Am I mad? Considering a Leica R5

AJQS

AJQS

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Alan
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Lets face it we all know it but won't admit it, there is no better set of lenses in the 35mm world than those Leica and Zeiss ones, soI've eben looking into it a bit more. A nice R5 which is virtually identical to my Minolta XD11 but adds the same metering style as I love on my OM2SP and better yet it gives me the ability to use those beautiful crisp Leica lenses. Should be able to set up with my standard 24mm and 50mm outfit for under a grand if I'm careful, but if I'm spending a grand should I just give in and buy the Olympus OM-D?

:help:
 
The camera won't break you cost wise but the lenses will. Whilst not approaching M fit prices they are still very expensive, especially as they can be easily used with canon DSLRs. You won't get much better lens wise though, unless you go contax and zeiss- a bit cheaper but not by much!

Of course the other way to approach this is go medium format. Good primes and larger negatives will give you a higher quality end product.
 
For a grand, you could get Zeiss glass on any number of medium format cameras - Hasselblads, Rolleiflex's - and IMO, they are a significantly better bet and a better deal than an SLR system that was never very popular, never took off in any significant capacity, and for the most part was based on much better value for money Minolta bodies regardless.
 
I have a Leica R4 and love it.

Yes it was built by Minolta and the 35-70 lens is a Japanese one not a German one. It weights a little more than my Olympus OM with lens but it has a sound all of its own when you press the shutter button and when shooting slides it gives them a differnet look in colour, contrast. Nothing bad just different.

R lens are not as bad in price as the M range however you would still need to hunt around for a bargin (if indeed there is one to be had). I would say the prices are on par with Nikon manual focus lens.

If you can get one with a reasonable lens, 35-70 or 50mm then I would say go for it.
 
Forget medium format, lugging MF gear around quarries is never going to happen.

For a comparison:

R5 body: c. £200 in working condition
OM4 body: c.£150-250 depending on colour!

Elmarit R 24mm f2.8: £3-500
Zuiko 24mm f2.0: £3-400
Zuiko 24mm f2.8 £80-150

That's not that much a price leap but the quality leap is undeniable!
 
Quality leap?

HMMM! As far as I know all the Leica R3,R4,R5 and the corresponding japanese made lens were all built by Minolta under licence and Leica's QA (mind you some of the bodies were bad and troublesome) so I am not sure about the "quality leap".

The reason I say this is because I have just shot a roll of film using the Olympus OM4 + 35mm + 50mm over the last weekend and I am really pleased with the results.

However when compaired to the Leica R4 + 35-70 I would not say there is a massive leap, they just look different contrast and colour.

Both produce very sharp, clear and colourful images but not sure how much of leap there is. If I get some time over the next day or two I will scan and post up a shot from each bit of kit.

Oh the other thing with Leica lens is a lot of them use there own screw thread, like the 35-70 uses a 60mm thread. PTA to get filters for it.

Oh I know your going to ask "Well why did you buy it then?"
Simple answer, it was on a whim, while I was passing a shop, saw it, chatted to the bloke about it and bought it.
 
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Knikki said:
Quality leap?

HMMM! As far as I know all the Leica R3,R4,R5 and the corresponding japanese made lens were all built by Minolta under licence and Leica's QA (mind you some of the bodies were bad and troublesome) so I am not sure about the "quality leap".
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To be honest it sounds like one of those photography things that you just won't shake until you try it for yourself. Go for it if you want, Richard.

Also, re: the weight thing - I think people forget how heavy some 35mm cameras can be. An R3 (a slightly heavier camera than the R5, but not by much) with a 50mm Summicron is nearly 1.1kg (1090g, to be exact). A Rolleiflex 3.5E2 is 1120g, and even if you don't like TLRs, a Hasselblad 500 C/M with 80mm Planar and loaded back is 1.5kg.

Even a Bronica ETRS would offer significantly bigger negatives in a light, decent rectangular negative format camera.

