Pickett Wilson
Veteran
Hey, maybe it IS a Kodak. I'd be all over a digital Retina IIIC
Jeff Ascough under NDA for new Rangefinder
- Thread starter UPHOTO
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
- Replies 449
- Views 59K
Jerome Chiu
Newbie
I've got no insider knowledge, so the following are pure speculation - a set of informed guesses at best. Assuming that this isn't a joke, here's my two cents' worth:
1. Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Fuji are all capable of building an auto-focus full-frame digital rangefinder. None will release one any time soon, though. Sony is likely to launch theirs in 2011 or later.
2. When I read "35/1.2", my heart says "Voigtlander".
3. This will use a Sony sensor.
4. It will be M-mount, or at least M-mount compatible.
5. It will be sold either as a Voigtlander or as a Zeiss Ikon, or possibly both.
6. The "game changer(s)" will be adjustable framelines, and (conceivably) with liveview and focus-confirm.
7. It probably won't have image-stabilization, although the Sony one probably will.
8. Cosina Voigtlander's latest lenses (viz. 50/1.1, 15/4.5 II, and 12/5.6 II) are likely to have been optimized to be usable with the new camera without much loss of picture quality.
9. The 15/4.5 II was released NOT bundled with an optical viewfinder. I wondered why then. Now I guess I know why. The 12/5.6 II was announced some time ago but whether it will be sold bundled with an optical viewfinder is thus far unknown - Cosina has so far been mysteriously silent about this. Now I guess I also know why. 😀
10. Stephen Gandy and Tom A. have both remained silent over here in this thread. Maybe they're busy, or maybe they aren't interested in this sort of things, or maybe (just maybe!) they know a thing or two about this which they can't divulge.
11. One more thing: the 35/1.2 is said to be "standard" possibly because it's viewfinder magnification is about 0.85x, making the 35mm frameline the largest one within it. If this is true, then if we'd like to use anything wider, we'd have to resort to liveview or an EVF or an external OVF.
So there! (My heart is a twisted bundle of excitement and anxiety right now....)
1. Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Fuji are all capable of building an auto-focus full-frame digital rangefinder. None will release one any time soon, though. Sony is likely to launch theirs in 2011 or later.
2. When I read "35/1.2", my heart says "Voigtlander".
3. This will use a Sony sensor.
4. It will be M-mount, or at least M-mount compatible.
5. It will be sold either as a Voigtlander or as a Zeiss Ikon, or possibly both.
6. The "game changer(s)" will be adjustable framelines, and (conceivably) with liveview and focus-confirm.
7. It probably won't have image-stabilization, although the Sony one probably will.
8. Cosina Voigtlander's latest lenses (viz. 50/1.1, 15/4.5 II, and 12/5.6 II) are likely to have been optimized to be usable with the new camera without much loss of picture quality.
9. The 15/4.5 II was released NOT bundled with an optical viewfinder. I wondered why then. Now I guess I know why. The 12/5.6 II was announced some time ago but whether it will be sold bundled with an optical viewfinder is thus far unknown - Cosina has so far been mysteriously silent about this. Now I guess I also know why. 😀
10. Stephen Gandy and Tom A. have both remained silent over here in this thread. Maybe they're busy, or maybe they aren't interested in this sort of things, or maybe (just maybe!) they know a thing or two about this which they can't divulge.
11. One more thing: the 35/1.2 is said to be "standard" possibly because it's viewfinder magnification is about 0.85x, making the 35mm frameline the largest one within it. If this is true, then if we'd like to use anything wider, we'd have to resort to liveview or an EVF or an external OVF.
So there! (My heart is a twisted bundle of excitement and anxiety right now....)
Last edited:
Kevin
Rainbow Bridge
A full-frame Kodak rangefinder with LOOF would be cool too!
cidereye
Film Freak
Maybe it will have a "Bailey Mode" which helps you pull the best looking women on earth too? 😀
It's all a crock of carp, that much seems apparent now.
It's all a crock of carp, that much seems apparent now.
Mcary
Veteran
There's better odds of Elvis landing a flying saucer on the White House Lawn tomorrow morning then there is that this guy is telling the truth.
squirrel$$$bandit
Veteran
As an April Fool, it doesn't even register.
This is one of mine. I sketched it out with a writer friend, we had a tech build one from left-over parts and we featured it in a magazine.
A few years later it appeared in a book by a historian. THen - Gibson produced the damn thing!
Seriously?!!? Fantastic!
mani
Well-known
As far as I'm concerned this doesn't qualify as 'humor' because it feels mostly like Ascough is laughing AT us rather than WITH us.
Oh - and because it's just not funny.
Oh - and because it's just not funny.
xayraa33
rangefinder user and fancier
As an April Fool, it doesn't even register.
This is one of mine. I sketched it out with a writer friend, we had a tech build one from left-over parts and we featured it in a magazine.
A few years later it appeared in a book by a historian. THen - Gibson produced the damn thing!
That thing is as weird looking as Gibson's fabled Futura of the late 1950s.
kevin m
Veteran
Bingo......
Sparrow
Veteran
this looks a bit dodgy too, and aunty Beeb to boot
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/8597069.stm
what with steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal and dear old Boris involved ... where would the lift go??
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/8597069.stm
what with steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal and dear old Boris involved ... where would the lift go??
Paul T.
Veteran
Yes, seriously. I now hear a maker in the states claimed to have made it for us, and since then Hamer have produced several.
We did the same thing a couple of times, invented 'lost' Fenders... and everybody always fell for it, no matter how ridiculous, although no one else attempted to make one for real apart from this one time. It was a real laugh.. we used to prepare them months in advance. THe Thunderbolt later got featured in a Duchossoir book - he is like the Jim Lager of guitar historians.
What this could mean is that someone could rip off Ascough's silly idea and make it for real!
Sparrow
Veteran
either that, or this is the April fool ... this internet malarkey is making me such a cynic 😀
squirrel$$$bandit
Veteran
Would love to see some of your "lost" Fenders. I have modded a few myself, though not with intent to deceive.
It'd be a lot harder to make a fake camera!
nobbylon
Veteran
The only digital rangefinder I want to see is one with Leica M build and Mmount and Nikon reliability and high iso perf with a less than €2500 price tag. Maybe then I'll be interested in reading through these threads!
wray
Well-known
H-m-m, "Luminance Optimized Optical Framelines" or "Framelines Optical Optimized Luminance" - take your pick!
kevin m
Veteran
OK, "F.O.O.L." was figured out about 5 pages back and has been re-figured-out about 12 times since then. 😀
Roger Willco
Member
Although Asscough is probably chuckling away in some dank, musty basement right now, the last laugh may be on him. Just wait until the angry villagers armed with pitchforks and torches assemble into a seething mob and set out to find the bugger.
Watch your back Jeffy boy. As a Canon Ambassador, with well publicized workshops and appearances, we know where to find you.
Watch your back Jeffy boy. As a Canon Ambassador, with well publicized workshops and appearances, we know where to find you.
Last edited:
Pickett Wilson
Veteran
Roger, considering the times, that's not very funny.
ZeissFan
Veteran
Who's the bigger fool? The fool (ascough) who started this? Or the fool who believed it and was sure that it would be Brand X, Y or Z?
Guess we'll know on April 1.
Guess we'll know on April 1.
Kip_S
Member
at this point Zeissfan
my opinion of him is more along the lines of tool than fool
my opinion of him is more along the lines of tool than fool
Similar threads
