Focus 2004

I visited the focus 2004 ( the major European [except Photokina]

exhibition) in Birmingham UK,today and thought you might like to hear

about what I found:

Billingham and Cosina/Voitlander were not to be found

Konica/Minolta said they were expecting 'a specialised 35mm

rangefinder type FILM camera taking interchanable lenses' to be

announced later in the year (Photokina) They did not know if it would

have an M mount.

The proposed Leica M digital WILL be a new separate body and apart

from being slightly deeper front to back, will be the same size and

shape as the usual M bodies. It will not have a full size sensor, but

one with about a 1.3x mag.effect, and the viewfinder frames will show

the field of the resulting focal length eg: a 28mm lens would bring

up a c36mm frame.

Leica also had an R9 with a digiback on ,and we were allowed to handle

it. It did not have the sensor

inside but appeared to have everything else. When on the camera the

angular shape did not affect handling or comfort and I was very

impressed by its

solidity,no movement at all. The 'back' is in 2 parts. The film back

door is removed, and a digi one is put in its place and swung shut,

with its bottom protruding about 1/2 inch below the camera bottom ,

then the power unit is offered up in the same way as a drive is and

locked by the same key type as on the drive. The German guy there said

that the digi backs connecting pins etc were self-cleaning and the

swing back could not be opened before a protecting plate/cover

covered the sensor against dust or damage.

They also were showing (photos) of an underwater housing for the D2

which was quite reminiscent of the Hassleblad type - very impressive

Regards

Bruno

Peter

One thing I forgot to mention was that on the rear of the R digi back it said 'made in Germany'

Regards

Bruno