xayraa33
rangefinder user and fancier
Ko.Fe.
Lenses 35/21 Gears 46/20
Second review I'm aware of on YT. And both came from good people. 
Quality is better than just quantity.
Quality is better than just quantity.
farlymac
PF McFarland
I saw that earlier today. Mattias does make a fine argument for getting one.
PF
PF
ranger9
Well-known
One thing I noted on the other thread: The serial number on my camera is 001xx, and his is 005xx. So if they number them sequentially, they must have pushed about 400 of them out the door between the time I got mine (October 2021) and the time he got his (presumably within the past few weeks.) And if they sold that number within that period of time, that would be about $1.2 million in gross sales in just over a quarter.
cboy
Well-known
It seems the range finder patch is faint imo.
Q. Did Leica make a restriction to pixii to only use aspc so that they can use Leica's proprietary mount? It would be nice if they made a FF pixii.
Q. Did Leica make a restriction to pixii to only use aspc so that they can use Leica's proprietary mount? It would be nice if they made a FF pixii.
xayraa33
rangefinder user and fancier
The Leitz M lens mount patent expired world wide by the end of the year 2001.
boojum
Mentor
This is the review that pushed me across the line, gratefully. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI9lspknmcM&t=7s) I am really eager to get mine and it cannot get here soon enough. I see now that there delays has jumped from two weeks to three weeks. Which means they are selling more and more. It is a work in progress, a moving target. Previous technical shortcomings have been dealt with. An older camera can be sent back for upgrades like memory and sensor. Software and firmware are instantaneous. These guys are onto something.
It seems to me the correct solution to the problem: electronic guts upgradeable over the internet. Mechanical guts upgradeable at the factory, 100 Euro round trip plus charges for upgrades. No more nosebleeds with the arrogant Leica reps and dodgy repairs and incredibly long waits. Not to mention the hosing on the M8 and M9.
I will be watching to see how Pixii deals with inevitable problems as compared to the drudges in Wetzlar who seem to care less about customer support. The galling thing about Leica is that we all know they could do a lot better. That's what bugs me, Leica could easily be way better but they are not.
It seems to me the correct solution to the problem: electronic guts upgradeable over the internet. Mechanical guts upgradeable at the factory, 100 Euro round trip plus charges for upgrades. No more nosebleeds with the arrogant Leica reps and dodgy repairs and incredibly long waits. Not to mention the hosing on the M8 and M9.
I will be watching to see how Pixii deals with inevitable problems as compared to the drudges in Wetzlar who seem to care less about customer support. The galling thing about Leica is that we all know they could do a lot better. That's what bugs me, Leica could easily be way better but they are not.
boojum
Mentor
Speculation on my part but I would not be surprised to see a FF. In the same box. Barth et al are not a bunch of sleepy farmers. If they can get this to fly as an APS-C proof-of-concept and the cash starts rolling in I would think that FF is the next step. Erase any stereotypical Anglo-Saxon ideas of who you think the French are. Barth and his confreres are as sharp as any top flight bunch in Silicon Valley. Just look at what they have done. This is not a crowd of short little guys with pencil mustaches and wasp-waisted suits sipping red wine in a cafe. No, no, no.
The educational system, the Lycée, is the nursery for a great university system. I can remember children of servicemen in France whose English was atrocious but whose French was impeccable. Accent, grammar, vocabulary, the whole smash. Where Pixii is headquartered, Bensançon, is in the core of high-tech, high-precision endeavor in France. The louts of Leica are watching.
lxmike
M2 fan.
A hefty price tag, I will stick to my Fuji's I think, its an interesting camera though
boojum
Mentor
You are right. OTOH what can you get in a really good RF today for that money? Even M9's are really pricey. Granted, the chisel does not make the sculptor. I do not expect to be made a great photographer as a result of buying this camera. But I will be happier with the photos I do produce and that is worth more to me than fattening an heir. ;o)
ranger9
Well-known
In real life I would say it's subjectively a little less bright than the one in an Epson R-D1 or Bessa R3m (the only comparable cameras I own right now; I haven't owned a Leica M in years so can't speak to that.) However, contrast and separation are good, as long as you keep your eye fairly well centered behind the eyepiece. I think it's hard to get a realistic video of the view through an RF camera eyepiece (I've never had much luck with it myself) and that may account for some of the impression you got.
ranger9
Well-known
I would be a little surprised, but only because Barth et cie obviously don't feel constrained by camera-designing tradition; I think in Matthias' review he mentions approvingly that they made not the slightest effort to make this camera look like a 1954 Leica M3, and I like that too. So, I would guess they are equally unimpressed by the heritage of the 36x24mm image size defined by Alfred Huger Moses Jr. for his Simplex 35mm still camera of 1914 -- they aren't going to adopt that size unless there is a tangible benefit besides tradition.
However, if they could find a Moses-size sensor that met their other requirements, I'm sure it would fit in the body. If they also wanted to increase the pixel count (logical if they were to go to the bother of using a larger sensor) they probably also would have to go to a processor with more cores, and that would mean the need for more battery power and more heat dissipation; not easy problems, but likely solvable. The biggest reservation might be whether the cute little short-base, 0.67x range/viewfinder would provide the focusing accuracy people would expect from a high-megapixel camera. Redesigning that module would be a major project, and one might well ask whether the juice would be worth the squeeze...
Still (and here we are still very much in the realm of speculation) what interests me the most about the Pixii is that it is a software-defined camera -- other than the range/viewfinder, almost all of the "moving parts" are silicon -- and I would bet my bottom croissant that Monsieur Barth has written his software so it could be recompiled for a range of sensors and processors without too much effort. Who knows, maybe licensing deals might be in the future as well, opening up the possibility of interesting camera concepts in a variety of formats from various small-volume manufacturers...?
boojum
Mentor
If you poke around the website you will see that a major backer and influencer ran GoPro's growth. Think about that. That fellow is unlikely to make a bad business decision even though he could. But the chances are way lower than If I were doing it. So there are some GoPro ideas and money in this game for tech growth and marketing.
So, you may be right, if they can do the job by hot-rodding they APS-C they will. OTOH a FF will quell the chorus of whiners on that account and also bring the lenses from your Leica into what they were designed for, the Moses format of 24 x 36 that is the camera world today despite APS-C being pretty darned good. Refitting of a new bottom plate as part of an upgrade is not a big deal. Put in the NP-FZ100 which runs 2100maH+ and you re good to go. The beauty of this camera seems to be it is a shell that can be reconfigured very easily with software/firmware and not too difficultly with hardware. Folks have had their sensors and memories upgraded. This is the avante-garde. M. Barth et cie are on this. Milou is bringing up the rear. All is well.
This puppy will be happy to get his.