Changing Camera Systems?

Don't know how it happened, but last night I stumbled upon several dSLR (Nikon/Canon) versus Rangefinder (Leica) comparisons. Something, I wish hadn't happen. Reading through these reviews / comparisons / user experiences made the (digital) rangefinder concept very appealing. Especially when you're a non-studio / non-portrait / non-macro / non-action shooter..... which fits my profile for about 95%.

The rangefinder system is extremely light (as in weight), and therefore attractive for carrying it around a whole week. An average (pro) zoom-lens (without the body) weighs more than a Leica M9 body + similar focal length zoom lens. The downside is that a Leica M9 with a couple of lenses is not cheap (understatement of the year). A Leica M9 body is over €5000 euro. The lenses range from a couple of €100 to a whopping €10.000 euro for a Leica 50mm f/0,95 Noctilux....... Thankfully there are third-party lens makers (like Voigtländer, Zeiss etc.), that make excellent lenses for a fraction of the price.

A quick calculation on my part left me with an investment (if I should ever switch) over €10.000. This would include the M9 body and two to three lenses. I could do with a body and gather several cheap (quality) lenses from ebay, since almost every M-Mount lens, made since 1960, will work on the Leica M9 rangefinder.

The problem with a possible switch is (probably can't afford to keep my current Nikon gear), that there basically no way of renting a Leica M9 in the Netherlands. So there's no way of finding out if this rangefinder 'thing' is right for me without spending around €10.000. So the chance of me switching to a Leica M system are a likely as me winning the lotery, or when hell freezes over.

Update on Sunday, October 3, 2010 at 14:24 by Willem

Oops... read a couple of other fora around the Interwebs, and I've compiled an initial wishlist:

• Leica M9 gray
• Leica Noctilux-M 0.95/50mm Asph.
• Leica Summilux-M 1.4/24mm Asph.

Problem is the pricing.....

The grand total is a little over €18.000 .... *swallow*

So, I guess I could use a little help gather that amount of cash: