Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/05/06
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]> Fr=E5n: adrian bradshaw=20 >=20 > I was only reporting what my informed source divulged - I sometimes wonder > who or what is guiding Leica's product development given this and other > strange developments.=20 Hi Adrian and others. I sincerely hope that Leica's guiding light in future product development plans can be explained in one word. DIGITAL. They must be R&D'ing lenses etc. for the digital market right now, and wh= at we are seeing is the spinoffs from that research, strange and illogical a= s it may seem in the context of chemical film. The same logic applies to bodies. What digital camera, for instance, will need a winder? Make NO mistake about this. An almost total digital take-over is very mu= ch closer than many folk realise. There is a lot of jockeying for position = in the old and emerging industries, and cards are being held close to the chest. =20 There will still be a need for chemical prints if only for the massive amount of information that can be stored/preserved in analogue format, bu= t its day is effectively over. The future Leica will look like an SLR with a fixed focus f1.0 lens.=20 Focussing will be automatic but by tiny movements of the film/CCD plane a= nd not big movements on the lens. Why? because during one exposure the CCD will be able to focus foreground - then download the image, refocus midground - download again, then refocus background - then download again to produce a composite digital "frame" that can be manipulated in Photosh= op or whatever. =20 Half a meter to infinity DOF at f1.0 ... Thats the goal that can be acheived with electronic imaging and the company that gets there first wi= ns the pot. =20 It will be Leica. Trust me. Alan Hull PS I have to turn my computor off for a few days while I reposition the cables away from my daughters little fingers. So no flames please.