[Leica] The End of The "M"

[mccluney at sbcglobal.net (Gene E. McCluney)]

>Leonard J Kapner offered:
>Subject: [Leica] The End of The "M"
>
>>Just to get our juices flowing this morning, here's a message that 
>>appeared In the photo.net Leica discussion group this morning from 
>>Kipling Phillips:
>>
>>I just talked to the manager of a large camera distributor here in 
>>Germany and he told me that he's received information that the "M" 
>>camera line is to be discontinued.I can't give any names.<<<
>
>

Leica has stated that a Digital "M" will require a vertical metal 
focal plane shutter, similar to what is already in the R8, and R9.

This will require a re-engineering of the RFDR body.  It is a logical 
assumption that Leica would still produce a film version of this 
camera, but it would not be the traditional "M" with cloth focal 
plane shutter.

I think in the future we will still have a Leica film camera to use 
"M" mount lenses, but it will not be the traditional "M" we all know, 
rather it will be a "film" version of the Digital "M".

This is what Nikon has done with the F6 and its pro level digital slr 
bodies.  Nikon also has limited manufacturing capacity for its 
pro-level bodies.

It is only logical to rationalize production costs, and keep the 
company overhead low, and still produce a reasonable number of 
cameras.

The traditional "M" market would still be served with the al-a-carte 
system, which could use up existing inventory of parts.

Gene McCluney