Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/10/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 07:14 AM 10/16/2001 -0400, Simon Stevens wrote: >To sell to photographers currently invested in M cameras & lenses who >would like to add a digital capability without buying an entirely new >system. (Duh!) > >Simon I guess you haven't read my dissertations, over the past three years, as to why this is a.) a very bad idea, and b.) isn't going to happen. A short summary follows. Digital cameras are digital cameras, a completely different animal from film cameras. High resolution lenses, such as recent Leica M lenses, cannot be used successfully with a digital sensor. These lenses were designed for film. A digital camera is s-t-u-f-f-e-d full of electronics. Don't look for an M look alike to contain all of this. As seen recently, Leica is partnering with a Japanese electronics company to produce digital cameras with "Leica/Japanese" lenses. These digital cameras will look like digital cameras. Digital features convenient for digital operation. The Japanese digital camera companies have decades invested in digital electronics. Leica has decades invested in film cameras. Leica would not be so foolish as to decide to design and build a consumer digital camera built on a film camera foundation. This is way out of their league and completely impractical. You will be able to buy Leica brand digital cameras. The lenses will be computed for use with a digital sensor. Basically dumbed down lenses. Necessary because the frequency cutoff of a digital sensor is much lower than film. To use a high res modern Leica lens on a digital sensor, one would need a resolution cutoff filter (these are built-in to the Nikon/Canon/Kodak/etc. cameras that use off the shelf 35/MF lenses.) So, don't hold your breath for a consumer digital camera that will use your M or R lenses. Jim - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html