But, as I said, it sounds like one of those things that you won't shake till you've tried it. A lot of people get that with the Leica M when it comes to rangefinders.
 
Having seen the comaprisons between Leica glass and Zuikos, I can clearly see a very, very marked impovement in the Leica ones (Primes, not zooms, not interested in zooms)

I have one final test to perform before deciding: What can a Zuiko do on Adox CMS20 film? If I can significantly alter my results by using a wacky film then I'll be staying put

The other option I have is a Pentax PZ1P and SMC 24mm lens, but that seems to be a rare thing indeed!
 
freecom2 said:
But, as I said, it sounds like one of those things that you won't shake till you've tried it. A lot of people get that with the Leica M when it comes to rangefinders.
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It's a PITA: I love Olympus bodies, they're perfect. I like Zuiko lenses, they're small and loght and good IQ, but I much prefer Pentax or Minolta lenses. Pentax and Minolta bodies however I don't like much. The Leica R4etc takes a body I almost like and give it the feature that stops me liking the minolta - spot metering and makes it take lenses I like a lot, thy're just expensive (though not that much more so than the better Zuikos)

I'd actually be a lot happier if I could just put Minolta, pentax or Leica lenses on my OM2, that would be perfect!
 
Got myself a Leica R5 with the R 35-70 lens, 3 years back, and I have not been disappointed by its results. I intended to follow up with another Leica lens, but since then the prices of them have increased by a fair bit. From what I gather the lenses are being sought after to use with digital slr's, with the appropriate adapter. The R 70-210 f4 lenses could be seen advertised just over £200 back then, but they have jumped in price.
 
It sems I have made a mistake - the 24mm I've seen was an M lens, and from what I can gather the R lens is not as hot, however still better than the Zuiko by a slight margin.

Me thinks I may therefore have to find a mint Zuiko first and see how that compares with mine
 
H'mm I would prefer a set of Contax lenses even on a Yashica body :)
 
Knikki said:
I have a Leica R4 and love it.
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Point of trivia: Professor Brian Cox (that physicist off the telly who used to be in D:Ream) shoots with a Leica R4 and, to my knowledge, a 50mm Summicron f/2 (which also gets put on the front of his Canon 5D Mk II).

:)
 
For the folks who do have one, how is the spot metering activated? The manual didn't seem so clear with this, is it permanently spot metered in A and M modes as it sugests or is it switchable?
 
Alan, See p15 of your manual. Spot metering, ie 'Selective Measurement' is only possible in programs A and m, when they have a circle around them. Largefield averaging is in programs A, T, or P, when they have a square around those letters. Hope that clarifies things for you.
 
pityacka said:
Alan, See p15 of your manual. Spot metering, ie 'Selective Measurement' is only possible in programs A and m, when they have a circle around them. Largefield averaging is in programs A, T, or P, when they have a square around those letters. Hope that clarifies things for you.
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Is A with spot a seperate mode to A with centre weight then? or is there a seperate button to switch to spot:thinking:

(Wondering because the major thing I hate about my OM4 is that you have to press the spot button evrry time you want to make a spot metered exposure, as soon as you've taken the shot it defaults back to centre weight and it drives me insane! :lol:)
 
Alan Clogwyn said:
(Wondering because the major thing I hate about my OM4 is that you have to press the spot button evrry time you want to make a spot metered exposure, as soon as you've taken the shot it defaults back to centre weight and it drives me insane! :lol:)
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Duck tape... :thumbs:
 
Alan Clogwyn said:
Is A with spot a seperate mode to A with centre weight then? or is there a seperate button to switch to spot:thinking:
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Basically yes, you can also see in the viewfinder which mode your in, it is all selected off the one switch.

There are no extra buttons to press ala OM4.
 
Cool that is certainly a feature I would appreciate in a camera, Oly dropped the ball with that, having already done it (almost) right on the OM2SP.
 
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