LEICA DMR OVER 1DSMK11?

[marcwilson]

Hi,
I am needing to choose between the leica dmr and the canon 1dsmk11.
Main area of use for this camera will be stock photos, some commercial jobs including interiors, exteriors and for small sized prints for personal work..16x12 max size or 24x20 if possible.
I will be using wider angles mainly and some shift movements also at times so for the canon I could use their tse lenses and possibly non canon wide prime and for leica either their own pc lens or zoerk adapter with mf lenses.
Autofocus and high frame per minute is not essential to me.
I was planning to go mf digital but that way is too expensive for now.
Does anyone have any compelling reasons to choose one over the other?
Thanks.
Marc

[MarkTomalty]

Marc

I haven't used the DMR myself so can't offer anything concrete on file vs. file with the 1DsMkll.
Despite opinions to the contrary,I'd still defer to the 1DsMkll
Given the parameters you outlined it seems like the Canon is a more practical choice. You get to use the specialty
lenses from the Canon lineup that interest you as well as cherry pick some of the better optics from third party
suppliers such as Leica themselves,Contax,Olympus,and Nikon.
To achieve a wide look on the DMR you will be forced into very expensive 15 and 19mm choices and you mentioned
budget was a concern.
If you are unsatisfied with Canons wides there are great,cheap alternatives from Nikon and even a mint,used
Leica 28-elmarit won't break the bank.

MT

[Gary_Yeowell]

Hi Marc,

I'm suprised that the back route turned out to be that much more expensive especially considering your Getty pricing policy. Did you manage to test the Leaf etc, also i seem to remember that you originally wanted a digital solution that was ok for stock and also for 30x40 exhibition prints comparable to Mamiya 7 and 5x4, have you given up on this? Lastly you may find speaking to Richard Newstead from Getty to be very helpful as he's the digital expert, as of yet the Leica module is not on the 'accepted' camera list, however Richard may be able to offer advice.

Regards,

Gary.

[marcwilson]

Hi Gary,
Yes the mf route is looking too expensive for me at the moment..even with a great refurb deal from leaf on the aptus 17 (not even the 22) once I factor in the camera + lenses etc..its coming in at about £4k more and that is still not the quality I'm really looking for..so unless I get a big statement in the post tomorrow from getty!..(big house bills recently too!)
As for the dslr route I have decided to go with the canon 1dsmk11 with some good lenses..Richard from getty has not seen any results from the dmr so best to go with equipment that has been well tested...I still get to keep my mamiya 7 in all of this of course.
At least I know all of this equipment combination does the jobs they need to!

Regards,

Marc

[Gary_Yeowell]

'At least I know all of this equipment combination does the jobs they need to!'

Couldn't agree more with that.

All the best,

Gary.

[willem_rethmeier]

I just can't believe Getty's requirements!
A 50MB file from a Canon 1DsMkII is much better than a 50MB scanned 35mm trannie!
First of all there is no grain in the MkII file and the file size can be resized to 100MB with hardly any loss!
Have you ever looked at a 100MB scanned file from a 35mm trannie at 100%?
Grain,grain and grain!
Even the Leica DMR files will be more than sufficient in my opinion.

Cheers,
Willem.

[MarkTomalty]

[ QUOTE ]

A 50MB file from a Canon 1DsMkII is much better than a 50MB scanned 35mm trannie!

[/ QUOTE ]

I would say different rather than better. If it were unanimously better then there wouldn't be dozens of third
party software solutions aimed at giving digital files that 'film feel' or hundreds of threads authored by people
looking for ways to handle the 'sterile' digital look
Flip side is that it is a nice luxury to be able to take a smooth digital capture and move it towards a crunchy,blocked
up,coarse Kodachrome 200 look.

and FWIW,Getty is not exclusive in its image size requirements. Most of the other 'tier 1' agencies have similar requirements

MT