[Leica] The "real" Leica SLR

[Jim Laurel <jplaurel@microsoft.com>]

A co-worker of mine is getting back into photography after a long hiatus
and, yesterday, asked me to look over some "old" photo equipment she's had
sitting in her closet for some 12 years.

Well, she drags in what looks like a gym bag, and inside is a very nice
black OM-2n in perfect working order, with Zuiko 135mm f3.5, and 50mm f1.4
lenses!  I had forgetten how compact these things are...and how quiet and
vibration-free.

I remember reading a story back in the 70s about the engineer who designed
the OM1.  Seems he was quite a Leica fan, and dreamed of creating an SLR
that was as light, quiet, vibration-free, and compact as a Leica M.  Well,
he almost succeeded with the OM1.  The R6.2, which I had there for
comparison, is loud, clunky and ungainly in comparison to the elegant little
OM.  Even the M6 feels large in your hands after holding an OM.  The OM
cameras are the true "Leicas" of the single lens reflex world.

After listening to all the list chatter about the future of the R line, I
can't help but think that there is a market for a real Leica SLR.  No, not a
redesign of the R8 with even more electronic features and AF...not a return
to the heavy SL series...  I mean an SLR that really embodies Barnack's
original thinking behind the 35mm camera: An extremely compact, lightweight,
quiet, low-vibration SLR with a complete line of compact lenses.

Leica does not have the resources to compete head-to-head with the Nikon and
Canon in thier markets.  And why should they?  The world is full of large,
heavy, feature-laden SLR systems.  But who sells an advanced compact SLR
system with Leica-class optics?  Nobody.  Seems there might be a nice niche
market there that's not currently served by anyone.  I wish that Leica had
chosen to partner with Olympus instead of Minolta.  The R system would
probably look quite different today...

- --Jim Laurel
Redmond, WA