Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/04/27
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi all, last weekend about 50 members of the German leica customer forum had a meeting at Leica in Solms. On this occasion we were presented the first WORKING prototype of the digital back for the Leica R8/9. I even had the opportunity to mount the DMR onto my own R8 and shoot some pictures with it! :-) The combination DMR + R8 appears to be a bit LIGHTER than the R8 with its conventional motor drive. This was achieved by using a lithium ion rechargable battery pack, which weights only an estimated 100g (3 ounces). Exchanging of the DMR is quite straight forward and fast. First the motor unit (for cocking the shutter) has to be removed. This is done by means of a special tool that also serves as protecting cover for the CCD chip (clicks in place over the chip). The good accessibility of the CCD unit will allow for easy dust removal (e.g. by air pressure). I think this is a big advantage compared to conventional digital SLRs, where the dust is only blown from one corner of the body to another corner. The imaging software was not jet completely finished and thus the final image quality could not jet obtainted at this stage of development. Therfore, Leica did not allow us to store or print out any of the images we took. I think this is very understandable. But at least we could see the images on the display and thus we know it really works :-) Based on what I've seen, I'm very confident that the DMR will be ready for sale in fall and I'm also confident that it will be a success! Folks, start saving your bucks! ;-)) Regards, Alexander