Re: [Leica] Canon really has AF figured out...BLASHPEMY? Or it is?

[Guy Bennett <guybnt@idt.net>]

>Boy Jim,
>
>You risk the flames ofthe LUG with this.  I agree that the Canon and have
>also tried the F100 with it spredictive AF is incredible.  I am sure you
>will get answer ranging from "We are LUGs, you will be assimilated"
>[translated to we don;t need AF], to the more open minded maybe its useful
>but here's a reason why its not.  AF has its place, and Leica may eventually
>have to move in that direction. Since the younger buyers are not interested
>in antiques like us 40+ folks with excess income (better known as spare
>change), the market will eventually disappear for them.  So they have to do
>something.  Making lenses for various mounts would be the smartest way to do
>it and this way if they do OEM a body from say Minolta, they have a hi-tech
>body and a lens that's already to go.
>I think it is inevitable, but the M series will probably continue for Leica
>since it is the most collected camera known.
>
>Peter K


hello peter,

to briefly return to this thread, i'd just like to say that while some
lugnets might rev up their flamethrowers at the mere mention of af cameras,
there are many, like myself, who recognize that af is useful, perhaps even
necessary for certain kinds of shooting; i think this is self-evident. what
i disagree with is the assumption that the future of photography is fully
automated, and that all camera companies, should they wish to survive, will
have to produce af models. if anything, this point of view is indicative of
the attitude that you yourself have been battling in your various posts, in
that it implies the forced assimilation of companies like leica, who will
have to 'automate or die', as it were. maybe one day there will be a fully
automated leica, maybe there won't. if not, there will still be nikon,
canon, et al, for those who want or need auto-whatever capabilities. the
fact that most people use af cameras doesn't mean that all camera companies
have to produce them.

guy