The new Leica T APS-C Mirrorless Camera

[carbon_dragon]

<p>I've read Leica's site and Steve Huff's review and the other links around the web. It does (as Huff says) seem to have an Apple like industrial design, with a heavy resistance to buttons worthy of Steve Jobs. It has the Vario sensor with interchangeable lenses, an innovative simple touchscreen interface, built in 16GB memory with SD card also, and adapter for Leica M lenses, but no built-in EVF. Huff says the $600 EVF is very good but not as good as some of the latest from other manufacturers. The Leica EVF has a GPS though (interesting). The Leica M adapter about $400 and the camera with no lens $1900. But then the two lenses, the slow Vario like zoom is $1700'ish and the 23mm (equiv of 35) is $1900 sold soon.</p>

<p>I kind of have mixed feelings. I think it's a step in the right direction and a bit tempting but I'm not sorry I just bought an M9. What do you all think?</p>

[Robin Smith]

<p>I don't think its design is particularly inspiring from the pics - looks NEX-like - which is probably not surprising given its similar modus operandi. Huff thinks it great and I assume when you pick it up and use it it is a great tactile experience. I'd like to be given one (!), but I wouldn't buy it. Not sure why you would want this either if you have a mass of M-lenses as the Ms are not exactly huge. I suppose it could be a nice way to get a cheap Leica - although the prices are still eye-wateringly high. The slow zoom would be OK as long as you had at least one faster lens to go with it. Rationally maybe one would pick a Fuji over this, but rationality is not exactly why one buys a Leica.</p>

[Dieter Schaefer]

<p>Guess there must be a market for these high-priced cameras and lenses - but I am not in it.<br>

<br /> Instead of a fixed 18-46/3.5-6.4 lens on the X-Vario, there is now another "kit" lens 18-56/3.5-5.6 that costs some $500 less than the X-Vario. Or a 23/2 that costs a bundle more than a Fuji X100S. $3800 for a T with 23/2 - or $2800 for a Sony RX1R with 35/2? Decisions, decisions...<br>

<br /> Quite intrigued by the inclusion of a "molded" grip in the camera design - maybe that's one Leica that once can actually comfortably hold? Of course, including the grip eliminates the possibility to make even more money by offering one as an accessory...</p>

[carbon_dragon]

<p>It appears to have value as a second body, as an alternative to a used M8 or M9 for a 240 or M9 owner in the same way as a Nex7 might (with a Leica M adapter). A Leica user would be likely to like it better for a minimal added premium (though you would lose MP from the Nex7). It could be the UI and the feel of the camera are a bigger deal than just reading about it makes it seem.</p>

<p>Leica has made "cheaper" lenses for other makers but in some ways these lenses are neither fish or fowl since they have near Leica prices so they're not really much cheaper. It's really not an entry level M (that's the M-E though $5500 isn't cheap enough for entry level) and it's still kind of premium priced for a lower end line and Leica doesn't do low end right? Like I said I'm not sure what to think.</p>

<p>I can almost see Apple putting this out for $599 or something with Zeiss or Leica glass designs as the next generation in photography. The industrial design really does look good.</p>

[Sanford]

<p>I don't see where the strap attaches.</p>

[carbon_dragon]

<p>I think those little circles on both sides allow a Leica proprietary strap to punch into that circle and lock. Plus the half case allows you to slide in the camera like a gun into a holster. Just the kind of clever infuriating thing Apple does just to make sure you have to buy their gear. Though conceivably you could use a tripod screw strap but you couldn't connect the backup strap to the lug unless you somehow pirated some kind of device from a Leica strap so that it would punch in and then connect to the backup strap.</p>

[Wouter Willemse]

<p>The design looks appealing, clean and slick, but whether it actually works good in the hand, I'd really have to see - it looks too smooth, lacking in grip, not comfortable really.<br>

