-150mm and with my Leica Summicron 50mm in the botanical garden and I used some other lenses, too. Although the quality of the shots I did with my 14-150mm is very good, the technical quality I get with the Summicron is outstanding. I expected a difference, but not such a big difference.
 
I have a choice of bodies to use my Leica mount lenses with. Film cameras, Leica M9, Leica M8, and Olympus EP2. I like using the lenses on all of them of course, and certainly do not have a problem using them on the EP2.

The only way to find out is to try it for yourself. Crop factor is not the big deal that everyone makes of it, you still get beautiful images from the lenses. That is up to the photographer.
 
The Sony NEX series should be getting a firmware update that will provide 'focus peaking' in the LCD display for focus assist. This has been revealed in documents from various Sony web sites, so while not 100% certain it seems like its coming. That will provide a big boost to MF focusing with NEX IMO.

A couple of other nice features of the NEX for MF lenses- 1 touch to magnify, and half-press of the shutter zooms back out. Of course zoom should not be needed as much with focus peaking. One disadvantage is no EVF is available.

The crop factor is also a bit smaller than with Micro 4/3, which is nice if you do want less cropping. It can be easier to match up lenses at wide to normal views. The Sony sensor is also quite fantastic, though to really get maximum IQ from your lenses RAW mode is definitely recommended.

Of course you can get great images and results with other mounts as well. I enjoyed shooting MF lenses with Micro 4/3 (particularly c-mount which doesn't work as well on NEX due to larger sensor.)
 
I use my 5cm F1.4 Nikkor-SC with the EP2 quite a bit. It has a minimum focus of 18", but loses RF coupling on the Leica at just under 3ft. I have not modified the mount to allow the RF cam to get in closer.

On the EP2, it is a fast portrait lens/ fast-telephoto. The RF lenses are much smaller than the Canon and other equivalent SLR lenses. I cannot see the logic in replacing the Leica glass with Canon FD or other SLR lenses for use on a 4/3rds or APS-C sized sensor.

Nikkor on the EP2, this time at F4.





I have a Canon 50/1.4 SSC, 50/1.4 SC, and 50/1.4 FL, many (8 or 9) Nikon F-Mount 50/1.4's, a Konica 57/1.4, Pentax 50/1.4, and others. I have adapters to use all of them on the EP2. Adapters are cheap. The size of the RF lenses on the adapters is a much more compact arrangement than any of the SLR lenses on the same body.
 
I'm interested in this because I've just ordered an M9 and three lenses. My opinion is that I'm going to look at each lens objectively on both m4/3 and full frame individually, rather than worry about what I may be missing. Kind of like I'm treating a single lens as two separate entities for the purposes of testing. For example, I may actually prefer using the M75mm on m4/3 (EP-2 with EVF or GH2), compared to buying a 135mm for the M9. I'm not so sure that I'm going to like using accessory finders or the really small frame lines in the M9, if I buy an M135mm. Sure the image quality of the M9 is better, but if I don't enjoy using it then I won't use it at all. So, for ME, I'm better off shooting the 75 on an EP-2 that I know I'll love to use, rather than a 135 on the M(which I'm confident I wont). I'm getting the CV Nocton 50mm 1.1 and I can tell you I'm plenty excited about using it as a 100mm 1.1 (2.2 dof) on the EP-2 as well as on the M9. Especially since I got the 25mm 0.95 for m4/3. In fact that's what I was going to buy. The CV50mm 1.1 and adaptor. The fact I left with a 25mm 0.95 and an order for the M9, lenses, flash etc is another story ;-)

I know that I like standard lenses and short to medium teles. So I choose the best lenses I can afford in this range, based on my personal preferences, and compromise on lenses that are outside that range. I also think that lenses make images, not cameras, so I'm happy to spend more time and money on good ones.

Gordon
 
Still here - of course

Very interesting informations in this thread and gorgeous photos. I am not in a rush, rather look for a good next step. I don't really want to think about cameras so much once I am settled. Rather thing about pictures. :)

Right now I am using my Samsung EX1, which I like a lot. For better IQ I have been lugging my Nikon D40 for 2 days. Although a "better camera", I just don't like the bulk. That is what got me into Leica in the first place. But I don't shoot film anymore... So the M6 collects dust. And that's why I came up with the idea of a new body for the old lenses. They are not the new ASPH kind, 3000$+ lenses, but from the 80's. Still Leica, small, beautiful, sturdy, easy handling.

My digital equipment so far went the route of: Apple Quicktake (piece of crap for monster price), Sony F707 (despite the size still an awesome camre in good light), Olympus 8080 (nice IQ - but who wants to handle such an unergonomic bewildering interface), Nikon D40 (nice camera - I did not bond though) and the last one EX1 (awesome camera but lacking a good firmware update).

And yes, take pictures too :) Thanks everybody, you are a nice bunch of photo enthusiasts here.

Don't understand yet how to post a picture. <-- Achieved! Just posted my first photo in the Samsung small sensor thread
 
Well my M9 arrived with 2 of it's lenses. (35 and 75). Both work great on my ep2 and evf. But I also got a 25mm nocton which, after 18 hours of ownership, I already love like a third child. So my official suggestion is to get a panasonic G3 and the Nocton. That and your Leicas will be a potent combination.

Gordon
 
Back
Top