- David Farkas
Red Dot Forum
Leica Store Miami Nice read David. Thanks.
I was lucky to get my hands on the camera yesterday and I must admit that it is a really nice, modern, leight camera. I love the possibility to use M lenses. Used it with a Nocti and it worked just great. Can’t wait to shoot more with it. 😀
David,
A wonderful review! You guys do a great job with your videos! Many thanks!
May have to make a trip down your way to handle it one of these days soon. Of course I want a Yellow cover for mine! LOL! 😀 I’m pretty certain Leica will be pleased with pre sales as it suits as a back up for M/S shooters who are dedicated Leicaphiles, and excellent bling for many in the MB/BWM ranks. As you and Jono point out, it makes little sense from a purely specification comparison, but on other levels it appears to hit the right notes. 😎 I gave up years ago on the Japanese techno crazy menu cameras arriving regularly every 6-8 months or so! UGH!
Will the lenses cover a potential full frame camera? My guess is no, but am curious. In spite of all the wild forum speculations, it appears to be what it is, an APS-C camera system.
Thanks again,
Jim
Jim,
Regarding full frame,
The T never need be full frame as the sensor size as is allows for great quality and smaller lenses.
But what if a future M goes autofocus? This could be the lens mount for that future. Pretty obvious.JackHere is a mini review from Manila and Kurt Kamka.
http://www.kurtwilliamkamka.com/leica-t-mini-review/
He and a friend worked it pretty well. I was impressed that he was using face detection in fast grab shots with a wide open lens.
I have done some shooting with Kurt and greatly appreciate the quality of his work.
He has an M, an MM, an S, and it sounds like he likes the TJackOK David,
Your review convinced me to purchase a T.
And, instead of reading the manual, I reviewed your review.The shutter is very quiet.
The handling is excellent.
The iPhone remote is magic. I set it up as a hot spot. It allowed me to do a quick test of
ISO performance, 100 vs 12,500 without a tripod, just using a table. Shooting in a very high contrast low light situation.
Yes there is a loss, but 12,500 allowed me to set the speed at 1/640 which if I were taking shot of someone moving fast, could get the job done. Both were at f2.0.For most of my work, I have used a Leica S but for a grab shot in low light I’ll use an iPhone. Most would admit those are two very different cameras with very different purposes. So in the T I was looking for an iPhone that had better controls, a better lens and much better handling. As long as I don’t want to make calls, the T is the answer for me. And let’s admit, holding an iPhone as a camera is not enjoyable. Nor does the lens of an iPhone handle traditions from a lamp shade to a dark window well. And the ISO of the iPhone would not allow for enough speed to shoot this shot handheld.
I include the iPhone shot first for a comparison at f 2.2 ISO 320 speed 1/20th, which is the upper photo, followed by the 12,500, and finally the 100Oh, and I was patient enough to wait for the black T.
I think Leica will do very well with this new camera, and I prefer the modern design for the future.Thanks Josh and David.
JackDid I mention that I got a T-snap?
Yeah, I got an Orange T-snap. I really didn’t understand how this snap-on worked before. I mistakenly thought it was sort of thin rubber. It’s not, it’s hard but flexible plastic. I like it more than I expected.
No, I don’t expect Leica will do this for the M or the S, but for a younger target, colors make sense. I had some visitors last weekend who were in their late 20’s and they loved the orange camera. They did not know Leica, but they are used to customizing their phones etc. It made the camera less imposing and easier to catch their smiles. Sure it offers protection, just like iPone cases do, but the real deal is individualizing your fashion look. And producing covers is smarter inventory logistics than producing a T camera in 6 different colors.
Any drawbacks? Well if you follow other forums, there are complaints from users who didn’t realize that to access the battery or SD card, one must take the T-snap cover off first. That requires one to also remove the lens and if you have a strap, you have to remove the strap too. I have gotten used to doing this and if you don’t have a strap on, the process is pretty fast. If you look at the photo of the bottom of the T-snap you will see that there is a curved cutout allowing for flex to remove the snap. I have learned to literally put my thumb in the body of the sensor area as a brace to snap the sides off the camera. Would I do this with my S? I wouldn’t dare. David Farkas uses the body cap as a brace. I know the first time I slip and put my thumb into the sensor, I will follow his advice.
I suspect that Leica bet that most of the people who want to have a color snap on their T don’t want to have a strap attached to the camera. I don’t for this camera. And I don’t want a strap attached to my iPhone either.That may explain why they went to such extremes to allow for the smoothness on the camera if one did not want to use a strap. I would love to know their thinking on this. I suspect Audi said skip the straps, and Leica said we need to give traditional people an option. The concealed attaching was the solution.
So far, I like the compromise, and love the T-snap. Oh, and I am not in my 20’s anymore.
I hope this helps users who are wondering if they want a T-snap.
I bet I can take street photos easier with this orange snap than I could with an all black nude T. They relax because you can’t be serious. Perhaps if I was paid to shoot a wedding, I would leave the orange cover off and look professional. And that would allow me to switch SD cards faster… Yeah and then I would use the strap too.JackInteresting… I’m surprised at how thick the cover is. And wondering about doing some personalized cutting to allow access to the battery and card.
Doug
Doug,
I expect it will be a race to have someone show how they carved out a set of holes for the battery and the SD card to be accessed.
Surely a third party will offer such a service soon.JackJack,
Thanks for the review and pictures! You’re helping to convince me to buy one of these though I’m afraid that ship has sailed! 😀 I like what I’m seeing from David, you and other forums members. However I may wait for an updated “snap”! Now if they’ll only produce enough cameras to ship!
Thanks again and do feel free to add to your experiences! 🙂
Jim
What came as a bit of a surprise to me was the operation of the ‘T’. It’s easy enough once you get used to it, but in my experience it still requires paying some attention to the camera, as I pay attention when shooting an ‘M’ camera. It’s not the same thing, and not the same type of user attention necessarily, but instead of being a “camera for dummies”, it seems to encourage extra attention to get best results.
BTW, I watched the entire 45 minute sanding/polishing video, mainly because critics were describing it as an over-the-top waste of time (watching or polishing or both? – don’t remember). I wouldn’t ask anyone else to watch it, but I can say that all of the summary descriptions of this process that I’ve read don’t create an appreciation for the result as watching the video does. And I only had to watch it once – I wouldn’t want to have to polish 1000 of those one at a time.
Leica X2 Paul Smith edition, Leica X-E, Panasonic ZS-100.I still haven’t figured out how to set the left dial to ISO and the right dial to exposure compensation. Or is that only via the new firmware?
Leica X2 Paul Smith edition, Leica X-E, Panasonic ZS-100.
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