Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/07/21

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Subject: [Leica] DR. BLACKTAPE CAN'T HELP WONDERING...
From: "B. D. Colen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net>
Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2001 10:20:57 -0400
References: <HGEFLGEIFKPKNCNOGOGLGEIHCDAA.jayburleson@earthlink.net> <5.1.0.14.2.20010720161014.021d7dd0@xsj02.sjs.agilent.com>

Is this your opinion, or your employer's, jim_brick@agilent.com? ;-)

Jim Brick wrote:
> 
> At 06:23 PM 7/20/01 -0400, you wrote:
> >on 7/20/01 5:55 PM, Jay Burleson at jayburleson@earthlink.net wrote:
> >
> > > 2002, however, will see an M Digital. All they are waiting for is a full
> > > frame 35mm chip to use.
> 
> Full frame 35mm and larger CCD sensors have been available for going on
> four years now. I've had one since 1998. In 1998 we cut a hole in the back
> of a Canon EOS 1n and stuffed it in. Then mounted all of the electronics on
> boards outside the camera. What a giant kludge. And the digital pictures
> from this 6 megapixel sensor had aliasing and other artifacts because of
> the sharp Canon optics and the Nyquist limit.
> 
> Film cameras and digital cameras are two completely different beasts. They
> are not intermixable. But, you say, what about the Canon, Nikon, etc, SLR
> digital cameras. The illusion is only skin deep. Crack one open and it is
> stuffed to the gunwales with billions of transistors, resistors,
> capacitors, circuit boards (yes, several) connected to each other with
> ribbon cable and flex circuits. Not for the faint at heart.  Ah, but how
> about the Hasselblad backs hooked on to a conventional film camera. Well...
> nice for $15,000 and up, plus lugging a computer around and an umbilical.
> Besides, Hasselblads and the like are modular where the digital part can be
> built into an attachment. The back. Open up a digital back and discover how
> much electronics you get for $15,000. It looks like $50,000 worth. And the
> really good backs are $50,000.
> 
> An M camera is probably the worst camera to attempt to digitize. They could
> make a digital M camera. But it wouldn't be anything like the M camera you
> know now. They would probably call it a D camera. And the wonderful high
> resolution Leica lenses that you love would be looking through a defocusing
> filter (built into the camera over the sensor) because a 2500 Hz sensor
> pixel frequency cannot collect data of ten times that frequency. Again, the
> Nyquist limit.
> 
> If you really want a digital M, buy a Silicon Film cartridge
> (www.imagek.com) and have someone modify an M camera so it will fit. Then
> use it for awhile. Then instead of throwing it away as a useless waste of
> time and money, loan it to someone else who hasn't stopped to think it through.
> 
> Want to buy a good, sharp, easy to use, digital camera? Get a Nikon CP995.
> Or something like that. A digital M would be a marketing disaster as well
> as a disaster to use.
> 
> Jim

In reply to: Message from "Jay Burleson" <jayburleson@earthlink.net> ([Leica] Leica Days, Seattle)
Message from Jim Brick <jim_brick@agilent.com> ([Leica] Re: digital M)