Re: leica's G1 rival

[Gary J Toop <gtoop@uoguelph.ca>]

	I don't see why, if Leica is producing a G1 rival, it couldn't 
use the M series mount and have through the lens metering and 
focus-assist, so long as it is not auto-focus:  that would make it like 
the Contax RX and would mean that you would have to turn the lens until 
something beeps or lights up.  That would mean that you could use the 
current M-series lenses on it.  Who knows, perhaps Leica will even come 
up with a way to use the current M-mount and have autofocus, by using a 
small motor in the lens.  Either way they could also have an 
electronic shutter and metering like the G-1 and a motor drive.  If they 
can squeeze it all into a small enough body and keep the size down, they 
could produce something that compete very nicely with the G-1 and 
provides a kind of replacement for the CLE.  If it they can increase 
their market share without substantially cutting into their market for 
the M-6, I would be all for it.

Any thoughts?  Am I missing something?
Gary Toop


On Thu, 18 Apr 1996, Mark Bishop wrote:

SNIP

> I am intrigued. You say that Leica will be bringing out a G1 rival, 
> that this will not *be* or *replace* the M7, which is *years off*. Is it 
> fair to deduce, therefore, that Leica's product plan looks like this: 
> 1  M6 continues in production for some while, eventually being replaced 
> by an > M7;
> 2  A new camera, which competes with the Contax G1, will come out 
> fairly soon - > possibly Photokina??? If this is true then logically it 
> implies that the G1 rival will not use the M- > series lens mount, ie it  
> will almost certainly have autofocus and achieve this through the lens 
> not, as the Contax AX does, the body. I think this is a pity - as the 
> poster of the original message which said that I briefly owned a G1
> outfit when they first came out but sold it in disgust, I have to say 
> that the biggest problem with that camera for me was the primitive, 
> inaccurate and noisy autofocus.