nikonhswebmaster
Retired NHS Webmaster
People ask what film SLR to get and the standard knee jerk response is K1000.
I have never even seen a Pentax K1000. 🙂
People ask what film SLR to get and the standard knee jerk response is K1000.
I have never even seen a Pentax K1000. 🙂
Another reason could be Leica could not find a manufacturer who would make a 24 x 36 mm CCD sensor at a practical price. Why would no one be interested in supplying a 24 X36 mm CCD photodiode chip?
Is anyone even developing the CCD image sensor anymore? I would imagine no. That ship has sailed.
I'm not sure who is supplying Leica with the M9 replacement sensors, one of which was installed on my M9-P last May, but it pretty much duplicates what the M9 was capable of when it was new 7 years ago, which isn't all that great above about ISO 800, but beautiful, even gorgeous if you can keep it between ISO 160-400. It's a perfect backup body, backup being something you only resort to when your main body isn't available.
Leica's volumes aren't high enough.
Regarding depreciation: I sold a Phase back for a friend of mine, it cost $45k new, she took 800 shots with it and it sold for a net of $22k a year later. It seems the 'higher priced they are, the bigger the fall.'
If we step out of the Leica forest, the Foveon sensor surpasses all in the digital world.
If we step out of the Leica forest, the Foveon sensor surpasses all in the digital world.
Except for decent low light capabilities (in terms what of the market dictates as "good"). Isn't that why CCD's also fell by the wayside? And battery life?
I made quite a few prints from my Sigma Merrill. Sold it.

It does indeed ... and I'm still musing over getting the SD Quattro H. 😀
Except for decent low light capabilities (in terms what of the market dictates as "good"). Isn't that why CCD's also fell by the wayside? And battery life?
This depreciation is not due to the high initial cost. It's due to the relative niche nature of the product, much like the OPs M-D. If there are only 1000 willing to buy one new, then the people wanting one used is like quite small. Then you have many of them used for business, and most tax incentives disappear when buying a used item. So you have a niche item, with a small pool of buyers who effectively get a tax break for buying new. Add it all up and the thing just ain't worth that much used - but still a lot of $ in raw terms...
One thing that I really really didn't like about the CCD sensor in my M-E is that often if I had the sun in the image it would create solid thick vertical or horizontal lines from the point of light source which is some sort of sensor artifact. Something that I never got with the CMOS M240 sensor, or of course never got on film.
Base ISO, f11 or f16
Sensor remapping didn't help, and it was not a corroded sensor (that happened later)
Depreciation only matters if one sells.
Why not just use your M-D?