LeicaMSeattle
Established
The prototype M9 that can be seen for sale on EBay also has the Leica Dot delete with only a screw head in its place.
Does anybody knows if Seal has a flickr or something? I'm interested in looking what the man produces with all the neat stuff he owns, you must admit he has taste and style for choosing gear!!
Whatever Leica does, they should be aware of the fact that sooner or later we're going to have X100 successors or similar cameras that will have interchangeable lenses and adopters for M lenses. In other words if this M9-P is real, it does make marketing sense because it plays on Leica heritage rather than a new sensor or technology, something that Leica can never possibly keep up with.
Whatever Leica does, they should be aware of the fact that sooner or later we're going to have X100 successors or similar cameras that will have interchangeable lenses and adopters for M lenses. In other words if this M9-P is real, it does make marketing sense because it plays on Leica heritage rather than a new sensor or technology, something that Leica can never possibly keep up with.
Couldn't he just have had Leica stamp him out a bare top plate, chrome plate it, engrave it as they used to and instead of putting the adjustment under the red dot, just putting the cover screw there instead?
This is not a big process either. It would take someone with a decent amount of skill to fill the existing voids in a standard M9 top plate with brass then machine it down, drill it, engrave it and chrome plate it. It's definitely not impossible though. Would be just a few hundred dollars to do the job on an existing M9 plate. Considering Seal's relationship with Leica, he could have just ordered an a la-carte M9.
Phil Forrest
Totally - and ya.. it's real - but you're absolutely right - Leica NEEDS Kodak (currently - or some other sensor producer in the future) in order to keep their digital line "going".
Dave
Roger Hicks said:Why are you so sure?
I'm not saying it won't happen. I'm just saying that the demand for a full-frame sensor with a small flange/film distance is sufficiently small that I'd rate its appearance from a competitor as no higher than a possibility -- and not, as you imply, a certainty.
Cheers,
R.
I'm certain because the demand and hype surrounding X100, the fact that people are buying it despite its quirky firmware, not to mention I'm certain because the perception of what a camera should look like has changed and that is a paradigm shift.
A DSLR suddenly looks like a monstrosity in the digital world inhabited by sleek apple products and small form factor. You cannot carry an iphone an ipad and then pull a gigantic DSLR out of the bag and feel the same person... This sort of paradigm shift in perception is a force in its own.
The same FF sensor that Sony might sell to Leica could end up in one of their upcoming FF DSLRs at $1500 (they already have the cheapest FF DSLR at ~$2000). So, Leica went with Kodak more for the reasons of exclusivity rather than practical business sense. Kodak made the sensor for M9 only and that makes it 'exclusive' ignoring the performance.
WHY would (let us say) Sony be wedded to 24x36mm? Or to Leica mount/register?
Those successors would need sensors with microlenses to fit wide M lenses. Besides Kodak, who's making sensors like this to your knowledge?Whatever Leica does, they should be aware of the fact that sooner or later we're going to have X100 successors or similar cameras that will have interchangeable lenses and adopters for M lenses...