I'm more in line about what I want from my photography hobby: it's got to be fun. Leica M is most fun. Sadly it's still expensive and sometimes I want to experiment with TTL. And I want some options regarding close focusing.
Df?!
Keeping with the rule of "new gear resales at 50 %, used gear resales at 75%", if I try out the Nikon Df and I don't keep it for any reason my loss will be around 25 % of the money I pay for the body, let's say roughly 150-200 €. And of course any lenses I might get for it. Because this approximate loss is so little, it doesn't make sense for me to rent the body.
Why Df exactly? I disliked DSLRs when I shot them in 2015 but could be I just love them now that I've seen the direction these mirrorless cameras are taking. All computers and very little mechanical craftmanship to the picture taking. Maybe all I want is to be bound by the physical realm of photo taking.
Leica focuses and meters via mechanical (physical) means; most DSLR cameras do too for the most part. It may not be any different to how a good PDAF mirrorless camera does but I think there's a tiny charm to it. The OVF and especially TTL composition is the big thing I really would like to witness again, TTL OVF. Sure I can TTL focus my Leica from a push of the LV button but it's not the same.
So the upside to all this, if I should find out that Df is most fun indeed, equal to M, that could mean some great things. Sure the lenses are bulky unless I go for manual focus vintage. But they'd be affordable, the camera would have good AF and the TTL is something. Nikon moving to the Z means every day the F lenses are getting discarded and sold.
Secondly,
An alternative option I should entertain.
I just love the attributes of M4/3 systems but the bodies are too computer-y -- as they are modern mirrorless cameras.
But I have only explored Olympus' side of things. What if I bought a semi-serious (this is because Panasonic hasn't made an entry-level body in a long time and there's hardly any out in the markets) Panasonic body,
GX80 (GX85 in some sides of the globe) for apprx 70 € resale loss or a
GX8 for 110 € resale loss. The cost of the experiment remains reasonable even though I swore that my 'second system' can't cost more than 100 € (that logic went out of the window with that Df desire anyway).
Panasonics sure are computer-y gadgets just like Olympus but maybe they at least do the things I expect a digital camera to do. Mirrorless CDAF cameras have the potential to focus accurately within the focusing square so who knows, maybe Panasonic actually does it? Not to mention Leica Q, the absolute nicest piece of "digital" gear I've shot, has Panasonic DNA in it to some extent.
Likewise, the minute chance that Panasonic has an answer to my wildest dreams, could be very big indeed. Very affordable, lightweight lenses (so no breaking the bank nor the back) and capable bodies and all that good stuff. Huge potential, but again the chances are not the strongest. Then again the ticket to enter the "lottery" isn't prohibitely expensive either. These computer gadgets may not be the fun M or Df are but affordability and lightweight is also fun.
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Do you think this is a very good way to lie to myself, "try the Df, it's only going to be a 200 € loss if you don't like it"?