Leica debuts S-system, 37-megapixel flagship S2 camera

[kelly_flanigan1]

So whats the lens flange to sensor distance? The lens adapter market needs some more toys to sell!

[shaloot]

damn. that is ridiculous. $29K?? i really want to see one...

my wife thinks its crazy for cars to cost over a 100K, now I should show her this...

[fred_c1]

Yeah Kelly, the S2 and its lenses are just too tiny. Need to get adapters for some REAL medium format lenses

like the Zeiss/Hassey stuff, or even those for 6x7 from Bronica/Mamiya/Pentax.

[marco_hidalgo]

With the lens flange to sensor distance shorter than a Hasselbald or a Mamiya, this might be interesting for using all those MF lenses.

[brucecahn]

Will they give away a car with it? They did years ago with a very expensive lens.

[marco_hidalgo]

Typo should say: Hasselblad

[mohir_ali]

Credit to Steven Lee

[robert_meyers]

Has that price been verified?

[Rene11664880918]

It doesn't even have a green P mode!

[pics]

Very interesting indeed. I'm a little skeptical of course as it seems to be a camera that even the devoted Leica faithful can't able to afford. It will be curious to see whether this camera has the ability to make Leica relevant once again in the professional field since these are the people Leica will have to entice if they want this platform to help turn the company around financially. I too will be curious to see the verified price.

[pics]

ugh, I need to stop trying to type on 4 hours of sleep lol

[nzdavid]

Truly a landmark camera. Congratulations Leica! Price will be breathtaking, too -- but it will generate a demand from pros who demand an

edge. It will still require someone to frame an exciting shot though.

[steven_moseley1]

This probably answers the questions posed by Leica R lens owners....the owners of those lenses can now probably just use them as door stops or paper weights if they want to go digital. The values of R lenses will plummit even further....lovely.

[ralph_jensen]

Todd K wrote, "Leica had better hope that Nikon's new MX format stays a rumor and never materializes, because if it does it will almost certainly be better in every way but also cheaper."

 

Ah yes, but the Nikon medium-format system wouldn't have the "Leica glow" that is visible primarily to Leica owners! :)

[ralph_jensen]

Steven Moseley wrote, "This probably answers the questions posed by Leica R lens owners....the owners of those lenses can now probably just use them as door stops or paper weights if they want to go digital. Lovely."

 

My understanding is that in his presentation of the S2 yesterday, [Leica CEO] Andreas Kaufman alluded to a future (digital) R10. I didn't hear it, so I know nothing more or how specific he was.

[chris_chung]

The product design is a great one, in my view. However, the pricing is bad. Although the camera functions, design, optics, etc are great (or even better than mid-format players, like Hasselblad), the perspective is still not as wide as the mid-format (which is about double the size of 135-format). With its intended pricing, seems like it already regards itself as top of the market, which is obviously not the case. Its more versatile functions and DSLR size can only compensate the 'narrower' perspective, not to 'substitute' the difference of perspective with mid-format.

 

Leica should take a more agressive pricing: On one side, challenge the mid-format market. Due to the sharp downturn of economy, professional photographers would be in call for a cheaper alternative with more functions and a perspective yet smaller but larger than 135. Also they may need to work longer hours now, outside and inside of studio, so the smaller and lighter size could be temptative. With aggressive pricing, Leica will be in a great position to challenge this market.

 

On the other hand, aggressive pricing could help to penetrate (or even lead) top end pro-DSLR market. Imagine if Canon issue the 1Ds Mark 4 with a 30mp senor, it is still not in the same league. Even if Canon issued a 50mp DSLR, sensor resolution no longer will be the bottleneck....but optical qualities (optical resolution, color, distortion, etc) and most importantly perspective!

 

Imagine in small enclosed environment like apartments in HK or Japan, etc, (living room less than 100 sq ft), if you want to take photos of family or so, you need quite wide-angle lenses which would have quite disturbing 3D-distortion (perspective distortion). For example, for 135, you may need a 24mm lens, but for S2, you can use 35mm to capture same coverage...and 35mm lens has way less 3D distortion than 24mm!

