[Leica] Some technical speculations re: rangefinder

[pdzwig at summaventures.com (Peter Dzwig)]

Technically feasible, but I guess that Leica would make it very
expensive.

Is it desireable: at the right price point "yes". There are people out
there doing RF-like systems at the present so there is probably a
market. Who could do it? Given that it would have to be compatible with
M-mount lenses and would need expertise, the only candidates must be Mr.
K or a new player with a lot of money.

Interestingly when talking to someone "in the trade" and who knows a lot
about Leica, some 18 months ago about RF and digital, I was told that
something was coming along "real soon" that would blow the socks off the
other players. (Implication: non-Leica) As far as I can see it hasn't
arrived.

Peter

On 21/07/12 08:05, Richard Man wrote:
> Speculating on an ideal optical rangefinder system (i.e. something that
> retains the Leica M DNA and yet improves on the 1950 state of the art M3),
> what if a rangefinder has the following features:
> 
> - LED projected framelines. This removes the clutter, solves the visibility
> issue, and
> 
> - changeable rangefinder magnification - what if the rangefinder has 0.58x
> to 1.2x mag builtin (may be in 4 steps: 0.58x, 0.72x, 0.9x and 1.2x or
> something similar)? This would allow more precise focusing from the wide to
> tele. This will leverage the existing frame line trigger and 6 bit coding
> system of course so this would be automatic
> 
> - parallax adjustment based on focusing distance
> 
> We know LED framelines can be done. The M9 Titanium has it.
> 
> The XPan has 2 magnifications: one for the 45mm lens and one for the 90mm
> lens. I have no idea how difficult it is to insert multiple mag piece as
> needed. Anyone knows?
> 
> The cam position should also give good indication of the focusing distance
> too, along with the lens info, so #3 is technically feasible too.
> 
> Chances are Leica nor anyone else would really spend the resource to
> develop something like these, since a CMOS/Liveview is so much "simpler,"
> but would it be nice to have such a system?
> 

-- 
=======================================================================
Dr. Peter Dzwig