[Leica] new 1ds mark II

[bdcolen at earthlink.net (B. D. Colen)]

Your final comment may be right on the mark. That could be a niche
market that they could really capture.

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
Feli di Giorgio
Sent: Friday, September 24, 2004 5:17 PM
To: Leica Users Group
Subject: RE: [Leica] new 1ds mark II


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


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