Well... will I get a Digital M-series for Christmas, 2006?

[jsc1]

I find it very difficult to "keep up" so... would someone be so kind as to tell me "What are the

latest rumors?"

[robovet]

http://leica-users.org/v30/msg14142.html

[liam__]

Those specs are pretty impressive. I wonder if they can make it run at 3 fps without adding

too much bulk? I like the idea of upgradable circuitry. Any other info / pics / leaks out

there?

[Bill Blackwell Images]

- "...horizontal travel cloth shutter"

 

- "1/8000 top shutter speed"

 

Look for an R8/9 style vertical-travel titanium shutter. A horizontal-travel cloth shutter will render the proposed 1/8000 top shutter speed impossible.

 

- "price goal under US$5K"

 

Well, we'll see about that. I would look for the price to be closer to US$6K once the camera finally hits the market.

[john_brewton]

I agree with Bill. Since the RD-1 is three grand, we can expect the Leica to be six. Yuck! No matter how badly I want to use my M glass on a digital the prospect just might not be in the cards. For that kind of money you could get a Canon 5D AND two "L" lenses (and still have money left over for a 2 gig card).

[bobatkins]

You could even get a 5D and two Leica lenses...

[eliot_rosen1]

It sounds very interesting. I suspected that Leica would issue some new wide angle lenses for the digital M because of the 1.33x crop factor. It is good they will make these lenses compatible with the film M cameras too. Bob, I don't want a 5D. I want a digital camera that looks and handles like an M Leica. Not a Canon or Nikon blobflex D, as good as they may be. :-)

[david k.]

Bob, do you go up to BMW drivers and tell them they could get 3 Chevy Cavalers for the same price.....just wondering.

[david k.]

I do a lot of shooting with a Pentax Spotmatic that I bought for $65, maybe I should be suggesting that anyone considering a Canon 5D should buy 15 Spotmatics and have a couple of grand to blow on other stuff.

[fjords]

Yea, but how do you develope a !GB compact flash card?

[rich815]

I've heard Leica will come out with an M digital, next fall, but their main R&D is going to be towards two directions digitally: One the P&S market like the Digilux 2, and the other a more "advanced" direction with a new Leica digital body taking the 4/3 lenses. Leica will likely have three new lenses for that too.

[david k.]

John, just trying to show how silly it is to tell someone who interested in a M style digital camera, that a competitors SLR camera is a better option because it costs less.

 

People usually know what they want, and only they can decide if the price is right :)

[cabophoto]

Bill,

 

>>- "...horizontal travel cloth shutter"

 

it says "goodbye, horizontal travel cloth shutter".

 

Carsten

[mike dixon]

<i>Bob, do you go up to BMW drivers and tell them they could get 3 Chevy Cavalers for

the same price.....just wondering.</i><P>

Actually, it would be more like telling BMW drivers they could get two Acuras now instead

of one BMW next year (maybe). It's not an entirely spurious point that Bob makes. I'd love

to have a digital M body so I could shoot with my Leitz M lenses and enjoy utilizing a

rangefinder's strengths. On the other hand, my new 5D lets me shoot full-frame for half

the price starting RIGHT NOW. (Or, from a slightly different perspective, the 5D gives me

12.8 megapixel and full frame for about the same cost as a 1.5 crop, 6 megapixel

Epson.)<P>

To answer the initial question: rumor has it the Leica M digital is still a long ways away,

and it'll cost more than most of us can afford.

[paulr]

Um. Good point Mike. I've already sunk a small fortune in to the Nikon D2x. Don't care about

the crop factor with that camera. Another $5K or more in a year for a digital M?

 

My biggest problem with digital is that the files won't archive well without constant

upgrading through time.

[eliot_rosen1]

Mike, the cost argument is not as stark as you make it. You and others who use digital have probably spent quite a bit on different digital SLR models and lenses to go with them (and a 5D is not cheap, to say the least). So the tradeoff is more like buying one digital M (when available) as opposed to several dSLRs. And you can factor in that a digital M will probably maintain its value considerably better than your average digital SLR, as do Leica film M cameras and lenses.

For someone like me, I have a who range of Leica M lenses I can use on a digital M and get high quality digital images.

 

I thought about the Epson RD1 but decided against it. But I am in the market to consider a digital M or perhaps a Zeiss ZI digital if it comes out.

[eliot_rosen1]

Besides, aren't you just brimming over with curiousity to see what a German designed and German built digital camera would be like. I'm looking forward to all of the endeaing quirks that only German engineering can bring you. :-)

[Bill Blackwell Images]

"...it says 'goodbye, horizontal travel cloth shutter'"

 

Thanks for the clarification. I thought it was a reference to an alternative. I guess I should have paid more attention when I took German in high school.

[jsc1]

Eliot...

 

...and the RD-2... would you know what are the rumors? :-))

[eliot_rosen1]

All I know is that there is a rumor about one and I heard that from a thread on the Leica Photography Forum, I know nothing else about it.

[jsc1]

Eliot...

 

Heard anything about a ZI M-Digital?

 

For me... that's it.

 

Leica vs. ZI vs. EpsonRD... in that order... unless the facts prove differently!

[eliot_rosen1]

No rumors about a digital ZM, only that Zeiss has neither ruled out or ruled in the possibility of producing one.

[uk]

Presumeably we only want a digital M if it retains the image characteristics we achieve with

the film version. Is this 'glow' and bokeh' a possibility with a chip?

 

If it is, do owners of the Epson RD retain the Leica look when it's used with M series

lenses? I understood that the computation of M lenses for use with digital backs has to

change substantially. I assume that this is to recover a shortfall in quality, otherwise it

wouldn't be necessary. If such a shortfall exists, then Epson owners must be experiencing

it?

 

If not, is the assumption that the mechanical characteristics of the camera are enough to

retain a following?

[richard_hoag]

Those are intersting specs from the LUG meeting. It is unfortunate that Leica cannot seem to understand that a M size body (made from composits) containing a "100%" chip with an optical viewfinder at a price competitive with the Canon 5D would be a home run for those of us who prefer the rangefinder. Given the pace of digital technology, I am not excited about having to purchase additional Leica glass in order to get "equivalent" focal lengths from an expensive body built for the ages.

 

I have been playing with a Panasonic LC-1 purchased recently, shooting color along side my M3 or M7 loaded with XP2. It is a bit large but respecting the paticulars of digital reproduction (white bal., ISO, JPG vs. RAW)it produces remarkably accurate color and very fine detail up to 8x10.

 

I have used Leica equiptment for 34 years and have great respect for their products. I hope they proceed by taking advantage of their historical (optics & function) strenghts while accepting the flexability and of current technology and adapt to it instead of fighting it.

[eliot_rosen1]

"It is unfortunate that Leica cannot seem to understand that a M size body (made from composits) containing a "100%" chip with an optical viewfinder at a price competitive with the Canon 5D would be a home run"

 

Apparently this truth also escaped Nikon, since they have been producing dSLRs with crop factors of 1.5x along with additional wide angle digital lenses. :-)