Other than that - uhm, uhm.... what to make of it? Not so much because of the price (it's a Leica, they charge premium so no surprise), not so much that they have a go at the APS-C mirrorless market... but yet another lensmount, and first lenses are slow zooms? A company famous for its fast primes launches with a 18-56 f/slow-f/slower? Haven't they seen what lenses Fuji is launching for their X models, and how nice those are doing? Maybe far-fetched, but why not license that X-mount, and increase the market coverage - and add some premium primes to the Fuji line - it wouldn't harm, would it?</p>

<p>Either way, way out of my budget and once I find the budget, I prefer to spend it on a film M rather than this, anyway. Intriguing camera, interesting attempt, wrong lenses.</p>

[Lou_Meluso]

<blockquote>

<p>I can almost see Apple putting this out for $599</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Sony already has. I read this sensor is the same in the Sony 3n for under $400...and that includes a lens. Nice body though and Leica optics. </p>

[john_shriver]

<p>Doesn't look like a bad camera, but the photo world needs another lens mount like it needs a hole in its head. Now we have four APS-C non-reflex mounts (Sony, Fuji X, Canon EOS-M and Leica). (OK, the Sony one also offers full-frame.)<br /> Maybe Pentax will adopt this mount when they join this market.<br /> Wonder who's making the lenses? Cosina? But they don't have the AF technology. Sigma?</p>

[Karim Ghantous]

John, I recommend reading Steve

Huff's review. These are Leica lenses

and they are made in Japan. The

camera of course is made in Germany.

 

A few features which stand out for me

are the lack of an AA filter;

touchscreen; solid build. I would love to

see what native lenses will be offered

in future.

 

I like this camera quite a bit. Would I

choose it over a $500 DSLR? Hell, yes

(but then again I'd choose Sony's

cheapest NEX camera over a DSLR

anyway). Would I choose it over my

current favourite camera. The Olympus

E-M5? I don't know yet.

 

All I know is that I like it more than I

thought I would. And Steve Huff is

right: it will be a hit.

[Troll]

<p>I'm surprised at how few posts this new Leica Vunderkend has inspired.<br>

It looks (and sounds) like a POS to me, but I hope that I'm wrong. (What do I know? I haven't been able to afford a new Leica or Lens for many, many years.)</p>

[fred_c1]

<p>We already have the Sony NEX/A7/A7R and Fuji X as excellent, affordable platforms for Leica lenses. But of course, unlike those cameras the T is geared more towards the bling market.</p>

<p>And at this price point, one would expect image stabilization of some sort, especially for the slow zoom.</p>

[rgerraty]

Sorry Bill. I was busy getting through that last 45 minutes video. I am surprised at how fair and insightful most have been

about this camera here and on RFF. I just now worked out what POS means. I think not. No AA filter and optically

corrected lenses: I think that's pretty good. I reckon this camera is not pitched at current Leica owners. Kaufmann is no

fool. Leica AG has a strategy. Good luck to them.

[Alex_Es]

Overall a brilliant design, but with on important flaw. The EVF is not built in.

[rogerwb]

<p>I guess I'll just wait until my M3's wear out.</p>

[james_elwing]

<p>It would be nice to have a built in viewfinder, but having this 'Visoflex' separate cuts down on size, and it has the advantage of being able to turn it through 90 degrees on landscape format, if I read the blurb accurately. I don't think this was available on previous digital 'Visoflexes', and for that reason it looks acceptable to me.</p>

 

[john_shriver]

<p>I've read the review, sounds like a great camera and great lenses. But it is a <em>shame</em> that the lens mount wars continue. If the 4/3's standards had been APS-C, we might have really had a convergence. But they chose the quarter-size sensor.</p>

[Uhooru]

<p>Don't forget all the MFT's that wear Leica manual lenses quite well.</p>

[john_r._fulton_jr.]

