Category: Photography

The Sony A7R Mark III has finally been released.

I have tried several Sony mirrorless cameras.  Starting with the Sony NEX 7, a very good camera but one that I just could not get along with, then I tried the first A7, now this was a fantastic camera but the shutter was terrible and you could easily suffer with camera shake.  The menus were also terrible.  Sony fixed the shutter in subsequent models and also stole the menu system from the Sony SLR series so correcting that.

From the Mark II onwards the Sony has been a hard act to follow, the downside has always been the shortage of really good lens and the fact that paired with good glass, the mirrorless Sony really did not offer any advantages over other systems.  Good glass at 35mm full frame that can autofocus is never going to be small.  In that regard I feel Leica made the better decision with the mirrorless SL and making it larger.  If your after small I think its hard to fault the Olympus MicroFourThirds cameras.

There are still rumours flying that Leica are to release a new camera with the L mount and a new lens.

The camera is rumoured to be a DX format camera to partner the TL2, hopefully with an EVF this time, the lens a will also be a DX crop format to go with it but no news as to its focal length.

 

I see the special edition Leica 50mm Summicron is now for sale.  I have the Summilux which as you can see above produces a lovely image.  There are two versions of the Summicron, the standard none APO which is very affordable for a Leica lens and the APO version which if you have £6000 will leave you change for a few nice coffees.

This special edition wraps the lens in the old metal classic design with red trim and costs over £8000.  A lot to pay for a 50mm lens no matter how good.

We have had the Summaron and now Leica have released their second classic lens, the Leica Thambar.  Similar to the Nikon 135mm DC this lens has a distinctive softness which useful for portraits.  I am quite tempted by the Summaron a 28mm with a strong vignette, but I would find it hard to justify the cost of the Thumbar.

I have had the joy of using film Hasselblads with film backs and digital backs.  The V series is a great classic camera, better suited for film rather then digital but does work well with my PhaseOne back.

We had the near joint announcement from both Hasselblad and from Fuji of there upcoming medium format mirrorless cameras.  We now have three medium format cameras with cropped sensors designed round ease of use, the Leica S, the Hasselblad and the Fuji.

I have had the opportunity to handle the Leica S and the Fuji but I have not yet managed to try the Hasselblad, but Steve Huff now has one of his reviews published on this camera.  Of the three the Hasselblad and Leica are my top two options but the Fuji is a winner on price.

If your after a fixed lens, 35mm full frame digital compact the Sony RX and the Leica Q are where its at.

The Sony has the more practical 35mm focal length but the 28mm focal length Leica has a fantastic EVF.

Its now appearing in more colours with rumours of more to come.  Leica have some fantastic cameras and some rather overpriced and over hyped cameras, but its the over priced special editions that have for a long time kept Leica afloat.

Saturday Caroline had a few jobs to do in Lincoln, so I had Caroline drop me and Timmy the Greyhound off in the centre to have a good walk round.

With Timmy’s lead in one hand and a Leica M in the other critical photography is not easy and I would probably have been better of with a small autofocus camera like my Nikon V1, but I enjoy a challenge.