Review: using Leica M lenses on the 36MP Sony A7r mirrorless camera

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This review on using Leica M lenses on the Sony A7r 36mp camera is by Tom Grill (Web | Blog, click on images for larger view):

As a Leica owner, I was immediately intrigued when I saw the first announcements of a full-frame, small, 36mp, mirrorless camera from Sony with the ability of accepting Leica M lenses. It sounded a bit like a Leica aficionado’s holy grail for a second camera body: a high resolution, full-frame body with a higher resolution than a Leica M, and costing only a third the price of the Leica M 240. Of course the real question was how the Leica M lenses would perform on the A7r body. There wasn’t much concern for the longer focal lengths. These generally adapt with little or no problems. The big question was how the wide, and especially the super-wide angle lenses would perform.

The A7r does have micro-prisms on its sensor intended to deal with those sensor areas where wide angle lens problems could be expected to occur. Nonetheless, the Sony A7r could not be expected to have the built-in firmware corrections for any aberrations these lenses might display.

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Posted in Leica M, LR Guest Posts, LR Reviews | Tagged , | 27 Comments

Leica M8 camera teardown

Leica M8 camera teardown
Here are few images of a Leica M8 camera teardown. If you are interested in doing something similar, you can purchase this broken Leica M8 camera for “only” $965:

Broken-Leica-M8-camera-for-sale
Additional images:

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Posted in Leica M | 10 Comments

Today Leica Camera is 100 years old

Ur-Leica-camera

LEICA CAMERA CELEBRATES 100 YEARS OF LEICA PHOTOGRAPHY

Allendale, NJ (January 21, 2014) – The year 1914 marked the birth of 35 mm photography as we know it today. 100 years ago, Oskar Barnack created the very first Leica, the Leitz Camera. Now, in 2014, Leica Camera celebrates their centennial year with spectacular events, exhibitions and ground breaking products.

Oskar Barnack, an employee of the Leitz Werke Wetzlar and a photography pioneer, invented and constructed the first camera for the 35 mm film format (24 × 36 mm) in 1914. The construction of this so-called “Ur-Leica”—according to Barnack’s philosophy of ‘small negative – big picture’—revolutionised photography by giving photographers greater ease in creative vision and scope, as they previously had to rely primarily on cumbersome plate cameras for their work. Company archives dating from March 1914 show that Barnack originally gave his compact and highly portable prototype camera the name ‘Lilliput’. The original is still in the possession of Leica Camera AG, together with the negatives and prints of the first exposures captured with the Ur-Leica – which include pictures from a 1914 summer trip Ernst Leitz I took to the United States.

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Posted in Leica Press Releases | Tagged | 17 Comments

New: “Work your Leica M” e-book

Work-your-Leica-M-e-book
There is a new “Work your Leica M” ebook on blurb. Here are few words from the author Joeri van der Kloet:

When I switched my DSLR for a shiny black M9, a few years ago, I knew I would have to start learning photography all over again. I spent hours, days and weeks training on my focussing skills and the first moment I felt more or less confident enough, I took it to one of my weddings.

Being a documentary wedding photographer, I need to nail the action. I don’t stage any settings and only take images of real moments. That means I need to be able to focus very, very fast. Working with available light only, I use my lenses wide open most of the time, so that means focussing needs to be accurate as well.

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Posted in Leica M | Tagged | 22 Comments

Buddhafield: shooting with the Leica M type 240 (guest post)

Buddhafield-shooting-with-the-Leica-M-type-240

Recently I  purchase the new Leica M. Updating my Leica M9. With all digital cameras I have owned in the past 12 years and used professionally i have tended to push them as far as they go. There really is no point pussy footing around. I really can’t stand the comments about noise, It is like grain. For me if a picture has depth, atmosphere and compelling  subject matter you are there. This recent project I undertook was at a family retreat on Dartmoor in England. I was there with my two boys, my partner and her children. The kids ran feral and we had time to relax. The images were taken for no particular reason. Purely because I love making pictures. For me it is meditation and immensely enjoyable. At the end of the week I was able to paste them together to make some kind of narrative . An insight into the weeks events. I think it works and gives a feel without being intrusive.

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Posted in Leica M, LR Guest Posts | 37 Comments

First Leica Store in Zurich to open on January 23

Leica StorevZurich
The first Leica store in Zurich, Switzerland will open on January 23rd, 2014. Read more at Fotointern.

Posted in Other Leica Stuff | Tagged | 9 Comments

Leica multifunctional handgrip M now in stock

Leica-M-handgrip-fingerloop
Leica multifunctional handgrip M now in stock
The Leica multifunctional handgrip M is currently in stock at B&H.

A silver Leica M 240 is currently in stock at the Leica Store Miami.

Posted in Leica M | 36 Comments

New Leica T type 701 mirrorless camera to be announced in April

Leica-T-type-701-camera
The new Leica T series (type 701) mirrorless camera is rumored to be announced in April and it will have an APS-C sensor. The camera probably will be made in Germanybut some of the lenses could be made in Asia

Posted in Leica T | 30 Comments