Can we expect an M8 competitor anytime soon?

Agreed. It would be nice to see another digital RF (in M mount, of course). But, I'm not holding my breath... crossing my fingers, but not holding my breath.
 
sitemistic said:
Despite our own fanatic love for RF's, there are relatively few photographers with any interest in rangefinders, film or digital. For a large company to really make money requires economy of scale or incredibly high prices.
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But Nikon did make their anniversary S3 (or was it an S2?) and sold 10,000 as fast as they could. What might they have done with a similarly styled digital RF?

/T
 
SM, I don't know either. And Nikon probably doesn't either. But a S3-styled digital RF would be a great combination of nostalgia and cutting edge digital tech.

/T
 
I often think of what might have been for contax had they survived into the digital RF era. Now that would have been serious competition!

I can not frankly see Nikon getting into digital rf. Its one thing to knock out a few S3's, but clearly making a sucessful digital RF would tie up a lot of time. Id love it to happen all the same.

However i am actually more interested to see what Leica do next.

Richard
 
Well they have taken the forst step into digital RF. Much as I love my M8 I think there are a number of things which could be improved without a huge deal of effort in a subsequent digital M which would make quite a difference. Price is an intersting one can we rally expect cheaper? The Sumarit lenses show the first real compromise on both price and build by Leica. Intersting to see how they sell.

In some ways given the built in obsolescence of electronic technology a digital RF could perhaps be cheaper assuming that a lot of the R and D has now been done. Now what I would really be prepared to pay more for would be old style build quality but with some pledge that the sensor and things could be upgraded without trashing the body.

Best wishes


Richard
 
Richard Marks said:
I often think of what might have been for contax had they survived into the digital RF era. Now that would have been serious competition!

I can not frankly see Nikon getting into digital rf. Its one thing to knock out a few S3's, but clearly making a sucessful digital RF would tie up a lot of time. Id love it to happen all the same.

However i am actually more interested to see what Leica do next.

Richard
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Richard,
Did you ever read on the CameraQuest site what Nikon went through to create its re-incarnation of the S3? This was no quickie knock-off, but required a huge amount of reverse engineering, research and re-tooling. After all, the camera hadn't been made in 50 years. So, I suspect this was some kind of labor of love as well as a not-inexpensive project. I really don't think many companies look at every dollar spent globally, the way you suggest. Yes, they have to make a business case for it, but not justify it against every exisiting alternative. Diversity is good for business as well as biology.

/T
 
Richard Marks said:
Now what I would really be prepared to pay more for would be old style build quality but with some pledge that the sensor and things could be upgraded without trashing the body.

Best wishes


Richard
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Richard,
I think this is somewhat like the dream of a CPU upgradeable PC. Nice idea, but given the "system" nature of the beast, doesn't work very well in the real world. The sensor is much more closely tied to the supporting system than film ever was to its supporting body.


/T
 
Tuolumne said:
Richard,
I think this is somewhat like the dream of a CPU upgradeable PC. Nice idea, but given the "system" nature of the beast, doesn't work very well in the real world. The sensor is much more closely tied to the supporting system than film ever was to its supporting body.


/T
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Hi
Inresponse to two separte posts,
Firstly I must appologise for perhaps not giving full credit to Nikon in recreating thier S3. I do not know that much about the project. The word at the time was that they did not make any profit at all on this. If there is still a market for them it seems a it strange not to continue after all that effort. I would like to think that as you suggest its not all just about profit, but I think the digital camera market is extremely competative and suspect that Nikon are putting everything into their D SLRs. Hope Im worng all the same!

Regarding upgradeable sensors I agree this is idealistic. I am just saying that I could more easilly justify the high capital outlay if this were true.

Best wishes


Richard
 
Tuolumne said:
Richard,
I think this is somewhat like the dream of a CPU upgradeable PC. Nice idea, but given the "system" nature of the beast, doesn't work very well in the real world. The sensor is much more closely tied to the supporting system than film ever was to its supporting body.


/T
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If the sensor, LCD, battery compartment, memory-card slot and all the pertinent electronic circuit boards could be set in a single module that the factory could replace as a unit for say $2000, it would cost less than selling/trading-up to a new camera. We know from previous Leicas that the rangefinder and the shutter (modified version of what's been used in the R cameras) is capable of decades of reliable service.
 
I don't really understand these longings for other digital rangefinder cameras when M8 is out there.
Sure M8 is expensive, but so would any competion be too.
However no other camera gives images as sharp as M8 do!
It's quite possible that an Leica upgrade will lose some of the unique picture qualities M8 posesses.

/Erik
 
I'm no marketing analyst, but there sure are a lot of people (myself included) who REALLY want a simple, manual digital camera. A lot of us don't actually care if it is a rangefinder at all; a small slr would be fine too. That market has yet to be filled in any capacity, by the way.
I have no numbers handy, but it seems to me that the M8 has been a pretty good success in terms of sales. There must've been a couple of them sold judging by the competition for 28mm and 35mm lenses!
While there don't seem to be any new products of these types ready for launch, the demand does seem to exist. Usually that means the supply will follow.
"Come, and they will build it"?
 
If some company is planning a serious quality-based new digital-medium, rangefinder-focussing camera then it would be a knockout blow and worldwide success to use a full-frame chip. The lenses could NOT be M-mount because of the optical realities of the sensor, and what would happen then ? No more Leica camera company for a start - unless it is Leica who develops the new system. "The modern, portable alternative to medium format" ?????? It might look something like an electronic Mamiya 7 ?

Of course, the larger companies have their flagship cameras in position as being good-enough, so this hypothesis is just hot-air.... As long as I can get 35mm and 120 film until after I am senile, I don't really mind.
 
Despite our own fanatic love for RF's, there are relatively few photographers with any interest in rangefinders, film or digital.
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Your logic has convinced me, Sitemistic.

From now on, when I look at the multitude of new RF camera bodies and lenses available from Leica, Voigtlander, and Zeiss Ikon, in this, the true "golden age" of RF cameras, I'll realize I'm hallucinating and go back to sleep. Because they don't exist. According to your logic. ;)
 
An investment strategy for your retirement years.
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It worked for Kobayashi, didn't it? Without his optimism we'd have no R3M's and R4A's; no 35/1.2's; no 28 Ultrons and 40mm Noktons; no 15 and 12mm lenses. I don't know if the strategy has earned him wealth, but it's made the RF world a better place.

Good thing he doesn't listen to the conventional wisdom of the internet, huh?
 
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