Why not a digital Bessa R or R2,3?

charjohncarter

charjohncarter

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I am new to this forum, but I think I have seen the CameraQuest guy contributing. I bought a Bessa R from him just to have another LTM body with a meter, and I really like it. Has anyone ever talked (if that is what you call INTERNET intercommunication) to the CameraQuest man about Cosina making a digital Bessa R or R2,3? I know he communicates with them, because when I bought my Bessa R, I had to wait because he was overseas meeting with Cosina.
 
charjohncarter said:
I am new to this forum, but I think I have seen the CameraQuest guy contributing. I bought a Bessa R from him just to have another LTM body with a meter, and I really like it. Has anyone ever talked (if that is what you call INTERNET intercommunication) to the CameraQuest man about Cosina making a digital Bessa R or R2,3? I know he communicates with them, because when I bought my Bessa R, I had to wait because he was overseas meeting with Cosina.
Click to expand...

Not only does he contribute, but the "camerquest guy," Stephen Gandy, now owns this forum.

I'd be very happy to see a R-D2 with the latest available sensor...but it seems unlikely.
 
Epson can't keep refurbished RD-1s in stock longer than a few hours. That shows there is a market for a sanely priced digital rangefinder camera in the $1,500 and below price range.

That's what quality cameras have always cost, accounting for inflation. $3,000 is just a lot of money to spend on a brand new RD-1.

Perhaps market forces will eventually result in a Cosina-Voigtlaender digital Bessa designed to retail around the $1,500 price point.
 
The R-D1 and the M8 (+subsequent models) will probably be it for digital rangefinders.
Rangefinders being the niche market they are, it's just not economical to do the R&D, tooling and marketing for something that's not going to sell a lot of units.
Retail cost would have to be high due to small volume.
So, unless someone comes up with a cheap, easy to mass produce plastic body that takes LTM lenses I don't really see many other digital RF cameras hitting the market.

Peter
 
I'm not sure. I don't know how many more film cameras Cosina is going to be able to sell. The number of rangefinder users is not large, and is not growing very swiftly.

I also don't think there's much R&D involved in grafting a sensor onto an existing body, especially if the basic interface has already been worked out with the RD-1.

This wouldn't be a high-volume product, but I also don't think the Bessa film cameras have been high-volume either. What they did was demonstrate that there's a small but dedicated market for innovative, affordable rangefinder cameras.
 
Exactly, Vince, the whole Cosina thing seems to be to find a need and fill it with usually just one production run, then move on. Maybe some models will involve more additional runs (R3/2?) but a simple digital would certainly fit into this philosophy. As I have said before, give me raw output I could adjust with software and eliminate even the LCD in back.

Oh, and put 5D's FF sensor in it, even if it means designing new retrofocus WAs.
 
A big expense for a company going into digital is licensing the firmware. Unless you hire someone to reinvent the wheel (without standing on all the patents already out there) you have to pay to use someone else's imaging software.

Peter
 
Not Anytime Sooon

Not Anytime Sooon

Hi Folks,

as I have stated in other threads, I do not believe either Voigtlander or Zeiss will introduce another digital M camera anytime soon -- translation within the next year. I might be wrong, but that is my guess. Neither do I expect there will be a Epson RD2, or new production RD1's. This leaves the M8 as the digital rangefinder standard bearer for the foreseeable future.

Stephen
 
"I'm not sure. I don't know how many more film cameras Cosina is going to be able to sell. The number of rangefinder users is not large, and is not growing very swiftly. "

Well, IMHO, the number of rangefinder users wanting a new digital rangefinder is even smaller and growing even more slowly. The user base doesn't have to grow significantly in order for Cosina to keep selling film cameras.

Think of all the people out there that are currently using older rangefinders they bought second-hand. These people are certainly "rangefinder users" but don't show up on the spreadsheets at Cosina or Leica. A large number of them might in the coming years as they grow more comfortable with their cameras and spring for something new. But I think it is a stretch to think everyone is going to drop film in the next five years and justify Cosina dropping it as well. I can still buy film at every gas station, grocery store, and drug store, as well as get film processed everywhere but gas stations. I fail to see why I should use digital and give up all the advantages of film.
 
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