 

If it priced equal to Canon 1Ds Mark 3, I will consider to buy. But $30k.....no way! The pricing strategy should be to tempt those professionals who are in consideration of upgrading their existing digital mid-format to churn to Leica, professionals who want to change to digital, and newly joined professionals, and finally offers DSLR market demands a (price)compatible choice for higher professional qualities in a DSLR-size package. However, the current pricing will kill Leica....don't forget....Leica is a NEW player in non-135 market!!!

[ilkka_nissila]

It seems the price is 10-20k€ (from Leica CEO). The online journal reporting it probably misquoted.

[vivek iyer]

Yup! Most likely less than a couple of the new Noctilux 0.95 lenses.

 

This is a medium format imaging system. So, there is comparison to C/N cameras.

[doug herr]

Steven Moseley wrote: "<I>

This probably answers the questions posed by Leica R lens owners....the owners of those lenses can now probably just use them as

door stops or paper weights if they want to go digital. The values of R lenses will plummit even further....lovely.</I>"

<P>

In his blog written from Photokina, David Farkas spoke with the S2 and R system manager Maike Harberts. David writes that the "R10

has already been green-lit, fast-tracked, whatever. Technology from the S2 will find its way into a smaller body with a 24x36mm CCD

chip that takes all current R lenses (no adapter). New AF R lenses will be introduced as well. The S2 will launch in Summer 2009, with

the R10 coming (most likely early 2010)." Read more: http://dfarkas.blogspot.com/2008/09/leica-vip-launch-event-for-s2.html

<P>

The time to buy R lenses cheap was last week.

[ellis_vener_photography]

'Credit to Steven Lee"

 

I guarantee Steven Lee had less than zero to do with this camera.

 

 

As for price ($30K USD for the body) compare that to a Hasselblad HD 3 with a 39mp back and an 80mm lens: $34,000 at B & H.

[w_wachusea]

Will the hoped-for R-10 become the lower priced (lower than S2) "Pro-sumer" line? Does this affect the desirability of the M-8/8.2 with all its...well, quirks? Can the hoped-for M-9 be far behind?

[john_r._fulton_jr.]

What the...........<br>It doesn't have an "S" mode as the M8.2 has. No 'snapshot' mode? :-)

[ralph_jensen]

Paul Neuthaler writes, "Maybe this camera should have its own Forum!"

 

I think eventually most of the threads about the S2 will end up in the Medium Format forum, not here.

 

Since the larger-than-35mm-SLR S2 radically changes the definition of "Leica photography," maybe the name

of this forum should become just the "Rangefinder forum"?

 

Also, worth relinking from the R10 reference above is this detailed account from David Farkas, who was present at

the rollout last night in

Koln:

 

http://dfarkas.blogspot.com/

[jtk]

At $50K USD it'd still be cheaper than some of the technology used in better US automotive repair shops in most midsized cities. Leica might actually become useful to successful professionals.

[chris_chung]

Thanks Douglas for your news! That's good news for Leica fans. But from business view of point, Leica, such a small company, now offers THREE different systems of cameras and lenses, with not-so-much synergy between them.

 

According to what you said, R10 could be full frame of around 25mp...and AF lenses....in 2010...just worry that Canon's or Nikon's 25mp DSLRs would then be only US$1,250...and far more enhanced in terms of picture quality.

 

Leica's move into S-system is actually quite consistent with my thinking and previous comments on this forum. Investing in R-system is far more risky...where there is no substantial competitive advantage for Leica. So sidetrack a bit: should the next step of Leica be to adopt Zeiss strategy for R - system?...i.e. produce manual R-lenses for other mounts, and then adopt a new AF mount system (say, cooperate/rebrand top line of Sigma cameras and lenses)?

 

If S-system fails, will the company have funds to produce the R10? Even if it succeed, could Leica continue to survive with 3 different systems? In strategic view, S-system seems making more sense if it is to replace R-system (gradually) instead of being a new system on its own, alongside with R-system, since the historical burden of R is much much lower.