The next digital M: When?

[airfrogusmc]

A few posts back I pretty much proved this not to be the case. One can argue about details, but the M8 has enough buffer to shoot about a frame per second for 10-20 seconds. After that it slows significantly, but you can still burn a roll of film in a minute. While the camera is not a speed demon, I have never hit the limits in actual use.

That is exactly what is important. Not the stats but can it meet your demands and how do you TRULY know that unless you give it a spin.

 

[f16sunshine]

This is still going? 😛

 

[majid]

And sadly, that's probably not going to happen. CMOSIS is far, far too small to be at the forefront of sensor development. Look at Canon, they have, more or less, hundreds of times the market share of Leica, yet their sensor have never actually been "state-of-the-art" since 2007-2008.

The forefront of sensor development is not in photographic sensors, but specialized sensors for military, satellite, medical or scientific applications. Things like X-Ray or Infrared sensors, or the new "time of flight" technology where each pixel also measures the distance to the subject (see Google Project Tango for examples). The CMOSIS team is certainly respected in the sensor design community, if the number of papers they presented at the IISW conference is any indication.

Canon has fallen behind because they haven't invested in upgrading their fab, which still uses 500nm feature size. Sony is a 180nm with aluminium interconnects. Toshiba has a better process (copper instead of aluminium). Leica uses STMicro's state of the art 110/90nm process with copper interconnects, which should be superior in theory to Sony's, so any limitations in the M240 sensor likely stem from the CMOSIS design. Here is Dr Eric Fossum (inventor of the CMOS sensor) assessing the M240 sensor:
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/52242795

Thus the next step for Leica will probably be to design a second generation sensor that improves on the current one. They don't have to worry about the process technology, which is the best available.

 

[uhoh7]

I just hope the next M is more like the M6.

I have a pristine, except for bubbles, wetzlar M6 I might be trading, which I pulled out and started shooting today.

I cannot believe how much nicer it is in the hand than the larger M9.

M6 with M9 sensor for 3500 and I might stop whining for several weeks at least, LOL

 

[mfunnell]

I just hope the next M is more like the M6.[..]I cannot believe how much nicer it is in the hand than the larger M9.

I suppose we all have our likes and dislikes about such things, and something that's important to you might not be to me. The difference in widths between digital and film Ms bothers me not a bit, yet obviously it bothers you a lot. I guess I'm lucky that it doesn't bother me, because I've really been enjoying my digital M 🙂

...Mike

 

[uhoh7]

I suppose we all have our likes and dislikes about such things, and something that's important to you might not be to me. The difference in widths between digital and film Ms bothers me not a bit, yet obviously it bothers you a lot. I guess I'm lucky that it doesn't bother me, because I've really been enjoying my digital M 🙂

...Mike

love need not be blind........ 🙂

 

[jaapv]

I just hope the next M is more like the M6.
Opposite e
I have a pristine, except for bubbles, wetzlar M6 I might be trading, which I pulled out and started shooting today.

I cannot believe how much nicer it is in the hand than the larger M9.

M6 with M9 sensor for 3500 and I might stop whining for several weeks at least, LOL

Opposite experience. A few years ago I would have agreed with this sentiment. Nowadays I find film Leicas too thin to hold comfortably.