Photo Rumors: new M mount camera with CCD sensor to be announced soon

[stompyq]

If this is true, why is it a CCD sensor? No live view, high power consumption and poor high ISO. I'am not even touching on the lack of video. How will they market something like that to the mainstream?

 

[aizan]

the way they phrased it, it looks like they're talking about the form factor being a unique shape, not the sensor's aspect ratio.

what could it be...

i hope it's a thin rectangular block for the sensor, evf, and a tilting lcd, with a rotating control grip with battery stuck onto the side like the rolleiflex hy6. that would be excellent.

 

[Calzone]

If this is true, why is it a CCD sensor? No live view, high power consumption and poor high ISO. I'am not even touching on the lack of video. How will they market something like that to the mainstream?

Pro-Mone,

All you say is true and valid. CCD is kinda specialized and old, meaning romantic at this point. This is coming from someone who loves his Monochrom.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

As I said, "I'll be interested to see what if anything appears out of this rumor. ..."

Peter's been singing the praises of CCD sensors and condemning CMOS sensors for years. He started a petition to get Leica owners signed up and demanding a CCD sensor from Leica since the day the M typ 240 was announced. As far as I can tell from doing searches around the internet, all subsequent reports of this rumor stem from the single posting on his "Prosophos" blog site.

So ... I have no issue with a new CCD camera that can take Leica M lenses. I look forward to seeing what comes out of the rumor, if anything. But I won't hold my breath while waiting.

In 1960, no one thought we could land a man on the Moon either. It did happen, but it took a bit of work and some hairy politics to get there, if you recall. 🙂

G

Godfrey,

This thread has a lot of entertainment value. LOL. Please do not hold back any smut. LOL.

BTW I probably am the person responsible for suggesting a 36x36 sensor on a slightly taller M-body. Anyway Peter might not be the only dreamer, and perhaps he is not alone on being delusional. LOL.

Funny thing is that the Monochrom was and is my dream camera.

Delusion number two is a monochrome version of the Leica SL. How delusional am I. LOL. Anyways at least my delusional suggestions borrow a lot of the tooling and development costs, and to me it is kinda like selling the Brooklyn Bridge twice. Although perhaps delusional my hopes do make some business sense.

Cal

 

[raid]

Raid,

See my post above. A digital M-body but slightly taller to shoot the square.

Cal

I have seen all posts, Cal. Can't you take a joke!

 

[Calzone]

I have seen all posts, Cal. Can't you take a joke!

Raid,

Sorry for any offense.

I did not read your post in a joking manner.

Much respect.

Cal

 

[Huss]

I'll be interested to see what if anything appears out of this rumor. All of which is rooted, at present, in Peter "Prosophos" website and nowhere else. Peter is an avowed acolyte of the "CCD is the only true wonderful sensor" universe.

It's good to have a hobby, I guess. I'd rather make photographs. ;-)

G

Peter takes very nice photos!

🙂

To be honest, the Leica M-D is now the perfect Leica for me so a digital Zeiss Ikon like that i.e. 1/2 to 1/3 of the price!, would be perfect.

 

[jsrockit]

If this is true, why is it a CCD sensor? No live view, high power consumption and poor high ISO. I'am not even touching on the lack of video. How will they market something like that to the mainstream?

It won't be a mainstream camera... M mount cameras generally aren't.

 

[j.scooter]

M mount Sigma sdQ? (Ducks)

That's my guess too.
Sigma is the king of "unique shapes" 🙂

 

[YYV_146]

That's my guess too.
Sigma is the king of "unique shapes" 🙂

If this is indeed Sigma, how would the focusing work with a CCD body? I really can't see them jumping in the digital rangefinder game. Most likely this is still Leica, perhaps in complement to an M240 successor proper.

That said, a wider format CCD m body would still be pretty cool. People here mention 1:1 (36x36 is too large for the imaging circle, I imagine something like 32:32 or 30:30), but I would really like to see 16:9 or even 2:1.

