[Leica] Interview re. Leica-Olympus-Panasonic manage

[bdcolen at earthlink.net (B. D. Colen)]

Ah, Mark, Mark, Mark - So point and shoot cameras are "the toy biz?"
Then I guess the only thing that's kept Leica afloat for how long has
been "the toy biz," eh? And as to your point about Olympus not moving on
from the excellent OM manual focus line - which, btw, was available and
in production up until at least - I believe - the end of the 90s - to
autofocus, I seem to recall a certain German camera company that many
here worship that made precisely the same decision, and you, among
others, sing that company's praise for having done just that. (Although
the manual focus SLRs are financial losers for the company, and if it
weren't for the rangefinders, would have driven the company clean out of
business.) 

So the irony, is that virtually everything you're saying about Olympus's
history is that the precise same criticisms can be made of Leica. The
only difference is that Olympus WAS an early digital adopter, has a
solid, money making position in the P&S and prosumer digital market, and
is getting itself established with a unique offering, of value to folks
other than Olympus owners, in pro digital.

Four-thirds may or may not have been a wise move - but it is a bold move
- and precisely the kind of move Matani would make. Actually, the only
real question about the 4/3 system is whether Olympus and Kodak can
figure out how to crank out images with low noise and high resolution as
they add more and more pixels to that smaller sensor. I've heard tell
that the engineers believe they can ultimately get the 4/3 sensor up to
25 mpg! But what I want to know is whether they can get it up to 8-10
and turn out an image that competes with the two front runners. They've
done it at 5-6, and but for noise at 800 and up, they've done it at 8
mgp. But because high isos are important to me, I'm waiting to see what
happens as they climb the ladder. Certainly they are improving camera
features, and updating firmware regularly, so.....

But as to the first half of your rant...plug in the name Leica and you
won't have to change a thing. :-)

B. D.

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
Mark Rabiner
Sent: Sunday, February 13, 2005 2:04 AM
To: Leica Users Group
Subject: Re: [Leica] Interview re. Leica-Olympus-Panasonic manage


I think you could come out with a concept of a format of any size you
want but if you have INTERCHANGEABLE MOUNTS ... as was the 4/3's deal
from DAY
ONE: there's no way you can go wrong.
Come out with a format 10mm by 30mm with rounded edges and an egg shape
bump on the bottom. No problemo with Interchangeable mounts.
Interchangeable mounts is a goldmine. It's a no lose situation. Like
that shiny 12 cm disk Sony came up with.


I don't think 13.5 x 18mm is that kind of a magic number. (4/3s) It's a
solution for a problem that's not going to happen.

I think Olympus was in a jam as they were competing against all the
other camera companies which had an established body of glass to fit
their new digital camera bodies ... Ported over from their film bodies.
Olympus was in a unique position of having dropped completely out of the
running years and year ago. Decades. They were nowheresville. A
burgeoning non-happening concern. Solid non contenders. Pleading nolo
contendo. ...instead of a bum, which is what they were, let's face it.
It was you, Charley. 
No AF lens line.

Very frustrating as the OM 1 system was so beyond excellent. Changing
the face of 35mm SLR film photography where cameras larger and heaver
then Hasselblads and Rolleiflexes and with little dark viewfinders were
shooting chips of film measuring 24x36mm. It was absurd!

But then Olympus dropped out when no one was looking when everyone went
AF like it just couldn't cope! They opted for the mass point and shoot
biz. Glad poor Maitani wasn't around to see that! The toy business!

Now they are looking at a burgeoning digicam market which has
transformed the pro and prosumer market to much closer terms with
mainstream. Olympus needed to stake out a new playing field. With them
in it. Wearing nice new uniforms.

Someone with a Nikon, Canon, Minolta or you name it system just adds a
digital body to their existing camera system. Poof they can-do digital.
Olympus is caught between a rock and a hole in the ozone. So it comes
out with it's own format. And calls in a few favors.

I'm sure Sony and Panasonic will call in that marker from Olympus the
next fine mess they get themselves into.

I agree with Feli that 10 megapixels is seeming to lots of people like a
nice round juicy apropos number. Fitting existing gloves and so on. And
that 6 or 8 is starting to feel a little thin. And that an ACROS or what
I like to call "half frame" sensor size is straining at its capabilities
to produce file sizes that size with a nice noise level that it gets
with 1600 ASA and beyond so far. Turning slow cheap zooms into Noctili.
They are just able to do it. Smaller no.

Remember the the size of the Olympus F half frame cameras designed by
Maitani? 
Remember the much more cute size of the Nikon SLR ACROS camera bodies
and lenses that lasted for five minutes? Darned small. A real size class
below what we are used in in SLR's designed for 24x36 image sizes.

(half frame is 18x24 ACROS is 16x24! Gee!
If they stuck to 18x24 and left out all the baloney the "new" or "not so
new" format (re-introduction) would have been a success IM not so H0)

But so far all the camera bodies for digital have been ported out from
full frame 24x36mm camera bodies. Maybe they need some extra room now
for wires.

Well I think sooner or later we can expect the proliferation of ACROS
format digital cameras which are the mainstream now to be sized down
just like the ACROS format film cameras and the ACROS format digital
glass which is coming out every day to fit that smaller image circle. It
will all line up and make smaller sense. 4/3's is not there yet. In the
year 2525 maybe. With holographic attachment and viewer. And antigravity
gyro.

Mark Rabiner
Photography
Portland Oregon
http://rabinergroup.com/




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