Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/10/24
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At 07:55 PM 10/24/96 -0800, Donal Philby wrote:
>If they come out with an R9 AF within a year, there are going to be
>some very angry people. Me, for one.
Only repeating a rumor, Donal. You know how reliable they are. Of course,
every new model makes some of those that recently purchased the prior model
angry. Maybe less in the Leica line, though, considering the historicall
appreciation.
>Mike Blanchot, Leica rep in So Cal, said Leica toyed with Contax style
>AF a decade ago, but decided that moving the film plane rather than
>the internal element that normally controls focus, made conpromises in
>the image quality that were unacceptable to Leitz.
>
>Is this logical?? If it is, consider how a view camera focuses.
I don't pretend to know the best method. Either method makes compromises.
Leica already requires conversion of existing R lenses to use the features
of the R8. The Contax method would have the obvious advantage of not
requiring yet more changes to R8 type lenses. *IF* there is an AF R9 down
the road, I'd be flabbergasted if it happens within a year. I suspect that
even rumors are prone to the optimistically quoted time frames of the hopeful.
>If the R9AF is true, I sure hope they improve on the Contax's
>stuttering design, though I give contax credit for pushing into new
>ground.
Right! Execution and engineering expertise will mean everything. Me, I'm not
even interested. I sold out of Canon EOS 1n to go for the simpler Leica
system. My shooting is not aided by auto everything. The R6.2 is my cup of
tea in an SLR.
- --
Roger Beamon, Naturalist & Photographer
Docent: Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
Leica Historical Society Of America
INTERNET: beamon@primenet.com