[cpclee]

Thanks John F. for the exciting information.

First of all, I'm not surprised that demand for the M8 has been so strong. People were wrong to extrapolate film M sales to predict digital M sales. Sales of new film Ms have been small largely because there is a vibrant market of used bodies. (I'd even venture to say that there are probably as many as 5 to 10 times more used Ms exchanging hands on any given day than new ones.) For the M8 it's a different story altogether. I expect the market for the M8 to eventually exceed that of film Ms simply because there is no cannibalization. You may say that digital is good for Leica because it promises a steady turnover.

I'm hoping that strong M sales will bring Leica lots of cash for R&D. The lack of cash had restricted Leica from making bolder moves for many years. In particular, I'm hoping the combination of improved cashflow and the Sinar acquisition will finally provide Leica what it needs to incorporate focus confirmation in the R10. (Sinar has experience in AF.) I agree that Leica doesn't need full AF, but I do think focus confirmation is critical to the R line's longterm success given the demographics of their clientele (average age is probably 50+) and the fact that digital magnifies focus errors. Take a look around and you'll find many 3rd party offerings for improving focus accuracy--there is certainly a demand! In my opinion if Leica really put their mind to it they should be able to engineer an intelligent focus assist system that is as speedy to use as AF. I daydream about a system that shows in the finder in which direction and how much you should turn the focus ring (i.e. triple arrow versus single arrow). Alternatively, they system can show the graphically the depth of field and the subject's relation to it.

I have to say Photokina 2008 seems very far away still. I was hoping the R10 could be ready much sooner. On the other hand, the time frame may suggest Leica is indeed considering something dramatically different than just an evolutionary change. In that case the wait will be quite worthwhile.

Regarding the discontinued primes, I'd be quite surprised if Leica doesn't eventually replace them with new designs. 28/2.8 seems quite essential to any self-respecting SLR line.