Leica Digital M Pictures. NO JOKE

[Sonnar Brian]

I'm glad to see them teaming with Kodak. Kodak has more experience in converting film cameras to use digital than anyone else. They also have a full-frame array. Now, if the electronics and battery can be squeezed down to the size of a current M-series motor-winder, you will get something very close to the Leica M's that we know. It will be bigger than this concept camera, or it will have no more battery power than 40 full-frame shots.

 

[Sean Reid]

There's a lot more hard work going on for the digital M than you may imagine.

- Sean

 

[jan normandale]

I bet this thing will sell for at least $800

If it is I'll needa loan from Dick Cheney to pay just the first installment. Hope it's more reasonable say $799 then I could take in my pop bottle collection along with the penny jar. ;-) Why am I afraid of this undisclosed sticker? I'm going back to the used camera display, I feel a little more comfortable there.

Jan

 

[Doug]

Ironic, isn't it, that Leica may offer a metal vertical-travel shutter, which was a feature of historic Zeiss-Ikon RFs, while Zeiss-Ikon is offering a new RF with Leica bayonet mount!

 

[snaggs]

If they used a CCD with electronic shutter capability, then a 1/500 leaf shutter would be just fine, with speeds up to 1/8000 being electronic. It would also flash sync at all speeds

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

I bet this thing will sell for at least $800

Ok, now that I stopped laughing, who did they hire (or rather, haven't they hired somebody yet) for marketing their digital products? I'm sure Leica knows that the "Leica MD" already exists and it's the M version without a rangefinder (kind of an oxymoron if you speak German).

I hope they didn't adopt the condescending crop, I mean, APS-C sensor size; I'm sure Dr. Mandler didn't bore himself in vain to get his lenses image circle butchered by The Revenge of the Adventix Consortium Board, Inc.

 

[captainslack]

I bet this thing will sell for at least $800

Try tacking another "0" onto that. 😛

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Anyway, just to claryfy, it should be stated that the picture that is being talked about is not of a real model, just a "what it might look like". So although it's not a joke, it's not a serious picture either.

 

[aizan]

it could be able to sync at 1/500 and faster with a metal vertical shutter, like the canon 1d. i hope it won't be review only. live preview would pique the interest of slr lovers.

 

[doubs43]

Ironic, isn't it, that Leica may offer a metal vertical-travel shutter, which was a feature of historic Zeiss-Ikon RFs, while Zeiss-Ikon is offering a new RF with Leica bayonet mount!

Doug, IMO it'll be closer to the Copal/Exakta/Praktica/Cosina-Bessa metal shutters than to the Contax RF shutter. However it turns out, it'll be interesting to see exactly which shutter it more closely mirrors. I would expect it to be of first quality and reliable for hundreds of thousands of cycles before failure. Titanium blades, perhaps?

Walker

 

[Doug]

Surely, Walker, and I struggled to make my words simple yet not imply the shutters shared anything other than vertical running and metal. 🙂 Adding further clarifications could have bogged down the comparison, so I wasn't as successful as I might have been!

Some irony comes from these bits of design convergence in view of the intense competition the two RF platforms had "back in the day."

 

[tajart]

if you can put your current inventory of leica glass on it (and other 39/m/r), and why not, wow! what will the size/ratio of the sensor be, and of course the price will be a major consideration for many.

 

[jlw]

Here is a link with big pictures and answers to some questions.

A few random thoughts:

-- Note that the picture is labeled a "design concept." No telling what the real thing will look like.

-- A 1.3x crop factor suggests a sensor in the 18.5 x 27.7mm range. I wonder whether this is cost-driven, or because they couldn't quite solve all the wide-angle issues and literally had to "cut corners" to avoid quality loss. Bet a lot of the faithful will be disappointed that their 21mm lenses will turn into 28s.

-- A 10-megapixel image will give you about 600 more pixels vertically and 900 horizontally than you get with an R-D 1. If you assume that 300ppi represents "photographic quality," that means you'll be able to get a print that's two inches taller and three inches wider. That's a nice increase, but at what cost?

-- I don't think they should call it the "MD" because there's already been a Leica MD model (1964-66) not to mention an MDa and an MD-2. These were all viewfinderless bodies made for Visoflex, copystand, and recording use, based on the M2, M4 and M4-2 respectively. If this model designation were duplicated, imagine the consternation among collectors and the potential confusion on eBay! I think somebody needs to start a petition drive...

 

[aizan]

M7d........

 

[Terence T]

Gosh, I was almost ready to plonk down some serious cash for a R-D1 until I heard an inkling about an impending new digi RF cam coming in September... this could be the one.

 

[Jan Brittenson]

Me, I don't care what they do, as long as:
- My lux 35 asph is a 35/1.4, not a 45/1.4, 50/1.4 or 55/1.4 (i.e. full frame)
- It's no bigger than an M7 and uses a compact battery model
- It has the MP viewfinder
- It's as quiet as the M7
- It can shoot 2 fps
- It produces raw files of high quality, 10MP or more, preferably 15-25MP

Apart from that, all other considerations are secondary IMO:
- Price (OK, under $6000 would be nice, but what I'd be willing to pay depends on image quality. $5000-$9000 seems reasonable for the professional market.)
- CF/SD, don't care what they use
- LCDs/buttons/menus/connectors/tethered operation/etc, can all be left out AFAIC; just an ISO setting and a card slot
- Manual or motorized shutter cycling, don't care

Between an M digital, R9+DMR, and whatever Canon DSLR is current I think I'll be quite happy. A good set of tools with different uses.

To me, a 1.5 or 1.6X rangefinder isn't particularly interesting. Interest would drop very quickly the further it deviates any at all from full frame. I don't think too many would want to buy 24 ASPHs to use as big, slow 35mm lenses. A 90% (1.1X) might be OK but at that point they might as well make it use the whole image circle since it's just a matter of cost, not physical limitations (like the DMR having to physically fit in the R9 film gate).

The R9 is a really quiet camera actually. It has that same nice muffled clunk sound as the M6/M7/MP. Not like the rattly Bessa L/T/R, or whirry Canons. (I haven't touched a Nikon in many years, but remember my FM2n sounding more like a Bessa.) So a cloth shutter isn't really needed to keep it quiet. Actually, I don't think the M6 and M7 sound terribly different at all.

 

[einolu]

I hope it uses AA or something, I hate custom rechargable batteries.

 

[Terence T]

I'll definitely like a manual rewind lever to be included, much like the R-D1. I do shoot with a Canon 1Dmk2 and I find that I end up with a whole load of unwanted captures even after exercising discipline with the shutter release. With a manual lever, things do slow down a whole lot and that will retain the draw of RF shooting (for me at least). There could be an option to override the manual rewind if a user so chooses.

A SD card would be better for faster reading/writing speeds and it's also much smaller compared to a CF card.

A 1.3x sensor would be the bare minimum I'd like to see. And the price should really not be more than a M7 to allow it to have popular appeal.

 

[aizan]

they already said it will have a 1.37x crop factor. i doubt it would have AA batteries, there's not enough room for them, unless it had a grip like the hexar af.

 

[Thomaspin]

It seeems to me that anything that prolongs the life of our wonderful Leica lenses with digital imaging has to be a good thing, expecially if it comes with a long base rangefinder for those faster optics.

The 1.3x is a bit disappointing as I like my 21mm Asph just as it is, but doubtless later sensors will fix that.

The best thing is that it should prolong the life of the Leica company, much to the dismay of the many ill mannered people on PN. I note that Jorge was brave enough to reference this thread there and, no surprise, got the usual measure of gratuitous abuse.

All Leica users should rejoice at the news.