[Leica] new 1ds mark II

[feli at creocollective.com (Feli di Giorgio)]

On Fri, 2004-09-24 at 13:30, B. D. Colen wrote:

> Sorry, Juan, but the pricing of the Digi back makes even less sense than
> the usual Leica pricing, rather than more, because for the price of the
> Leica back, one can buy a complete Canon EOS 1D MarkII - the entire
> camera body, 8 mpg sensor, with all the bells and whistles. While one
> may not want all the bells and whistles, one does have to wonder what is
> so stunningly spectacular about the Digi back that it justifies the
> price of a top of the line camera body. 


I think the R-Back makes sense if you already have a substantial
investment in R lenses. $4995 may buy you a 1D II body, but you are
still going to need new Canon lenses unless you are willing to use your
R-glass with stop down metering, which would be clunky to say the least.

But if you are starting from scratch the R-back doesn't seem like the
most sensible solution.

On a positive note, the Leica-R back may turn out to be a very strong 
performer.
The chip is based on the same one used in medium format backs and unless they
completely screw it up it will probably be a pretty nice.

I would also bet good money that Leica is working on a fully digital camera.
I would not be surprised if it is full frame and will end up costing as much 
as
a 1Ds. This is a comparatively low volume, high profit specialized segment 
of the market and may just be the place for Leica to be.

Feli