Thread: Looks like Leica will have their full-frame mirrorless out well ahead of Sony

The 2013 Leica M Typ 240

Definitely the most useful Leica digital, yet. Looks like Leicaphiles will not need to get a Sony NEX-9 to enjoy the benefits of live view...

I do envy the simple old-school layout with the real shutter dial and optical viewfinder.

A few things I do not envy are: external EVF, inability to magnify from outside the center of the frame (??? why???), lack of AF, and not least of all, the price!

I suppose I welcome the competition if you can call it that, but for now the strongly rumored NEX remains the only viable full-frame mirrorless on my horizon. (And FWIW I've actually become nicely accustomed to having my NEX's "virtual" shutter dial work in 1/3 stop increments.)

Wasn't the Leica M8 the first mirrorless FF digital camera?

The M8 was not full-frame if I recall correctly. The M9 is, but I wouldn't quite consider that a true mirrorless - I'd call it a rangefinder camera. (Using mirrors to assist manual focusing, if you want to be exacting with semantics. )

I guess by "mirrorless" I really meant "live view"...

The closest afforfable thing to an old manual camera, with all the benefits of digital, is the Fuji X (Pro or E, take you pick). Sure, that's APS-C, but I think a FF version is in the pipeline.
Weirdly enough shooting manual flash, I get longing for 1/3 shutter speeds, but the XE will only let me chose 1/60, 1/125, 1/250...

You can use the left and right arrows to choose different shutter speeds when you have a speed selected with the dial.

Sony has the VG900 video camera and RX1 before Leica

Leica liveview has also other limitations, eg the refresh rate is 30fps, which is slow for moving subjects. Also there is a 1 second blackout after taking a picture in the liveview/evf. Leica says that the central magnification restriction is due to hardware restrictions, so it can not fixed by firmware. We'll see how much of this can be fixed when the final m240 released.

Here is another good review:
Testing the Leica M (240)

Originally Posted by serhan

Sony has the VG900 video camera and RX1 before Leica

Leica liveview has also other limitations, eg the refresh rate is 30fps, which is slow for moving subjects. Also there is a 1 second blackout after taking a picture in the liveview/evf. Leica says that the central magnification restriction is due to hardware restrictions, so it can not fixed by firmware. We'll see how much of this can be fixed when the final m240 released.

Here is another good review:
Testing the Leica M (240)

Yeah, but most of the people who would buy one wouldn't care about any of that anyway.