[Leica] New R Solution?

[leicar at q.com (Aram Langhans)]

As a faithful "R" lens user, the way I see it, Leica has two goals to meet 
for a digital solution.
1.  They must lure enough people from Canon, Nikon, Sony, etc to make the 
venture profitable.  To do this they need to somehow offer something that 
the big boys do not, be it a feature or quality.  This of course also means 
a whole new line of autofocus lenses.  I don't see that happening for a 
reasonable price.
2. They need to bring back to the fold the loyal "R" users.  To do this they 
most provide something that we have not cobbled together on our own, so to 
speak.  The only thing they can do to improve the situation that exists now 
(adapters for C, N, 4/3, etc) is to provide a lens mount system/adapter that 
allow for full aperture metering and focusing, and a focus screen/system 
that is as workable as a good film SLR of days gone by (read R8/9). 
Everything else is easily provided for by C, N, etc.   They have outstanding 
low light performance and (too) many features.

I think a super quality mirrorless system may offer something new to the 
masses.  It also may provide enough lens flange to sensor room to allow an 
adapter to be built with some sort of servo motor mechanisms to stop the 
lens down during the exposure, and maybe even allow for shutter priority 
automation.  This would be a big improvement over the existing C, N, 4/3  to 
Leica blends we are now using.  The only thing for me is the viewfinder 
system, and how that will work with a manual focus lens.
So, while I do not hold out much hope for any acceptable upcoming 
announcement, I have hung in there for quite a few years, so a few more 
weeks will not  kill me.

Aram

> Subject: Re: [Leica] New R Solution?
> To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
> Message-ID: <519BD44D-1229-48AA-AF19-C4AA411C77C5 at btinternet.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> I don't think there is any hope of a new unique design camera. They have 
> lost their shirts on almost, if not every new reflex camera they have ever 
> designed, never sold enough to get the design and tooling costs back, this 
> includes the Leicaflexes and the R8 and R9, whether they made any money on 
> the models machined from Minolta castings I don't know, but the market for 
> a dSLR has too much inexpensive competition for a Leica model to succeed. 
> I believe neither the Canon EOS1 series nor the Nikon D3 models make any 
> profit, and can only exist because of profits made on the mass market 
> models, which, of course, Leica do not have...
> I am not expecting much at all, I am afraid. The DMR is still rather fine 
> though...
> Frank