leica

The Tiniest M-Mount Lens Ever Looks Like a Body Cap

by Felix Esser on February 7, 2012

The MS Optical Super Triplet Perar 28mm f4. Picture by Japan Camera Hunter

MS Optical, a Japanese one-man business best known for their lens conversions, are about to introduce what is probably the tiniest lens ever made for Leica M-mount: the Super Triplet Perar 28mm f4. Successor to the very popular and critically acclaimed Super Triplet Perar 35mm f3.5, the new Perar 4/28 manages to beat its already minute predecessor in terms of size and weight. Coming in at only 45 g (1.58 oz), the lens is based on a triplet design comprising only three lens elements. To make the optical formula even more compact, the lens’ aperture is placed before the front element. More details after the jump.

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Though I’ve reviewed the Leica M9 and M9-P before, I only recently had the pleasure of trying the Leica 50mm f1.4 Summilux and Leica 35mm f1.4 Summilux on the new digital bodies in real world use and street photography (I’ve used the former with a film body before). As readers of this site may know, I like the cameras; but have a major problem with their metering methods. Additionally, I tend to liken the images from the camera to chrome film in that one needs to nail the exposure perfectly and there isn’t a tremendous amount of versatility in the post-production process, though there is some.

So with all that aside, how do the lenses perform on the camera body?

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Review: Leica V-LUX 3 (Panasonic FZ-150)

by Chris Gampat on January 3, 2012

When Leica announced their new V-LUX 3 (or VLUX3) digital camera, I had thought to myself that the camera perhaps incorporates all of the standard changes that their Panasonic clones have. For those of you that are confused, when Leica clones a Panasonic camera (in this case, the Panasonic FZ-150), they usually update the firmware, menu system and lens coatings to differentiate it a bit. Otherwise though, the camera functions and acts the same. This time around though, there seems to be absolutely no change except for the outside cosmetic appearance.

So does this superzoom camera meet your standards?

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The Leica X1 from a Foodie’s Perspective

by Gevon Servo on December 27, 2011

Leica is a company I have a great respect for, especially because of the Leica M9. So when I got the offer to take the Leica X1 out for a spin, I immediately said yes. The X1′s APS-C size sensor, like the one in my Nikon D90, really grabbed my attention. Since we already reviewed the X1 once here, I chose to use it for something near and dear to me, food and coffee photography. This would be a pleasant change from shooting with DSLR’s like the Nikon D90 and the Canon 7D, which I was using at the time.

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Quick Hands On Review: Leica 21mm f3.4 Elmarit Lens

by Chris Gampat on November 5, 2011

After announcing the Leica 21mm f3.4 Elmarit lens in June of this year, Leica finally brought the lens to American soil where Gevon and I got some brief playtime with the lens at Photo Plus East. Despite the lens being a tiny bit slow for my tastes, it is probably the lens that has turned me onto the 21mm focal length after trying it on the Leica M9P (M9-P)

But how does it perform?

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Hands On: Sony NEX 7

by Chris Gampat on September 29, 2011

“If you can’t afford a Leica, this is the one to get.” Those are the words of the Sony Rep that demoed the NEX-7 to me. The other day, I finally got my hands on the extremely coveted Sony NEX-7 (or NEX7 and NEX 7). Though the reviews have already started to come out, I’m still waiting for my units to give them a full run through. However, this camera seemed extremely impressive during the brief time I spent with it as did the 24mm f1.8 lens.

Note that these were pre-production models though.

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