What do you do on a cold winter’s day when the light is bad and you have nothing to photograph? Well, if you’re a geek like me you take photographs of your cameras of course!
In the image below, you will notice that all Nikon logos (and identifying gold rings on the lenses) have been taped over. That’s because I don’t want to be a walking billboard for Nikon. The gear is still recognizable to most enthusiasts but not necessarily at first glance (LOL, with the possible exception of the cartoonishly large 200/2).
They say DSLRs are a dying breed but the inevitability of their demise has increased their appeal to me after all of these years of shunning them in favour of rangefinders. It also helps that Nikon produced something special in the form of the D850 and D500.
I’ve often photographed my Leica gear as it came and went, but never cared enough about my Nikons to do the same… until now.
—Peter.
Prosophos 
Peter, the 850 is excellent both as your photos and those of friends’ show. the skin tones appear especially nice. Impractical me, who could have bought several nikons or sony a7r iii’s, fell for the natural skin tones, menu simplicity, small size (and finally excellent firmware upgrades) just got an X1d with 90mm. Oh, also, my leica lenses cover the sensor! I couldn’t be more pleased, especially after the orange/red tones of the leica SL — well, except for the pain to my pocket book. You,ve got superb options — the 850 with 200 and your M3 — Allowing you to express your special skills.
Henry, I have not yet seen the results of Leica lenses on the X1D. I have heard good things. Are you able to show us some of those results, or at least tell us which lenses worked and which didn’t?
Karim, sorry, i just got back on. See my remarks to Peter below.
Hi Henry, you’re absolutely correct about the D850 skin tones: they’re fantastic. The best I’ve seen in a while, on any sensor.
And you already know my distaste for Leica’s Tomato-Face™️ skin tones, starting with the M240, then the SL and Q:
https://photographsbypeter.com/2015/12/13/tomato-face-technology-alive-and-kicking-in-the-leica-sl/
The M10 seems to have improved things but the colours, overall, are still quite wonky.
With regards to your X1D, congratulations! If I was more methodical and deliberate with my shooting, I would definitely want one. Heck, I still want one, but I need something more responsive for my photography.
Peter, it suits my needs for portrait work, though i can’t shoot as quickly as i’d like in making subsequent shots. The LS clicked off 11 frames per while the x1d is only about 2 per. The files are beautiful, as you would expect, but ideally processed in their Phocus software (surprisingly good). The 90 mm is fantastic: autofocuses quite nicely and manual is a dream with very good focus peaking. With the sensor being not quite medium format size, any lens used becomes .8 times the nominal focal length; thus the 90mm portrays like a 72mm; my 50 summilux like a 40mm. Except for tele leicas and evidently the apo summicron 50, the others seem to vignette in corners somewhat. If you change to the square format, it isnt noticeable, at least on my 50 lux and 75 cron. Of course, the sensor is reduced to 33×33 and some would argue that you might as well get an M10. Not moi! I love the natural hassy colors, especially for skin. Course your 850 is right up there in that regard. Lastly, you naturally have to use the hassy electronic shutter with M lenses and that prevents use of strobe or photographing moving objects. You’ve probably read most of this and, if so, i apologize for the discourse.
Henry, no need to apologize as I really appreciate the input of somebody like yourself who’s actually used the gear.
It’s also worth noting, as a tangent to this post, that there is no way that a phone camera will replace a dedicated camera any time soon. Just try and take a photo with a phone of an airliner high up in the sky. Not really adequate. Even an old compact is already a better choice than a phone. In fact some professionals use old compacts almost exclusively. What an amusing world we live in. 😉
BTW that 28/1.4 is f*****g huge. Ay caramba.
I found the ergonomics difficult on the 200mm f2. Eventually I put KIRK grip on it. This changed number of keepers I get with it. It easily increased the length of time I could use it too. It pairs up nicely with the Nikon F5 and D810 now.
I truely love it’s rendering and autofocus speed on both cameras.
Hi Steven,
I have the RRS LCF-15 plate on my 200/2. I bought it immediately after trying to photograph with the stock Nikon plate just once and realizing it’s just too stubby/short to be useful. I don’t have any experience with the Kirk grip but I went with the RRS because it will still allow me to place the reversed lens hood back on the lens without having to remove anything.