If someone else made a FF digital RF?

If someone else made a FF digital RF?

  • Yes, as well as an M9

    Votes: 16 2.8%

  • Yes, instead of an M9

    Votes: 201 35.3%

  • Maybe, depends on the body

    Votes: 248 43.5%

  • Probably not, but possibly

    Votes: 44 7.7%

  • No

    Votes: 45 7.9%

  • Other

    Votes: 16 2.8%
  • Total voters
    570
The new Pentax (EVL, not RF) should be impressive at around $900.

Pentax APS C comes very close to Canon 5DII resolution and blows the original 5D away. And Pentax Limited DA prime lenses (all Pentax lenses will work on this camera) resolve more than anybody's DSLR zoom.
 
I said 'maybe'.

The thing that keeps coming back to me with my M9 is just how simple it is, and that is exactly what I like. I've never understood the advertised prospects of more complicated camera's and what they can do for me, because I always still keep them on the basic manual functions, or minimal auto functions. I sold my Fuji X10 because it was to complicated with too many ways to make a photograph. But with an M9 I know there are only a couple and this cuts out the dithering, and as a design concept this is remarkably effective for image making.

Steve
 
The optical rf mechanism can't be cheap if you want a nice view, no matter the digital tech. A hybrid system would be nice with real rf focusing, but as with everything we'd see it in crop cameras before ff. So I think we're still a few generations of technology away.

With digital, the scale needs to be pretty massive to make the production worthwhile; either that or you pay leica prices. Otherwise we'd see all kinds of boutique cameras.

I'm interested to see where evf technology is going, and I wonder if you couldn't create an optical rf with electronic focusing patch, perhaps a view through the lens superimposed on the optical rf image. Now that would be neat...!

The RF characteristics that are still missing from the new compact cameras are a bright view, seeing outside the frame, and no image blackout. I think that an optical-electronic hybrid viewfinder that could solve at least the latter problem would sell...
 
janosh, the new Pentax (I guess you speak about the K-01) is entirely different camera, so to speak. While I have no doubts about the IQ it will be able to deliver, it is "only" APS-C and is basically a DSLR without mirror and viewfinder - it will not be able to accept M or LTM mount lenses as it has K-mount which had flange-to-sensor distance quite a bit larger than a Leica-like systems.
 
I think the manufacturers are thinking more about EVF progression than RF mechanisms for future viewfinder/focusing designs ... full frame or otherwise!

And to all those those who say ... "But EVFs suck!" ... yeah sure they do.

That won't be the case in a few years though IMO.
 
I now believe this is one of the most common (series of) threads on RFF: The cheap FF digital RF wet dreams, ending with a "will you buy it?"
 
If it has an M mount, a true rangefinder, isn't bigger than the M8/M9 and encases a GREAT sensor... sure, I'd look into it.

Otherwise, I've already got what I need. And I wholeheartedly express the word "need".
 
ajuk said:
Everybody in here seems to be saying it's pipe dream, but there's clearly a market for it.
Click to expand...

Question is how big that market is. The huge upfront R&D to produce this "dream" camera will need a much more expansive market than the RFF community. Not to mention most of us just want to put our "M" glass on there anyway 😀
 
As seen in prints, Pentax's APS-C sensors have been better than most other APS-C for the past several years, as well as Canon 5D FF (not necessarily 5DII)..

Collector/enthusiasts will always yearn for more ways to use their old LTM and M lenses but more visually demanding photographers will be happy to pay less money for the superior performance of Pentax Limited (and presumably Fuji ) digital primes. And infinitely more for nominally Leica digital lenses, of course.

Pentax will issue a set of Limited series pancake primes, as they did for their DSLRs. K-01 will be a lot more rugged than any rangefinder, just as Pentax DSLRs have been for the past several years.

I love the feel of some rangefinders (Canon, Leica), but for me their main virtue vs SLR and DSLR is relative flatness due to their lack of mirror box, along with their ruggedness (at which Pentax DSLRs whup Leica RFDR). Modern autofocus is incredibly fast and accurate, but the "feel" of engagement with focus process is of course very different (intellectual rather than tactile).

Matus said:
janosh, the new Pentax (I guess you speak about the K-01) is entirely different camera, so to speak. While I have no doubts about the IQ it will be able to deliver, it is "only" APS-C and is basically a DSLR without mirror and viewfinder - it will not be able to accept M or LTM mount lenses as it has K-mount which had flange-to-sensor distance quite a bit larger than a Leica-like systems.
Click to expand...
 
If it was in the price range of the new Xpro1, I'd buy it even if it had a 1.5x sensor. Or an Epson R-D2 with 12mp? Of course!
 
I would buy any FF RF or mirrorless but I agree that chances are it will be rather mirrorless than RF. Zeiss might make one, but if I understand correctly, only when sensors cost as cheap as film, or maybe when film becomes as expensive as sensors (more likely) 😀
 
ajuk said:
Everybody in here seems to be saying it's pipe dream, but there's clearly a market for it.
Click to expand...

Why is leica more profitable than sony?

Inside the big dying corporations some are asking that question.

it's only a matter of time. I think the EVIL FF will come first---and there will be the issues about dealing with RF wides--but one sensor or the other will prove itself the equal of the kodak, prices for it will come down, and another RF will appear--more than one I'd bet.

If nikon had half a brain there would already be a digital SP.

No market? More market than for an AF viewfinder APS-C, which is trying so hard to look like the real thing.
 
Agree with others that an EVIL, or as Sean Reid calls 'em, an EFC (Electronic Finder Camera) tuned for M lenses seems more likely to show up as a competitive, functional, full frame alternative to a digital M than would another full frame digital RF camera.

And I would buy one for sure.

That said if the pipe dream variant (a FX digital RF competitor to Leica) showed up, at a really attractive price point, chances are I'd be interested in that too depending on who made it. I'd buy a digital Zeiss Ikon RF no doubt.

Back to something closer to possible reality, I'm hoping Ricoh takes the challenge - they've already been far down this road with the AA-filter-free APS-C A12 M mount module of theirs, so producing a 135 sized sensor module for the GXR would not be a huge hill for them to climb. Of all the makers they seem to me to be the ones most likely, and able, and with the least baggage, to pull this off anytime soon.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom