goodbye d200, hello lieca.

Parkes Owen · 04-07-2008

Well, I think it`s time to jump off the digital band wagon and do what I should have earlier, get the camera I really want!

I got the d200 for some web/real estate/product work, and it`s been good, but it`s not my main job and I feel like I`m loosing my passion for photography, as landscape and documentary b&w is what I really love.

The d200 is a fine tool and I`m very happy with the images I can get with it, mainly with the ZF50 1.4 but something is missing.

I`ve been lurking around the lieca,bessa and ziess rff forums and can`t take it any longer! So....I`m after an m6 ttl, and am thinking of starting with a vc 35 1.4mc , and then a fast 50mm, when I can afford it, and have my eye on a .85 body, as 50mm is my favourite FOV. My question is, if these 2 lenses were all you used, what VF would you suggest? Thanks in advance.

Didier · 04-07-2008

This Lieca chart might be useful for your frameline evaluation:

PS: Your future Lieca cemara will work best with Simmucrun, Simmulux or Nuctilox lenses. Or one of these Ziess Bigions

D.

Parkes Owen · 04-07-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Didier

This Lieca chart might be useful for your frameline evaluation:

PS: Your future Lieca cemara will work best with Simmucrun, Simmulux or Nuctilox lenses. Or one of these Ziess Bigions

D.

thanks for your reply, as i`ve seen around here before, once you have an m mount body, your bank account will suffer for the rest of your life!

Rogrund · 04-07-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Didier

PS: Your future Lieca cemara will work best with Simmucrun, Simmulux or Nuctilox lenses. Or one of these Ziess Bigions

D.

Come on, give the guy a break. He leics Leicas just leic we do!

Athos6 · 04-07-2008

Save up and keep your D200, I almost put mine up this weekend but upon further concideration its nice to have it there while your waiting for prints to come back in the mail.

bobbyrab · 04-07-2008

I find these frame line examples slightly confusing as they don't seem to correspond with what I see through my viewfinders, I use a .58 and a .72 and I’ve become a great fan of the .58 due to my wearing glasses and usually working with a 25, 35, and 50, all of which are comfortable with the .58, if I am only taking one body out for the day, it’s the .58 with a magnifier for my 90mm, unless you work more often at 50 and above it’s a much more flexible VF I find. Getting back to the above examples, the only way I can view the ratios that they show, is to remove my glasses and tilt the camera up and down, then left to right, so I can see the extremes of the viewfinder, if I view with my eye square on to the viewfinder, without my glasses, all of the frame lines appear larger than the examples above would suggest. Can anyone else confirm this?…….Robert.

marke · 04-07-2008

Robert, I've had the same experience as you. Even though I wear eyeglasses, if I look at what is visible though the VF without my eyeglasses, it's never as much as Leica shows in their examples. My first M, an M6TTL, has a .58x VF, and it's great for when using my 35 Summicron. But I eventually decided on a .72x when I got my MP. I've been shooting a 50 Summilux a lot lately, and even with glasses, I prefer the .72x VF. I did get a Leica 1.25x magifier before I got the MP, just to see if .72 would work for me. So I still have the magnifier if I want to use it on either camera. But to tell you the truth, I just don't like the way it hangs out from the camera, waiting to snag on things.

Thardy · 04-07-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parkes Owen

Well, I think it`s time to jump off the digital band wagon and do what I should have earlier, get the camera I really want!

I got the d200 for some web/real estate/product work, and it`s been good, but it`s not my main job and I feel like I`m loosing my passion for photography, as landscape and documentary b&w is what I really love.

The d200 is a fine tool and I`m very happy with the images I can get with it, mainly with the ZF50 1.4 but something is missing.

I`ve been lurking around the lieca,bessa and ziess rff forums and can`t take it any longer! So....I`m after an m6 ttl, and am thinking of starting with a vc 35 1.4mc , and then a fast 50mm, when I can afford it, and have my eye on a .85 body, as 50mm is my favourite FOV. My question is, if these 2 lenses were all you used, what VF would you suggest? Thanks in advance.

Yep, I've been there with other cameras!

colyn · 04-07-2008

I use both. I have the D200 with several Nikon lens including some older primes as well as several Leicas.

If you dump the D200 you'll just kick yourself later..

Save and buy the Leica..

SolaresLarrave · 04-07-2008

Don't sacrifice anything for the sake of owning. It's not worth it. You may end up regretting it. In short, don't get rid of a piece of gear you know well to get another you may not like in the end. Besides, they do very different things. They do them well, of course, but these are different tools with different traits, limits and gifts.

Didier · 04-07-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobbyrab

I find these frame line examples slightly confusing as they don't seem to correspond with what I see through my viewfinders.

The picture is from the Leica website (taken out of the "à la carte" confgurator), and the framelines may not correspond with older M models. In reality, imagine this pictures with a quite unsharp border which would make about 5% or more. As you wear glasses, crop another 20% of the shown pictures.
Didier

SolaresLarrave · 04-07-2008

Actually, I'm not being logical. I didn't sacrifice my gear to get a Leica. I simply sold the stuff I didn't use... which was, basically, Japanese rangefinders. Being as illogical as I was, I kept my SLRs and got myself in big debt.

Keep your D200. Add the first Leica first, and afterwards the second. With time a third will come, but by then you'll be planning on the fourth, so that'll be OK.

Turtle · 04-07-2008

If you are mainly using 35mm and aobe the 0.72 sounds perfect. I have two 0.72s and I find them wonderful for 35 and longer and OK, for 28. I would really like a 0.58 for the 28 though.

I would recommend reading a far amount on the new CV 35 1.4 as it appears to have some idiosyncracies that you might or might not like. Some users love it and others found it very disappointing.

The zm 50 f2 planar is a great lens and is far cheaper than the Leica equiv so that might be worth considering. As for 35s, dont forget the biogon and the tiny CV 35 2.5s (pancake or normal)

enjoy!

larmarv916 · 04-07-2008

No matter what body you pick you won't be disappointed. However I do not like the M2 or modern .058 wideangle bodies.

I wear glasses and have a M3 and a M5 and M6TTL .085 Actually I perfer the M3 viewfinder over the the .72 or .85 The frames of the M3 for 50mm seem to me to be the most natural perspective. I use my M6 .085 with a summicron 90mm for a more confident focusing. The M5 works better for me in very low light with the 35mm Biogon or Zeiss Sonnar C F1.5 50mm As the meter on the M5 seems to be very accurate in lighting below F2.8 situations.

You might want to think of a 35 / 90 outfit as a starting point. As often those 2 lenses are allowing you to get closer or wider and yet natural. Good Luck.....Laurance

Parkes Owen · 04-08-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by colyn

I use both. I have the D200 with several Nikon lens including some older primes as well as several Leicas.

If you dump the D200 you'll just kick yourself later..

Save and buy the Leica..

I think you are right, I can sell off other camera gear I`m not using first, get the m6ttl, then make my mind up on the d200, although the crappy viewfinder and 1.5 crop factor have been bugging me latley!