Odd Cosina/Voigtlander developments?

I'm not sure I would say 'odd', more fitting I think to say unpredictable and innovative. And I think that is something quite useful in a creative/design kind of business. I (foolishly?) ignored MFT until the 25/0.95 and cosina's involvement was announced.
 
I totally agree with you. Both new product are not intersting to me.
But this is the wrong forum to present such opinion🙂

Jamie Pillers said:
I find the recent product releases by Mr. K is bit odd. I suppose I can see where the 25/.98 lens fills a niche, although are there THAT many 4/3 owners looking around for a $900 lens? I can understand the interest here on RFF... home of the Noctilux cognoscenti. But how many can he expect to sell here? 🙄

The 75/1.8 M-mount is also a bit odd, don't you think? I mean, the 75/2.5 ltm is a VERY nice little lens. What the...??

Anyone have similar thoughts? Or am I missing something (which I often do here)? 😕

Given that the K-ster has put these products out there, do you think this portends some new direction for CV? Or are they just trying to fill whatever niche happens along?
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Doing sub-contract work never earns one a reputation...NDA etc. etc.

Making LTM lenses was a stepping stone to M-mount lenses, after the Leica 50 year M-mount patent was over in 2004. The new M line is now just about complete, except for the 90mm FL...maybe there will be a Photokina surprise.

Building the Bessa to mount one's own lenses was a must...first for LTM then M-mount. Transplanting on old OEM RF was not that difficult.

Building the R-D1 for Epson and the ZM for Zeiss earned much experience for the next product...which has to be digital whether anyone believes it or not. [My prediction: watch for it when the Non-compete clause with Epson expires...likely 2012, 3 years after the last batch of 12,000 R-D1 had been delivered.]

There is nothing to stop CV building a RF or EVIL m4/3 soon. The market is now established...on Pany and Oly's backs. The Bessa RF eBL is long enough for likely focal lengths in m4/3, just transplant it. CV already has an M to m4/3 adapter in hand.

By now, the FF dRF market has also been bracketed...by the R-D1 and M9 pricing. dRF [M8/9] fans seem not to be too insistent on AF, multi-scene modes etc...all they want is higher ISO and non-vignetting pictures. The R-D1 post-processing approach works, amply assisted by some newer tele-centric ultra-wide CV lenses.

Kobayashi-San is not odd at all. He is simply preparing for an all out strike... Orientals take much longer views.
 
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I think that for those of us in the U.S. it's not easy to comprehend the market penetrance of µ4/3 in Japan. But walk on the street in Japan and it seems like every other young person is carrying one, and not a few older ones.

Mirrorless cameras have, in just a couple of years, taken forty percent of the Japanese market space formerly occupied by SLRs, and a major fraction of those mirrorless cameras are µ4/3.

That's a big market, and Mr. K does not have to sell to a very large fraction of that market to break even. I'll guess that he moves 10 or 20 times as many 25/0.98's as he did 50/3.5's.
 
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