Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/08/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]From my casual observance of the developments in digital SLR's over the past few years, I'd say that the full 35mm frame size will not be in the consumer-priced SLR offerings - ever. It seems that the development of more short focal length lenses is proving to be a more prudent model, and now it seems like every 'hybrid' SLR system is coming out with very short 'digital-only' lenses that do not cover the full 35mm frame but provide the field of view that people want. My best guess is that large sensors are just too expensive to produce and, in general, consumers don't care enough IF they can get a 12mm lens for their 1.6x sensor - at a reasonable price. As for fast primes that are affordable and compact, I'd look to the non-hybrid Olympus E system for that. They have taken the purist approach (easy for them since their SLR system was tragically allowed to die some years ago). Their optics are designed FOR the smaller 4/3 sensor, and they will likely be the first to offer fast primes providing the field of view that traditional 35mm shooters enjoy - hopefully they will live up to their promise of smaller lenses too; all decent 35mm 1.4 lenses are HUGE, not to mention the fact that we are wasting 80% of the value of that lens on a smaller sensor, where the corners matter not. Personally, I'd love to get a compact 18mm f2 for my Canon DSLR, even if it was only for use on the digital EOS bodies. The lack of fast wide angles is my biggest complaint about the current state of DSLR systems. Cheers! - marc On Aug 21, 2004, at 5:32 PM, Matthew Powell wrote: > On Aug 21, 2004, at 3:05 PM, Scott McLoughlin wrote: >> I can imagine an M8d-B/W with a full frame sensor > > I don't really keep up with digital product, so maybe this is common > knowledge - are the big companies even working on (affordable) > full-frame SLRs anymore? Seems like they and most users have become > comfortable with smaller sensors. > > Alternately, have there been any plans for fast primes for the smaller > sensor? To get something comparable to my $250-300 EOS 50/1.4, you've > got to go to the 35/1.4L at four times the price and quite a bit > larger. > > MP > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >