Where is the digital Voigtlander RF?

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pizzahut88

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The question isn't whether film is dead or digital just can't compare.

The scope of my question is :
'When is Voightlander going to make an affordable digital RF?'

No, not the Epson R-D1, but one with a Voigtlander badge on it.

Sooner or late, Voigtlander has to go digital.


A six mega pixel APS sensor setup is inexpensive in these day and age.
Just look at how much the Nikon D40 is selling!


Just make one for G_d sake . . .
I don't mind the 1.5 crop factor.
Make it inexpensive . . . plastic is fine . . .
Drop all the features . . . just offer a simple DNG raw . . . & ISO setting.

No in-camera . . . contrast, saturation, NR, color space.
Simplicity at its best!
Let the user do all the tweaking he wants in the pc.

See, save development time . . . save costs.
Let us do everything.


Agreed?

Just make it inexpensive.

Who doesn't want one here.
 
I would be interested!

I would be interested!

I would want one....
But.... there seems to be very little in terms of true digital rangefinders in the pipeline. Epson is a dead end, Leica of course but priced in such a way that it does not attract new users exactly....

A Vioghtländer would be perfect and I would buy it.... just now I am keen to learn more about the Sigma DP1 with external viewfinder - not exactly a true rangefinder but pretty close, based on APS format sensor technology...

/J
 
back alley said:
Sooner or late, Voigtlander has to go digital.

why?
where/what is the reasoning behind that statement, especially considering that mr. k. has stated that he has no interest in a digital body.

joe
Click to expand...

Sure, I'd like to se one but I think Joe is right. Also, the sort of features you suggest be dropped are software based hence don't really add to manufacturing cost.
 
Given that Cosina has already worked on a digital rangefinder with Epson, I think you can take Mr. K's 'not interested in digital' quote and file it in the can somewhere.

Given that the film camera market will never see upward growth again, the interest in a digital rangefinder and the fact that a digital Bessa essentially has already been made, I think it is a near-lock that eventually Cosina will thrown their hat in the ring with a digi-rangefinder.

The camera would sell and it would move lenses as well.
 
my guess is mr. k. already has a very nice retirement fund and can do what he pleases.
if he wanted even more bucks he could have deeply developed the bessa series of cameras by a major redesign.
he helped out epson with not a lot of sweat on his part, he already had the shell for the camera, doesn't mean he intends on making one of his own.

i could be wrong but...i doubt it😉
 
JohnM said:
Given that Cosina has already worked on a digital rangefinder with Epson, I think you can take Mr. K's 'not interested in digital' quote and file it in the can somewhere.

Given that the film camera market will never see upward growth again, the interest in a digital rangefinder and the fact that a digital Bessa essentially has already been made, I think it is a near-lock that eventually Cosina will thrown their hat in the ring with a digi-rangefinder.

The camera would sell and it would move lenses as well.
Click to expand...

Cosina didn't make the R-D1. They built a body on subcontract for Epson. They didn't have anything to do with the digital part of the project. I'm sure that if someone else comes to them looking for a body, they'll be happy to build it, but I don't expect them to initiate such a project. At least not this generation of Kobayashis.
 
It's a nice fantasy, and I'd probably buy one, but don't underestimate the fixation the Japanese (and most members of this forum!) have with film. Yes, you can buy amazing digital stuff in Japan (and everywhere else, thanks to their efforts), but you still see a huge number of film cameras being bought and used there. I was floored recently by walk-throughs I made of no less than 10 film camera stores in Ginza, incuding the famous Lemon. There were no digital cameras in sight and the stores were actively busy selling.

So, while digital is alive and well, film certainly ain't dead.

And, on good authority, Mr. K does simply not like digital and has no interest in developing such a beast. Pray, perhaps, that it's just a marketing ruse and we'll be pleasantly surprised some day, but I think not.

Best save pennies for the M8, Pizzahut88! ;-)
 
Have a look at Kyocera, they have to make a digital Contax G, don't they? No growth in film cameras anymore. Or else they will vanish from the camera market.

Oops, they did and they don't care.
 
God what is this obsession with digital?

Here's a snip form the 2006 interview with Kobayashi. The entire article from Popular Photography is linked at the end.

Speaking Frankly: The Contrary Mind of Hirofumi Kobayashi
If you ride the special express train 126 miles northwest from Tokyo, you'll find yourself in Nagano Prefecture...

By Herbert Keppler
April 2006

I had what I thought was a brilliant idea for Kobayashi. Just as he had made basic, inexpensive 35mm SLR camera bodies with various lensmounts, why not do the same for digital cameras?

"Look at the short life of digital SLRs and their continuously falling prices," rejoined Kobayashi. "Why should I get into that mess?"

http://www.popphoto.com/blogsandcol...-the-contrary-mind-of-hirofumi-kobayashi.html
-----------------

Indeed. Why would he? Cosina... Compete with Sony? Matsu****a Electronics? Uh uh... this guy's a brilliant business man.
 
back alley said:
Sooner or late, Voigtlander has to go digital.

why?
where/what is the reasoning behind that statement, especially considering that mr. k. has stated that he has no interest in a digital body.

joe
Click to expand...

I remember the founder of one of the world's largest vehicle manufacturers ... Soichiro Honda making a public statement that Honda would never manufacture a two stroke engine for it's motorcycles ... they finished up making millions of them!

When California, the world's largest motorcycle market, banned sales of new two stroke motorcycles he dropped the design like a hot potato! Heads of large coorporations are driven by ideas that create profit ... not ideals! 🙂
 
Digital is instant gratification. When I bought my digital camera, I thought I would "learn" on it. I didn't. I just used it as a point n' shoot even though it had all kinds of manual controls. I didn't bother learning and substituted quantity for quality. Odds were that I'd get the shot eventually. Bred laziness on my part, and I'd bet it did, does, and continues to do so with many others.

Strange thing is that when it got stolen, my photography got better because I was forced to think about what I was doing with film. Don't get me wrong, if I find those dirty SOBs who stole my camera (among other things) they're going to see what a 150Ibs Asian can do!
 
Interesting, on second glance, that Mr. K said he wouldn't compete in the DSLR market. He said nothing, however, about rangefinders. Still wouldn't buy one - bleh, the very concept of a digital rangefinder still makes me ill. But still, it's interesting he specifically cited DSLRS only. Unless he - like me, can't bring himself to put the words "digital" with "rangefinder".
 
clintock said:
Does this mean that Harley Davidson must now start making Sport Utility Vehicles?
Click to expand...
Heh. Ever since they invented Zima, nothing is too ludicrous for any market. Just look at bottled water. The concept escapes most consumers now, but they'll still buy it whether it's repackaged county tap water or not.

It's not the concept, it's the idea of the concept. I believe that CV is patiently seeing the market, and seeing the concept adapt to current conditions, not the other way around. Leica got a lot of beatings from people who don't understand a thing about the fundamentals of their decisions. CV is wise to observe.
 
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