RE: [Leica] Is the Leica an endangered species?

[Jim Laurel <jplaurel@microsoft.com>]

From what I can tell, the S1 is a dedicated high-res studio camera -- pretty
big and ungainly.  And someone on the list mentioned that you have to wait
60 seconds between frames???  Yikes!  The 6m pixel DCS460 takes 3-4 seconds
between frames to record the image to the PCMCIA card drive which, in
practical use, I found much too slow.  The new Canon EOSD2000 can shoot 12
frames at 3.5 fps before it has to write to disk -- not bad, but the D2000
is only a 2m pixel camera.

- --Jim

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Five Senses Productions [SMTP:fls@5senses.com]
> Sent:	Monday, June 22, 1998 12:03 PM
> To:	leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us;
> 'leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us'
> Cc:	'B. D. Colen'
> Subject:	RE: [Leica] Is the Leica an endangered species?
> 
> What about the S1 or 4x5 digital backs?
> 
> 
> At 10:55 AM 6/22/98 , Jim Laurel wrote:
> >Sorry, B.D., I've got to take issue with this.  I've shot features with
> the
> >Kodak DCS460 (billed as the highest resolution digital camera in
> >production).  The quality was nowhere near 35mm, particularly when it
> comes
> >to very contrasty scenes.  Reciprocity failure was a constant problem for
> >exposures over 1/4 second or so.  It's not just price...there are some
> >significant technology issues to overcome.  And there is significant
> >degradation when you use these digital backs at high ISO ratings as well.
> >Digital still has a long way to go to overtake 35mm.
> >
> >--Jim Laurel
> >
> >
> >> The quality is essentially here now, it's the price that's the
> >> issue - to which I note that the computer on which I send and receive
> >> E-mail
> >> goes today for literally less than half what it cost when I bought it 9
> >> months ago.
> >> 
> >