What's new
DPR Forum

Welcome to the Friendly Aisles!
DPRF is a spin-off of dpreview. We are a photography forum with people from all over the world freely sharing their knowledge and love of photography. Everybody is welcome, from beginners to the experienced professional. From smartphone to Medium Format.

DPRF is a community for everybody, every brand and every sensor format. Digital and film.
Enjoy this modern, easy to use software. Look also at our Reviews & Gallery!

Leica RDigital Back

Albert,

<font color="ffff00">how many consecutive shots you can make with the DMR?
As far as battery life is concerned, about 120-150 per charge if you use 5 sec preview, shooting RAW. You can achieve more by switching off preview, which is of no use anyhow for consecutive shots. Much more by switching to manual shutter cocking like on an M3-M7.

As far as buffer capacity is concerned, 10 consecutive shots.

<font color="ffff00">slow AF is better than no AF in wedding
Of course, you have no AF on the R8/R9+DMR
 
Peter,

I have four or five posts buried somewhere in that FM DMR thread. When I made my move from the ND back in December I considered the DMR, but it was a no-show at the time. I wanted the new system by January if possible for a China trip as long as I wasn't going to be compromising my investment in the digital future.

The Canon 1DsII was my decision at the time, and I haven't regreted it. I still have three Canon lenses to fall back to if I need fast shooting, but 99.9% of mine isn't. All my shooting since March has been with Zeiss and Leica glass.

Another factor is that I shoot more wide than long, so the full-frame is a better choice from that perspective (pun intended). In fact I rarely go over 100mm - love my 100 2.8 APO-Macro Elmarit, BTW! Were I to make the choice today, where the DMR and the Nikon DX2 are also top contenders at pretty close performance levels, that alone would have swayed me most likely.

But I'm thrilled there are several competitive systems now at this level of performance, otherwise the market would stagnate. I only regret that Kyocera dumped and buried Contax, which I'd been using since the mid-70s for my 35mm shooting.
 
>You said, "there are several competitive systems now at this >level of performance." Several? What systems are you talking about? I count 3 maximum at the moment. Canon 1Ds MkII, Nikon DX2, and the Leica DMR. That's only 3. That's alot less choice than we had for film. And quite frankly, Canon is only worthwhile because it can use Zeiss and Lei ca lenses (even if you have to use them manually). Frankly, Canon and Ni kon are the main choices and they both are not very appealing because of the lenses and the horrible camera ergonomics. There is only one system that goes with top quality lenses -- the Leica (since as you point out, Kyocera foolishly pulled the plug on Contax) but it does have a small sen sor meaning that you lose alot of wide angle lenses (which I can't do wit hout). So really, for me at least, there is no choice among the 3 (not " several"). Canon and Nikon do not appeal, Leica has a small sensor and t herefore limited (or very expensive) wide angle options. I patiently wait for Zeiss to get it's act together, get started with a new partner and g et the Contax line cooking again (Zeiss is supposedly working on this fev erishly -- they are loosing too many lens sales being caught out of the m arket). I'll hold out with film for now, until Contax does re-appear or word arrives that Contax is permanently dead (unlikely). Who knows, by t hen KonicaMinolta and/or Sony may have got their high-end option off the drawing board to give us another option among the limited existing ones ( even if the KM lenses are more disappointing than Canon or Nikon). As f ar as I see it there are 2 market-dominating main choices with dull lense s (Canon, Nikon) and one limited-supply expensive niche choice with quali ty lenses (Leica). Quite far from "several" competitive systems to choos e from. the market could really use another 2 or 3 systems to make the m arket truly competitive and give real choice to consumers.
 
Sigh
uhoh.gif
. According to Mr. Webster, "Several: indefinite number, more than two and less than many". Three qualifies. When I was looking last December there was only one option. This summer there were three. Relax. I never said "Things couldn't be better!", just a lot better than a year ago.

To me the glass is half full. I find I'm happier that way. Hopefully it wil keep filling up
happy.gif
.
 
BTW, I was worried about the Canon body ergonomics at first, since I am a kind of ergonomics freak, one of the things that originally drew me to Contax.

While some stuff is a bit convoluted, I have no problems at all and actually like most of the common controls I use 99% of the time, such as exposure bias, exposure control, power on/off, viewfinder information and such.

I can add vocal notes to my images at the press of a button (that's how I keep track of what lens I'm using). The ISO setting is visible in the viewfinder and can be changed quickly.

Probably my one "convoluted manoeuvre" is to enable / disable mirror lock-up, which I don't need to do between shots, and I have that down so that it's actually more convenient than with the flip levers of yesteryear.

Plus I'm getting better images than I ever did, including with my medium format film systems (during my 30+ years of photographic twidling I've had a Bronica GS-1 and a Fuji GX-680 I use to trot around with).

In short, I'm having a blast, no regrets. But every person is different, styles are different, approach is different, situations are different (I don't do this for a living!) and that's why different makes and systems exist. Hopefully one that will suit you well is just around the corner ...
 
DJ,

The three shots are beautiful. I am not 100% satisfied with the colors in the 3rd shot (too cold - Indian God in the forest), but this is a matter of personal taste and could probably be easily modified in Photoshop.

The 2.8/100 APO is a great lens. It might be interesting for you to look at a macro lens comparison I made on FM page 198 (http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/267995/197)

As for wideangles, the 21-35 is a beautiful lens, much better than any Canon I know. You will find an ex&le on FM page 188 (http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/267995/187) and a comparison with the 2.8/28 on page 197 (http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/267995/196).

Of course, the grapes are too sour for you... (pun itended, too). Just wait till you have tried to shoot a few pictures with a DMR ...
 
Thank you for the kind words, Peter. The Buddha was on a very overcast day, hence the coolness which to me added a certain broodiness.

I've been roaming around the interpretive side of things trying this and that. I do often lean to the edgy side.

Actually there was a time when CS first came out with the Shadow / Highlight tool I went totally overboard. Check out the Indonesia / Borobodur shots - overprocessed much??!! I need to redo those at some point. Always remember, better is often subjective
rofl.gif
.

Speaking of the 21-35, I also love that lens, though I haven't had a chance to shoot much with it yet. Here are a couple at 21.

http://improbablystructuredlayers.net/Special/_E9C2345.jpg

http://improbablystructuredlayers.net/Special/_E9C2621.jpg

http://improbablystructuredlayers.net/Special/_E9C2621c.jpg

The dish at Arecibo has too much detail to resolve properly at web resolutions, but check out the 100% crop of the upper right. This looks real nice in an 11x17 print, which is about all I'm printing nowadays. Again an increasingly overcast day - see the clouds? The rain come down about 15 minutes after this shot in typical tropical fashion. Unfortunately I couldn't find Jodi Foster
angry.gif
...

As I said, I love this lens too
happy.gif
.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top