Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2013/03/23
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Sorry Cedric, but those old stories about Barnack etc., with which we are all familiar, have no relevance whatsoever to the subject at hand. Olympus came out with its SSWF technology in the E-1 in 2003, and within a couple of years it became standard on the other major brands--except Leica. I vaguely recall some engineering excuses for its absence on the M8 and later M9, but frankly speaking, as a user, I do not care about those excuses. All I know that with my inferior and much cheaper Pentax and Panasonic cameras I never have to clean the sensor and never have spots (and yes, I change lenses on those cameras at least as often as on the Leica), whereas on the Leica it is a recurring problem. No excuse. Putting liquids and swabs on sensors is just so pathetically 20th century. Nathan Nathan Wajsman Alicante, Spain http://www.frozenlight.eu http://www.greatpix.eu PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws Blog: http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/ YNWA On Mar 23, 2013, at 8:41 PM, Cedric Agie wrote: > I do have some difficulties to agree with these humorous points of > vieuw. Of course photographers by definition must be able to have a > large point of vieuw. > >> From the beginning when Oskar Barnack had started playing with the > idea of taking pictures with a cine film, he, and later Leitz, its > technicians and engineers always did everything they could to improve, > but also to symplify this wonderfull camera. And certainly once > Grandfather Ernst Leitz I had decided to start its production. They > not only do everything to symplify production, but also in the vieuw > of after sales services i.e. repairs and maintenance (CLA etc). This > cuts costs during and after production, that's nothing new in the > economy. Don't forget Leicas are for a good part handmade, tuned and > checked. It went so far that Oscar Barnack asked to have his own > office next to the production hall with a large vieuw on it. He never > stopped improving and simplyfying a model even during production. > Break downs are often taken into consideration when cameras come back > to the factory. > > A simple example; if you can have a look at every possible model of > the M-4 since it came to the market. You will never see 2 identical > models if you take a very close look at it. Dimensions and look don't > change much but for ex the tiny screws that appear on the front of the > camera holding it together, not only don't have the same look, but you > will also find them at differend places as production was improved. > > Regarding the CCD and now CMOSIS captor, Leica tried to follow the > evolution of this technology verry closely and used it as soon as > possible. But they also have to do with it as it comes to market > i.e. to make a good camera that suits their potential clients at a > certain moment. I too cursed and fumbled at these tiny spots and specs > I saw in the beginning with my beloved M-9. In time I took more care > and precautions when changing lenses. Those of us if not most of us > will certainly remember we often had to fight against dust, dirt, > specs and tiny spots etc when we worked in the darkroom. Enlarging > color and developping Ektachromes made things even worse. Moving a > darkroom to another place had sometimes catastrophic consequences. > > There must be a way and a solvent that helps to clean the captor, > maybe the same way we clean our lenses i.e. carefully. But who knows > the formula of the contents of that magic and expensive bottle? Whe > certainly will find out sooner or later. I do have an idea. I will let > you know if I find out. > > Regards & have a good W-E. > > Cedric > > > > 2013/3/23 Bill Pearce <billcpearce at cox.net>: >> I have heard similar laments from owners of German cars, about mechanical >> issues not sensors. There is something about the Germans that I can't >> understand. I have heard it said that German engineering means why use two >> parts when ten will do? >> >> -----Original Message----- From: Nathan Wajsman >> Sent: Saturday, March 23, 2013 1:45 AM >> To: lug Group >> Subject: [Leica] Sensor frustration >> >> >> Why, oh why did Leica choose not to build in a sensor-cleaning system into >> their cameras, pioneered by Olympus many years ago? Because zat is not ze >> vay ve do it here, I suppose. But having spent 20 minutes fighting with >> spots on my M8 sensor, and probably having made the problem worse, I am >> just >> frustrated. Basically, my M8 is useless for any pictures with blue sky in >> them. >> >> Grumpy. >> >> Nathan >> >> Nathan Wajsman >> Alicante, Spain >> http://www.frozenlight.eu >> http://www.greatpix.eu >> PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws >> Blog: http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/ >> >> YNWA >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >