[LRflex] Re: For Kevin: Choosing Nikon bodies for Leica Glass
- From: "Frank Filippone" <red735i@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 11 Dec 2011 11:16:11 -0800
You speak highly of an Olympus body... but what body are you speaking about?
I have a Telyt/Visoflex body mount for a Olympus body....IS isInteresting
for me.....
I do agree with your Nikon choices..... My personal choice would be the D700
or D300... The "difference" being if you shoot long lenses or not... and
your pocketbook...
How is the VF brightness between the 3?
I still shoot some film, and have a F4 body. With all the available VF
screens, I am not sure I can beat what I have now for manual focusing....the
D1x being pretty weak.
OTOH, almost anything would be an upgrade from my current D1x.
Drop Proofing? Speak to www.Squaretrade.com
Frank Filippone
Red735i@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
-----Original Message-----
From: leicareflex-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:leicareflex-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of David Young
Sent: Sunday, December 11, 2011 8:33 AM
To: leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [LRflex] For Kevin: Choosing Nikon bodies for Leica Glass
> David,
>
> I'm in a similar dilemma, although I never had a DMR, and I am years
> behind you skill-wise. I have a R8 and R6.2 and 5 R-lens which I too
> highly value. If money was not a deciding factor, in which Nikon body
> would you invest? I am looking for a long-term solution and am
> willing to pay more up front. I'm just back from 9 days in Thailand,
> and while I enjoy shooting film, I am envious of the great raw images
> my wife gets from her Leica X1. I'm shooting primarily BW film,
> however. It's just the wait and scanning routine with my Imacon 343
> that I am finding prohibitively time-consuming and hence impractical.
>
> Thanks
>
> Kevin
Good Morning, Kevin!
I envy your 9 days in Thailand. Rose and I were lucky enough to spend a
month there, in 2002. Like you, I shot film, and scanned the images with a
Nikon Coolscan V. An excellent scanner, which I still use, on occasion.
However, like your Imacon, painfully slow, even if the results are superb.
Equivalent to a 24mp image!
If money were no object, I'd still not buy top-of-the-line. The financial
loss in digital cameras is simply to great, compared with film cameras.
Look at an M3 ... sells today, in good condition, for more than was paid
new. Meanwhile, an M8 now sells, used, for half it's 2006 price. And
Leica's hold their value better than most! (I sadly miss my R8+DMR. But,
financially, having Leica buy it back from me, without loss, was perhaps the
best financial move I could have made.)
I'd be torn between 3 models, and I'll tell you why.
The D700 offers 12mp with a Full Frame sensor. This means photos virtually
devoid of noise, even at
very high ISOs. Which means no need for flash. (I learned at the foot of
Dr. Ted, and *hate*
"Twinkie-lights".) I need no more than 12mp ... at 300dpi and only very
little interpolation, an
11x14" print is readily made, and I rarely make anything bigger. In fact,
the biggest prints I
sell, are 12x18" prints and they look bloody marvelous, out of both the 10mp
Oly and R8+DMR. My best selling print in this (or any) size is a
Hummingbird, taken with an 8mp Canon 20D (and 80~200 Vario-Elmar).
So Megapixels is not the issue. I see little advantage in super high
resolution sensors, other than the ability to crop a shot and still have
lots of MPs left. Of course, with these sensors, there is always a noise
problem.
So, my other choice would be a D300s. Cheaper, and with about the same
Megapixels. Thus, my 400 Telyt "grows" to around 600mm, in "effective"
focal length. For me (although not everybody), this is a HUGE advantage in
my wildlife work, as I can forego extenders (converters). When your max
f-stop is 6.8, this is a good thing! The other advantage of the smaller
format, is that the Telyt suffers some curvature of field. Using only the
"sweet spot" in the middle of the image makes the superb Telyt even better!
Of course the FX series cameras have a problem with w/a lenses, but so does
every other smaller sensor camera. Oly's 12~60mm zoom cured that, for me,
as I rarely shoot w/a. Not sure which way to go, in Nikon glass.
One of the things which sold me on the Oly. was the in-body image
stabilization. I meant my 40+ yr old Telyt 6.8 gained IS!!! Not so, on any
of the Nikon bodies; which means purchasing new, VR lenses. (Ugh!)
I suppose the D7000 would also be in the running. At 16.2 MPs, it has room
to crop... but, I fear, more noise than in the D300.
You'll note I did not give any weight to weather-proofing. It's nice, to be
sure. And the Oly has some of the best. But, in my youth, living in the
Yukon, I used my Nikon F in the snow, at -40 and colder. I've shot all my
Leica R's in the snow, at -20 and -30C without a problem, even if Leica
won't guarantee they work below 0C. Personally, I try to avoid shooting in
the rain (I'd dissolve!), but when I do, I put a bread bag over the camera
and away I go. Never had a problem in
50+ years.
Over the years, dropping gear has cost me thousands in repairs; but none of
the brands have drop-proofing built in! :-(
I hope this analysis helps. My reasons need not be your reasons, for we all
have different requirements of our gear. If we didn't, we'd all be happy
with just one camera brand & model.
YMMV. LSMFT, etc, etc.
David.
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