Jeff Ascough under NDA for new Rangefinder

[fotomeow]

From a strategic standpoint, I wouldnt think its an April fools joke. I mean, what would he gain by playing a joke on al the fotogs who admire his work and follow his blog and tweets? If its an April fools, he will simply lose credibility amongst the fotog community, and look like a douche. He would essentially be saying: "You dumbsh*ts believed me!" Not to mention, would make Canon look bad since he is one of their ambassadors.

And if Canon gave him permission to rep this camera, the camera must be either Canon or a company that poses no threat to Canon sales in any way...........like Cosina....or....OMG! Is Canon buying out Cosina-Voigtlander/Mr Kobeyashi and pimping a Cosina-made digital RF under the Canon name!!!!!!!!!!! (and pimping the CV 35/1.2 ASPH Nokton while they are at it?!)

 

[rolleistef]

No no no it's a digital Holga

A BroNica? A ZeniTAL? A Hol-D, a D-Ga? D-Ga sounds funny in French as "dégât" means "damage". A D-Ga would damage Leica.

 

[Peter S]

AF Rangefinder blog... April Fools rangefinder blog ??

 

[yzblog]

the funny thing is that there's no word 'digital' in his tweet

how about a new film loaded rangefinder? 🙂

 

[percepts]

How do you know it's his twitter account. It might be an imposter. Who posted the link here?

 

[Roger Hicks]

So. Why, exactly, is a rangefinder supposed to be mutually exclusive of autofocus?

Also, why is the current century-old implementation of the rangefinder in Leica cameras supposed to be the only, or even best, way to do it? There are others, and they're used in much more critical applications.

Also, why would anyone be hung up on a relatively fragile Leica-style rangefinder mechanism, when focusing by coinciding images could be done (on, say, an EVF camera) without that fragile mechanism?

I'm genuinely curious. There's a lot I don't know...

Dear Brian,

Highlight: No reason at all, if you want to redefine 'rangefinder' to include 'autofocus'. It's already been tried, with the Contax G-series.

A mechanical rangefinder clearly isn't the only way to focus, but some people do find it the best. Faking a mechanical rangefinder via superimposed images in an EVF is, in my view, about as logical and useful as a power-assisted abacus.

Nor is a well-made mechanically coupled RF especially fragile. I've been using Leicas for 40 years (mostly second-hand) and can count the number of rangefinder adjustments I've needed on the fingers of one hand -- and they were simple infinity adjustments I made myself.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Nigel Meaby]

April fools jokes normally are made in err, April. It's still march!! Lot of march fools on here 😛 who can't see outside the box and consider that a camera manufacturer other than Leica can and will produce a DRF! I'm not going to speculate as to who it is or what it is or dis Jeff Ascough. Time will tell what it's going to be. It'll be out there sooner or later and if it's an attractive camera to me I'll buy one and use it. Sometimes people on here are hilarious, like kids feeling the presents under the christmas tree, trying to work out what they might be getting! 😀

 

[percepts]

April fools jokes normally are made in err, April. It's still march!! Lot of march fools on here 😛 who can't see outside the box and consider that a camera manufacturer other than Leica can and will produce a DRF! I'm not going to speculate as to who it is or what it is or dis Jeff Ascough. Time will tell what it's going to be. It'll be out there sooner or later and if it's an attractive camera to me I'll buy one and use it. Sometimes people on here are hilarious, like kids feeling the presents under the christmas tree, trying to work out what they might be getting! 😀

Didn't anyone tell you RFF satnds for "Ridiculous Fantasy Forum". Don't spoil our fun😛

 

[Sparrow]

You all thought it was a joke at the time, but no this is it, finally, a full-frame Fed9 … ha, ya didn’t predict that one eh?

 

[Paul T.]

Smart move would be to support body sales and use Leica lenses...am I wrong about that? .

I suspect the opposite. Why eliminate half your market?

If we know for sure it's interchangeable lens, then I would guess it's close to the COntax G2. If it's like the Hexar AF, so much the better (the concept of both came from the same independent design house AFAIK), and after all he did call this a 'stealth' camera.

Most of all I hope they use infra red focusing like the Hexar AF rather than the much slower but cheaper contrast detect.

 

[Harry Lime]

nah Nikon DSP! They still have the 2005 craftsmen with the new Engineering and just put the D700 "old" sensor on it!
3K each. I wanna two!

A Nikon would be a nice.... Aside from Leica they were the only makers of pro level RF cameras and it's a big part of their heritage.

 

[Harry Lime]

1) digital sensors are completely flat, while film has a little thickness to it. it's harder to focus accurately when you have less wiggle room.

True

2) digital has more acutance than film, though the detail cuts off at a certain point. anyhow, the higher acutance makes small focusing errors more obvious.

I think it depends on what camera you are talking about. The AA filter used in most cameras seriously lowers acutance, which is why cameras like the M9 without an AA filter appear so crisp. But I don't think acutance has anything to do with focusing accuracy. It mostly refers to edge contrast.

leica type rangefinders can't compensate for focus shift, a particular problem of fast lenses (low light photography being the rangefinder camera's traditional strong point), so leica's most recent lenses minimize focus shift by incorporating floating elements. focusing with some older lenses will still be problematic, as well as long, fast lenses. the 1.4x magnifier is mandatory in the latter case. there's also the slight hassle of adjusting your lenses and bodies to get the most out of them.

The only system that can compensate for focus shift is your eye looking through a viewfinder or an AF system that has been calibrated to compensate for the focus shift characteristics of a particular lens.

 

[Bobfrance]

I don't think it's an April fool; the Rangefinder market is too small to make it worth anybody's while trying one. 😛



BTW this thread is going quicker than I can read!

 

[Pickett Wilson]

The original supposed "clip" of his tweet was posted on Canon Rumors web site. It consisted of only the first line of the four that were ultimately posted in this thread.

"Week 2 with the new stealth camera. I am under NDA at the moment as to who makes it but I can tell you that it is a brand new rangefinder."

Then it started growing and evolving as it was reposted here and there.

 

[Paul T.]

Apparently, a rival photographer in Japan has broken the NDA and posted photos of the camera:

http://translate.google.com/transla...o.ne.jp/bokuto/kosaku/digibarna2/&sl=ja&tl=en

 

[Austerby]

Brilliant - I would definitely buy one of those if it ever made it into production - almost Steampunk!

 

[sepiareverb]

Jeez.. you'd think the lot of you have never heard of . . . . . . . google.

I did. But before this thread I'd never heard the name, so was curious why this was such news.


Could just be the new Leica 35 Summilux replacement.

 

[varjag]

It is a matter of fact that his NDA will be lifted on April 1st. Got it from a confidential source!

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

Some of you are close. Some are way off. Keep it going and we'll see soon who gets closest... 🙂

Ok, robert, here's my guess.

Canon mirrorless APS-C interchangeable-lens compact, new mount, rangefinder-styled, with built-in EVF.

And let me reiterate that it is not an April Fool's joke. Non-gear-obsessed professional photographers do not randomly think up the stupidest joke ever devised in order to draw attention to themselves. The guy is testing some kind of interesting new camera.

 

[Kevin]

Canon mirrorless APS-C interchangeable-lens compact, new mount, rangefinder-styled, with built-in EVF.

That is also a very strong possibility. If it's true I sure hope it comes with an adapter for use with FD/FL Canon glass 🙂