 

[Ken Ford]

If this is indeed Sigma, how would the focusing work with a CCD body? I really can't see them jumping in the digital rangefinder game. Most likely this is still Leica, perhaps in complement to an M240 successor proper.

That said, a wider format CCD m body would still be pretty cool. People here mention 1:1 (36x36 is too large for the imaging circle, I imagine something like 32:32 or 30:30), but I would really like to see 16:9 or even 2:1.

With a built-in laser rangefinder? Not recommended for use in war zones, of course...

 

[Godfrey]

Peter takes very nice photos!

🙂

To be honest, the Leica M-D is now the perfect Leica for me so a digital Zeiss Ikon like that i.e. 1/2 to 1/3 of the price!, would be perfect.

He does, I agree. That doesn't mean he isn't a bit obsessive about CCD vs CMOS.

I'm happy with my M-P, and will be even happier if I acquire an M-D. It's a "nice to have", not a "must have" like the SL.

G

 

[bobby_novatron]

No one has said it yet, so I'll be the first: digital Zorki for the win!

 

[flavio81]

Most of my digital cameras were CCD cameras: Nikon D1X, Olympus E500, Kodak Pro DCS SLR/N, but I thought those CCD times were over. Yes, i liked the colors those cameras gave me, but I guess you can get just as good results with CMOS sensors... What is the technical basis for claiming a CCD sensor would be better? I would like to know.

If i had it my way, i would have a medium format digital camera where the sensor is a big Image Orthicon tube... Someone has to build this someday 😉

 

[raid]

No problem, Cal.

Raid

Raid,

Sorry for any offense.

I did not read your post in a joking manner.

Much respect.

Cal

 

[Fotobot]

Whatever it is, it will be exquisitely beautiful. And I won't be able to afford it.

 

[lynnb]

Holga discontinued their film cameras.. now it makes sense, they saw the light - a digital Holga is forthcoming!

 

[YouAreHere]

Presumably any new camera these days has wifi so won't there be a registration entry on Taiwan's NCC site?

 

[Keith]

I'm fascinated why anyone would do this ... it doesn't seem that logical to me. Leica has the market tied up like it or not and companies like Zeiss and Cosina have shown little interest in what would only ever be a limited customer base.

I do hope they prove me wrong though! 🙂

 

[YYV_146]

I'm fascinated why anyone would do this ... it doesn't seem that logical to me. Leica has the market tied up like it or not and companies like Zeiss and Cosina have shown little interest in what would only ever be a limited customer base.

I do hope they prove me wrong though! 🙂

Not necessarily. Zeiss probably still has some skin in the game (35mm F1.4 ZM) and one would think that the collaboration with Sony has at least conferred some know-how about digital bodies.

Given that this rumor is true, however, the only company I can see making this move is Leica itself. Here are the reasons:

- The only companies that might dabble in M-mount as of 2016 are Leica, Voigtlander, Zeiss and Ricoh. Sigma is unlikely since they've never made M lenses or accessories.
- Zeiss could make a digital Ikon but I very much doubt they would go with a special-order sensor on the first go. Wouldn't it be much saner to go with a tried-and-test solution (older Sony sensor with custom cover glass)?
- CV can't be ruled out but it seems that they're generally less quiet and go with the prototype-to-gauge market approach. People might point to the RD1 but it has been eleven years since that. Their main focus seems to be on E-mount these days.
- Ricoh is probably the second most likely. It would be weird though, since the original GXR was by no means a financial success. But if any of the big players were to do something quirky and cool, it would be Ricoh/Pentax. They also have access to current-gen Sony sensors - and it would be a lot cheaper to just shoehorn one of those into an RF-style camera. Speaking of which, I would love a 36MP digital M...
- Finally, Leica. Can charge enough for boutique chips and sell enough bodies for 10,000-unit batches. Has functional RF solution and on its third major iteration. Current platform close to EOL (meaning new sales slow since there are so many used copies out there). And just recently proved that it can still do really weird things and make money out of it (M-D). A 1:1/wide format M? Why not?