Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/04/27

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Subject: [Leica] Update on the digital back for the Leica R8/9 (DMR)
From: Dr.Alexander.Kraus at gmx.de (Alexander Kraus)
Date: Tue Apr 27 15:09:08 2004
References: <BCB422A7.AECA%mark@rabinergroup.com>

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  
 

 


Replies: Reply from director at ubi.edu (Lucien) ([Leica] Update on the digital back for the Leica R8/9 (DMR))
In reply to: Message from mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner) ([Leica] RE: Sunday morning walk around)