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Originally Posted by Scotty Graham  Can you be more specific on what you mean by "radically" different images? |
There are others who could (and probably have) discuss this with clarity and poignancy. I can only scratch the surface. There are two main factors: (1) with a rangefinder, you are composing and focusing through a very bright sidecar viewfinder, not through the lens, and (2) you are using fundamentally different optics. There are other factors that also matter: rangefinder cameras have a distinctive form factor, you hold them differently, people react to them differently. It all adds up to a different working style that happens to suit some and not others.
Bottom line: you will take completely different pictures with the rangefinder. It's actually quite interesting to take a rangefinder and an SLR to the same subject and then examine the resulting pictures.
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Originally Posted by Scotty Graham Most important to me is image quality...especially when it comes to producing large prints. |
There are lots of different qualities to seek in photography, and no camera system will deliver them all.
A pretty strong argument can be made that—today—the D3x delivers
the best overall image quality of the highest resolution full frame ~35mm DSLRs on the market. (But not quite the best low light performance.) Of course, you have to have the right
optics and
technique to actually extract all that potential on a consistent basis. (Your total investment may ultimately run closer to $20k than $10k, depending on what you've got and what you're trying to achieve.) A D3x is also a bulky, heavy camera, and the top-notch glass that is needed to extract 24 megapixels of detail also tends to be relatively bulky and heavy. That may conflict somewhat with your other priorities. A D3x kit is a lot of work to travel with and looks more like a weapon in hand than a small rangefinder camera. Moreover, digital camera bodies go obsolete and depreciate at an appalling pace; does an $7500 body make sense to you? Maybe!
If form factor isn't a concern, however, and you're not addicted to burst or indiscriminate shooting, perhaps you'd be better off with medium format digital. Or even medium format film (which is cheap and can—in some ways and situations—annihilate any DSLR in image quality)?
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Originally Posted by Scotty Graham If I go for the D3X, I will also be forking out 10K in new equipment...I just want to be getting the best equipment I can for that kind of money....The M9 or the D3X? |
All I can say is that you haven't said anything yet that clearly narrows your choice down to those two.
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Originally Posted by Scotty Graham Not possible for me to rent a rangefinder here in Indonesia (that I know of). I have no experience with a rangefinder, but certainly willing and able to learn... |
You might like it. You might not. Do you have access to a film lab over there? If so, then a used M6 or Mamiya 7 might be the best research step, since they're relatively cheap and you can reliably resell those cameras and lenses for nearly what you pay for them.
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