I grew up with the “Contax grip”- my IIa was one of the first “good” cameras I could afford, so I feel right at home with the SP ergonomics.
The Leica M5 is a fine camera, but they never sold many, meaning nowadays parts are scarce or completely unavailable. Undoubtedly some technicians will still have a few parts left, but when they're gone they're gone. This is why Dan Goldberg (DAG) no longer services M5's. So buy an M5 that's had a very recent CLA and if done right it should be good for twenty years. Compared with the S3 it's like a Rolls Royce compared with a BMW, both good cars but it's the small things that make the feel different. And with an M5 you have a vast range of lenses both old and new, but that goes for any other Leica M so if potential problems with servicing worry you perhaps think of another model.
I grew up with the “Contax grip”- my IIa was one of the first “good” cameras I could afford, so I feel right at home with the SP ergonomics.
The perfect Nikon RF, for me, is the S2 with the S3 shutter speed dial.
. . .
Sounds like the perfect Nikon rangefinder is an S4 - other than the S3 frame lines.
Ooooh that is so close!
Hmmm....no parallax correction? score another point for Leica.
...
SLR - score one for Nikon! More like a spike through Leica's heart.
Wrong model for parallax correction. That would be the SP.
SLR - score one for Nikon! More like a spike through Leica's heart.
I don't know much about the Nikon Rangefinders. Do they have a built in light meter?
Although the Leica M5 does have a built in light meter, it is not nearly as useful as one might expect...I'll skip over the reasons for now because they're not that important.
To my mind, the real beauty of the Leica M5 is the fact that both aperture and shutter speed are displayed in the viewfinder. This aspect alone, even ignoring the nearly useless light meter is a huge plus for the M5. It has pretty good ergonomics too.
Guess what a Leica RF camera is? Yup, a mirrorless camera.
A Leica
What?
If you take out the mirror from the Leica, it is not a Rangefinder anymore.
A Rangefinder camera, any, is not a mirrorless camera.
A Leica
What?
If you take out the mirror from the Leica, it is not a Rangefinder anymore.
A Rangefinder camera, any, is not a mirrorless camera.
Of course it is. There is no big flapping mirror that needs to get out of the way before it can take a photo
https://leicacamerausa.com/photography/leica-m/m-cameras/analog/Not really seeing that Leica is still making and selling RF cameras, both film and digital, for a profit
No. You are just trying to set your own rules now.
The reality is that a Rangefinder is indeed a mirrorplus camera. If you take out the mirror from a M3, you will then create a M1. But you will have to live with the fact that a Leica M1 is not a rangefinder anymore.
By definition, a rangefinder relies on Mirrors.
Definitions don't hold me back man! Especially once you get to those, shudder, digital M cameras. Those are rangefinder AND mirrorless all in one from the M240 series onwards.
The genius that is Leica.
But you said “RF leicas”. A “rf” Leica is mirrorplus, end of story.
If you use the Rangefinder, it is a mirror camera. Rationalize it any way you like but you can’t get past the mirror in a “Rangefinder Leica”.
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