Leica to relase a Sony A7 direct competitor?

[shadowblade]

Sure thing... that's why so many pros replace their MF + MFDB with an S... It does a much better job at a much lower cost! 

Maybe a few.

There are dozens I know of here in Australia alone who won't even consider it (and pretty much laughed in the face of the Leica rep when she was extolling its virtues and 'advantages' at a recent seminar/promotion), since the MFDB gives better results (30x45mm sensor size isn't that much bigger than full-frame) with much more flexibility in lens and body selection, while costing less.

[Theodoros]

Maybe a few.

There are dozens I know of here in Australia alone who won't even consider it (and pretty much laughed in the face of the Leica rep when she was extolling its virtues and 'advantages' at a recent seminar/promotion), since the MFDB gives better results (30x45mm sensor size isn't that much bigger than full-frame) with much more flexibility in lens and body selection, while costing less.

30x45 is as much as 32.smth x 43.smth... (and much, much bigger than 35mm... more than 1.5x)... I have two MFDBs (both with multishot ability) for you to tell me what an MFDB can do or what a "quality" image is... After all art reproduction is my profession and it is the most demanding photography for a HQ print.... I hope this satisfies you because I had enough of all this (meaningless) "chit-chat"...

[DucatiTerminator]

30x45 is as much as 32.smth x 43.smth... (and much, much bigger than 35mm... more than 1.5x)... I have two MFDBs (both with multishot ability) for you to tell me what an MFDB can do or what a "quality" image is... After all art reproduction is my profession and it is the most demanding photography for a HQ print.... I hope this satisfies you because I had enough of all this (meaningless) "chit-chat"...

Awesome! So you're saying that Leica is going to offer multishot? Or is that why you hope Leica buys Hasselblad? What happens if Phase buys them? 

Relax, everyone is entitled to their opinion. Not everything has to be an argument or justification.

[shadowblade]

30x45 is as much as 32.smth x 43.smth... (and much, much bigger than 35mm... more than 1.5x)... I have two MFDBs (both with multishot ability) for you to tell me what an MFDB can do or what a "quality" image is... After all art reproduction is my profession and it is the most demanding photography for a HQ print.... I hope this satisfies you because I had enough of all this (meaningless) "chit-chat"...

Art photography is hardly the most demanding area of photography. Yes, it's demanding in several areas - colour accuracy, flat field focus, lack of distortions and aberrations (all but the first being lens factors). But it's not terribly demanding of resolution (especially single-shot resolution - what you're shooting doesn't move, so you can use multiple-exposure techniques), doesn't demand fast lenses and demands nothing at all of image quality above base ISO. Not to mention non-IQ factors such as frame rate, AF, auto exposure, etc.

30x45 is 1.5625x the area of full-frame. But it's only 0.6x the area of a Phase One 41x54mm digital back, which is pretty much the gold standard of MFDBs.

I've shot the Leica S2 side-by-side with the Phase One IQ180 and Nikon D810, in a landscape test shoot. I wasn't too impressed with the Leica, beyond the quality of the body itself (the construction and build quality being impeccable, as usual with Leica). The image quality was similar to the D810 - whether at 100% or whole-image level, it was hard to see any significant difference, beyond differences in colour rendering. Both fell behind the IQ180. And the Phase One system costs less than the Leica.

[synn]

I guess that none of the above (or the rest of the meaningless that you posted) has anything to do with a pro that is a Leica S user and integrates an SL on his system as well as using the SL on his (Sinar) view camera instead of an MFDB with full interface communication and the minimum of investment as to add extra tasks...

- leica S user:
small user group to start with

- leica S user who wants to add an SL to his kit:
even smaller user group

- Leica S user who also has an SL who ALSO needs a Sinar view camera where he must use the S lenses with full electronic communication (which doesn't exist and has not even been rumored, but for your sake let's pretend it does):
positively tiny user group that makes the Phase One install base look like that of Canon's.


Congratulations! Leica has made the perfect ecosystem for all 7 of you around the globe! Increase the rose tint of your glasses by another 15% and we can even see them offer multishot, which makes it perfect for ONE person in the world!

P.s. Regarding the "Many pros are switching from MFDB to Leica" statement, I would like to see some numbers Instead of hot air. BC is the only top commercial  and conceptual shooter for example that I can think of who is consistently working with an S system. Names like Drew Gardner, Miss Aniela, Joey L, Benjamin Von Wong, Frank Doorhof are all still happily using MFDB.

It's fine if one is a fan of a niche system. No, really. But to bend all logic to suit your narrative about them, dude. Take a few breaths.

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi,

Thanks for the info. I have not seen a lot of raw images from the Leica, but those I have seen did not blow my socks off.

Best regards
Erik

Art photography is hardly the most demanding area of photography. Yes, it's demanding in several areas - colour accuracy, flat field focus, lack of distortions and aberrations (all but the first being lens factors). But it's not terribly demanding of resolution (especially single-shot resolution - what you're shooting doesn't move, so you can use multiple-exposure techniques), doesn't demand fast lenses and demands nothing at all of image quality above base ISO. Not to mention non-IQ factors such as frame rate, AF, auto exposure, etc.

30x45 is 1.5625x the area of full-frame. But it's only 0.6x the area of a Phase One 41x54mm digital back, which is pretty much the gold standard of MFDBs.

I've shot the Leica S2 side-by-side with the Phase One IQ180 and Nikon D810, in a landscape test shoot. I wasn't too impressed with the Leica, beyond the quality of the body itself (the construction and build quality being impeccable, as usual with Leica). The image quality was similar to the D810 - whether at 100% or whole-image level, it was hard to see any significant difference, beyond differences in colour rendering. Both fell behind the IQ180. And the Phase One system costs less than the Leica.

[rainer_v]

... and it would be a nice detail which wouldnt cost much to Leica, but could bring them back reputation: They even dont speak about the fabulous Sinar S lenses, which are from similar quality ( and had similar prices ) than the leica s lenses,are fully electronically, have an easy adaptable mount and are a complete dead end.
details as to make these work again on the S or SL would bring back confidence in the Sinar and in the Leica brand, but they simply forget this system.

[MatthewCromer]

The DPReview Leica SL samples are horrible. Let's hope it's a broken camera - banding everywhere.

[Theodoros]

There is a closely related subject (as SL seems perfect for the application having the wider mount out of all FF mirrorless) that I started on the MF forum...

http://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=105069.0#new