New Leica DSLR

[hitmanh]

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0809/08092301_leica_s2.asp

Looks a bit of a beast...

Matt

 

[chris00nj]

A pretty good strategy. Although the market for full frame DSLR is pretty crowded, the market for larger than full frame is probably wide open. (I'm not very up to date with all of the DSLR offerings).

I see the wi-fi connector as well. If the camera can directly email photos, that could be a big plus. Any one know if other cameras do that?

I'd like to see it side-by-side with the M8 and Nikon D3 in order to get an idea of the size.

 

[jaap]

There's probably no market for 50% plus full format. It's only more bulky with dark lenses.

 

[BillBingham2]

There are several MF cameras out there so it's not WIDE open, but Leica is attacking the niche that Pentax did years about with one of their cameras. They developed a MF SLR that handled like a 35mm SLR (rather than a 'Blad).

Wifi is a big plus as it allows you to export your shots to a more stable storage medium. I can see a small market for storage boxes developing. The question is how compatible is it with products already on the market like the Apple Time Capsule? 1TB of storage for $499, a great deal IMHO. Now if you could mirror time capsules together (have the camera write to one, while it's idle it send a copy to the second for back up) you could have a great little studio and location system.

While I am not excited about it for me, I think there is a big enough market that is not too price sensitive looking for GREAT glass and a solid body. If they can keep the quality high this should sell like hot cakes!

B2 (;->

 

[SolaresLarrave]

I guess users of the Mamiya ZD will consider this one as a replacement or backup. If it doesn't displace the Mamiya itself! 😱

 

[Al Patterson]

I was hoping for a digital CL, but at least Leica is doing something to keep in business. I'm sure there is a market for larger than 35mm full frame, but I'm not about to exchange my car for a new camera, so I'll just be watching this development.

 

[Olsen]

I am astonished. I had not expected this from Leica. At all. the S2 must have cost a fortune to develop. The Hasselblad H1, a coop with Fuji, cost some 150 - 200 mill SEK to develop. But the S2 is a smart move.

The format places Leica between the largest Canons (and eventually Nikon) and Hasselblad H1. That makes prices difficult to compare. We shall expect a price of more than 10,000 $. Possibly a lot more.

The camera looks very sexy and, hopefully, it will meet the high expectations that a new Leica camera will be met with in the market.

 

[johnastovall]

A pretty good strategy. Although the market for full frame DSLR is pretty crowded, the market for larger than full frame is probably wide open. (I'm not very up to date with all of the DSLR offerings).

I see the wi-fi connector as well. If the camera can directly email photos, that could be a big plus. Any one know if other cameras do that?

I'd like to see it side-by-side with the M8 and Nikon D3 in order to get an idea of the size.

It's about the size of the D700 and I don't think you'll be emailing 80meg raw files.

This is not a camera for email snapshots. :bang: