Coming in DAP

I’m planning on several reviews in DAP this month and next, and the most exciting one for me at least is the Leica M9 (about $6995 sans lens), which should arrive mid next week (drat ground shipping!). With some weather-luck, I might just shoot it in the Yosemite high country. I will be shooting it with several Zeiss ZM lenses (see Zeiss web site) as well as the Leica 35/2 and 90/2.5 Elmarit and maybe a few others. I’d really like to shoot it with the 50mm f/0.95 Noctilux-M, but at about $9995 I’m not rushing out to buy one, and it’s not easily borrowed either.

My focus with the M9 will be on how and when the M9 makes sense as an alternative to a DSLR, and I’ll probably do at least one tedious resolution comparison with the Nikon D3x and/or Canon DSLRs.

I’m also looking forward to putting the new Nikon 70-200/2.8 VR II through its paces, though when exactly it will arrive remains unclear. Surely it will be a big improvement over the blurry original.

While I currently have the Nikon 105/2.8 VR and 60/2.8 macro in hand, how much effort I put into those lenses is largely a function of when the other goodies show up. I will at least do some work with them, because they are still relatively new, and I have already shot some lens comparisons with both. See also my Oct 25 blog entry.