[Leica] Digilux = Fuji MX-700 = JVC GC-S5

[Pascal <cyberdog@ibm.net>]

Just finished reading the Sept 21 international Newsweek issue. There is 
an advertisement section on photography and electronic imaging.
Two interesting things to note:

- - an advertisement for the JVC GC-S5 digital camera with megapixel 
quality, which is another disguise for the Fuji MX-700 (like the Leica 
Digilux). But.... this time you get at least an 8 MB smartmedia card 
instead of a 2 MB card with the Digilux (2 MB gives you only ... 2 shots 
at the highest quality setting!). Plus you get a floppy disk adapter so 
that you can download your images from your smartmedia card instead of 
via serial connection. And this is included in the basic package. The 
camera has the same design as the FX-700 (unlike the small finishing 
changes with the Digilux). Now I wonder how much it would cost in 
comparison to the Fuji MX-700 and Digilux.

- - on the section "new and notable at Photokina '98", one can note the 
following excerpt:
"Leica Digilux Digital Compact. Leica pioneered the 35mm format camera 
and has been associated with excellence in photography ever since. 
Leica's introduction of "megapixel" digital camera is a sure sign that 
electronic imaging is coming of age. The new Leica Digilux offers the 
same compact size and uncompromising quality that has made Leica cameras 
among the most-sought-after collector's items in all of photography. In 
both appearance and operation -including the optical viewfinder and 
operating controls such as programmed automatic exposure control and 
autofocus- the Digilux owes much to Leica's high-end viewfinder camera 
designs. But instead of 35mm film, this Leica uses a 1.5 million 
picture-point CCD to record high-resolution, 24 bit color images. 
Pictures taken with the Digilux can be viewed on the camera's built-in 
two-inch color monitor, displayed on a TV screen or sent to a Pc where 
they can be edited and printed."

I wonder if the writers realized they were talking about nothing else 
than a Fuji camera instead... It seems all the credit for using the 
experience of the M rangefinder series should go to Fuji, and not to 
Leica. I am sure the Digilux is a fine camera, but let's be honest, it is 
not made -not even developed- by Leica.
Just a thought.

Pascal

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