<p>MP, UI, POS, MFT. Hey it's not ok, errrr, okay to throw this stuff around just will-nilly if you want everybody to understand WTF you're talking about. Sorry about that. What The Fudge you're talking about. And replying to this with a list of definitions isn't the answer. Unless this forum is the acronym forum just write out what you mean. I WAS interested in the topic but became disoriented with the web-geek speak. [Disclaimer: I realize this reliance on acronyms may be a frustration with Leica and their M camera. It should have been the M10 but - no - Leica called it the M (type 240). I understand having to deal with that mouthful may cause some to over compensate.]<br>

Obviously, I over-reacted with this response. Anyway, good luck to all with your photography.</p>

[Uhooru]

<p>LOL!</p>

[nigel fraustbyte]

<p>I thought Leica Cameras were about photographs not fashionable gear (wrong). I shoot street and therefore require a camera that doesn't stick out like a sore thumb Leica Leica M in Black, but I cannot afford a Leica M so I got a Fuji X100S in black and I am Very happy with it and it didn't cost me an arm and a Leg. OBTW I think the Leica T is just another one of those overpriced jokes that the common man just doesn't need.</p>

[dr._karl_hoppe]

<p>Not to sound like a complete luddite -- I own some digital gear (D-Lux, V-Lux, Canon, Fuji) but still have a rotary Trimline wall phone in my kitchen -- so this camera is of no interest to me whatever. I'm happily shooting film in my M2, M5, M6 and M7, and in my Leicaflex SL and R7. It looks nice but the price seems absurd for what you get. Leica won't be getting my money any time soon.</p>

[carbon_dragon]

<p>The problem with film these days is buying it and getting it processed. Nowhere around you that you trust to process it, or at least nowhere convenient. Limited supply and limited types, etc. Film is hard these days, which is why everyone, or most shoot digital. </p>

<p>My M8 and M9 feel exactly like my M2s except you have a display where you can review the pictures and you can upload them when you get home. I'm nostalgic for film but not enough to shoot more of it ;-). I feel bad for saying that, but there it is. </p>

<p>The T's a cool camera but once you diverge from the M model and make a digital, you're in the same bin with Sony and Fuji and the rest (notice I didn't say Canon and Nikon, they just don't get the mirrorless cameras, not sure they'll even be major brands in 10 years) and then can you justify the price? I think the answer is yes to a point, but that point represents a premium over the standard and that has limits. But it's not as bad as you think. Nex's were something like $1700 I think and the good lenses were often $1000 so $1829/$1700 isn't as premium as you'd think, but the Sonys had a great EVF and that makes the difference. I just don't know if this is going to sell. How premium can they get away with? Are then selling cool industrial engineering? Image quality? What?</p>

[Eddie1664878514]

<p>Sell by following human nature. Our hard wired behavior dictates what we will do when we can afford something we like easily, whether or not it is justified using whatever standard. Leica's design and marketing adopt a strategy that targets certain group of customers as we all know it, and from that perspective, the key is to create that "want to own" effect and no need to care too much about rational justification. Even though there are many cheaper options, the key here appears to be that, Leica is the one most easily distinguish itself on certain aspects (as the only one offering them) that contribute to the "want to own" effect.<br>

If I believe modern consumption nowadays is totally rational and base entirely on proper justfiication, then the above should be false.</p>

[dr._karl_hoppe]

<p>David,</p>

<p>I guess I'm lucky. I have a nearby Costco that still processes C-41 and prints wet on Fuji Crystal Archive paper, plus you get a nice CD with fairly decent size jpegs. The techs take good care of the Noritsu minilab, chemistry gets changed as it should. If the tech goes on vacation for an extended time and I can't wait, my rolls get shipped off to Dwayne's in Kansas. I get the best of both worlds: developed negatives with 4x6 prints and a nice CD. There is no need for me to go completely digital. When the time comes that I can't order film and/or get my C-41 developed and printed, then an M9 or M may be in my future. Until then, I'm happy with what I have. </p>