Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/08/22

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Subject: [Leica] Another reason to hate Canon.
From: scott at adrenaline.com (Scott McLoughlin)
Date: Sun Aug 22 12:06:10 2004
References: <c.311ca91a.2e58e1f3@aol.com> <4127914C.7060209@adrenaline.com> <008f01c487b3$97cf56a0$6701a8c0@DAD> <4127AB19.7000507@adrenaline.com> <B42157D9-F3D2-11D8-9627-0003936CAC22@sbcglobal.net> <4F800C9C-F3FD-11D8-878D-000A95CD9BF8@mac.com>

Marc,

You may well be right. Over the last few decades, I'm accustomed to the
"digital arms race" in computer CPUs, memory and hard disks. Progress
there was driven by a number of factors: new software applications that
kept challenging existing hardware; a voracious and well heeled industrial
and commercial customer base; a horizontal industry topology with
independent competing component manufacturers; and not least, a
venture finance infrastructure for innovative but risky new computing
technologies.

I don't know that much about the structure of the photo industry, but
I can imagine that the planets might not all line up in exactly the same
way.  Heck, if "good enough for consumers" were the only driving
dynamic of the computer industry, we might all still be accessorizing
our Commodore 64's and using Hayes or Telebit modems for all I
know :-)

Of course, I can *hope* that stasis is not near at hand. Perhaps the
emergence of a more "Dell like" horizontal photo industry will
drive rabid competition (and innovation) between the manufacturers
of individual system components.  In particular, we'll need chip
manufacturing innovations to drive up "yield" and thus drive down
the costs of CCD's with a large surface size.

But of course, rabid competition and innovation might not exactly
be a recipe for Leica-grade system stability.  Still, a man can dream....

Scott

Marc Attinasi wrote:

>
> 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.
>
>


In reply to: Message from MCyclWritr at aol.com (MCyclWritr@aol.com) ([Leica] Another reason to hate Canon.)
Message from scott at adrenaline.com (Scott McLoughlin) ([Leica] Another reason to hate Canon.)
Message from jem.kime at ntlworld.com (Jem Kime) ([Leica] Another reason to hate Canon.)
Message from scott at adrenaline.com (Scott McLoughlin) ([Leica] Another reason to hate Canon.)
Message from mlpowell at sbcglobal.net (Matthew Powell) ([Leica] Another reason to hate Canon.)
Message from attinasi at mac.com (Marc Attinasi) ([Leica] Another reason to hate Canon.)