Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/02/08
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]My two cents: A digital camera with an M range-viewfinder that will take my current M lenses? Glory Hallelujah! As others have mentioned, the viewfinder, rangefinder and lenses are my primary reasons for using Leica. If they make a full-frame sensor with about 6 megapixels, that would be an improvement on the image quality of the Canon 10D, Nikon D100, etc. Same number of pixels, but bigger pixels. And all the current lenses would work the same. Virtually noiseless ISO 400 and 800 equivalents. 1600 more like 400 on film. Nice. What might be ideal is one of the new with a mix of small and large sensors. That gives a couple of stops more dynamic range, closer to negative film rather than slide film. That's probably pie-in-the-sky, but I can dream. . . :-) Now here's a real crazy idea. What about a black-and-white imager? No color microfilters, no interpolation, none of this Bayer pattern stuff. Less artifacting. A pixel is a pixel is a pixel. That could deliver even greater image quality than a color imager of the same size. This probably wouldn't fly in today's market, but what a possibility! Even if they use a sensor similar to the 10D, etc., it would be OK with me. As John mentioned, all they have to do is put in a different set of frame lines, and all's well. A 35mm lens would now be approximately a 50mm lens (assuming a 1.5x or 1.6x magnification factor). These lenses, at f/2 or 1.4, would certainly have a narrow enough depth of field for me. So anyone with a 35/2 or 1.4 would be in great shape. Similarly, a 24mm would become an almost-35mm, a 75 would become a 112mm, still usable as a portrait lens, and a 90 Cron-M or APO would be one incredible 135 equivalent. Those of you with 15mm Heliars could use them as a 24. And a 50 becomes a 75 or 80. Would they be able to stuff all the electronics into an M-sized body? Maybe. But we might end up with a higher body, still M-shaped in the other dimensions. Or something bigger, like an M5 on steroids. We live in exciting times. I hope Leica can make the transition successfully. And I hope that they will treat the Digital M as a photographic tool, and price it halfway reasonably. But price may be a big issue for many of us, if the price of the Digilux 2 is any indication. If that's the case, I may have to wait and buy used. All this also means that the M7 and MP are probably the last new film-camera models. I suspect Leica will still make them and support the existing mechanical cameras for a long time, but the mechanical designers will be gone. They will make the film cameras with far less combinations of body color and viewfinder size. Eventually there may be only one film M model. It might be the MP as a niche market, with the inevitable commemoratives. But it could also be an M7a, perhaps sharing the timing and meter electronics developed for the Digi-M. We live in exciting times. What's in *your* wallet? - --Peter - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html