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Blad vs Leica s2

andreleon

New Member
Hi all, I'm new to MF , with a used H3D39 . Comparing with my ME (equivalent lens ,ISO200 )the M9 files are at least as sharp as those from the Blad albeit with much more density and presence . Moreover , the noise at 200 is much more stonger .
If you were me, would you jump to a H4D50, H4D60 or Leica S2?

Thanks . All the best .
 
I have the CFV-39 and the M9, last summer I had the opportunity to make same pictures of a dance show with A 50mm Summilux Asph at 160 asa + M9 and an old FE 110mm/2.0 + CFV-39 at 400 asa and the Hasselblad result was really better even if I needed to crop Hasselbald pictures as I was farer.As I never had a S2, my answer will not help !
 
H3 - s2

I have owned a CFV 16 and a brace of lenses and currently have an S2. As far as image quality, the 16 does hold it's own and I suspect that the 39 is better. I did shoot the Hasselblad lenses on both the CFV 16 and S2 and found that the S2 imaged pretty much the same with the Hasselblad lenses. BUT when comparing the Hasselblad 80 and 100 lens on the S2 via adapter, to the equivalent Leica 70 that is where the Leica S2 shined as a package.

As far as the difference is concerned, price for one, the H3D-39 plus 80 goes for about $8000 in top condition the S2 used plus 70 goes for about $24,000. I will admit, the Leica lenses are really good, and are about $2,000 more than the comparable ones for the H.

Affordability? Well Hasselblad has Leica beat hands down. You have already shown that you do not have an aversion to buying used and the market for Hasselblad lenses is plentiful and affordable. For Leica, the relative newness of the camera and ability for Leica to produce has kept the used prices high resulting in only a 10% savings over new.

The Leica has the advantage of weather sealing, so a little rain will not hurt it. Shooting at 320 ISO is great, even 640 produces nice images, 1250 is still acceptable but not as good as the Canon and Nikons. If high ISO is what you want/need what about a H4D-40?

Ergonomics and simplicity of controls goes to Leica, it has just five buttons on the back of the camera to control the camera, simple menu structure and user preset functions. There is a dual card slot for CF and SD cards that allow parallel or contiguous saving to the cards. Basically the form factor of a DSLR about the same size as a Nikon D3.

-Al
 
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