Leica Rumors

[SteveYork]

Cynical me: Leica hasn't maximized profits yet on the current digital M, so we know that the bid news this September is not about the M line. Small companies must maximize sales of their products before something new is introduced. By default that leaves the R line.

And if Leica is going to do something big with the R line, then it starts with a new body. They did the DMR thing and my understanding from my local store is that this was discontinued, because they no longer could get the necessary parts. They're not going to revisit the DMR type thing; that's discontinued and gone. So it's got to be a new body.

And if you're going to do a new body, you might as well make it digital and if digital, then AF too. Leica, I am told, is who developed AF way back when, and then sold it to Minolta.

And if it is a new digital AF R body, then you'll need new lenses. And here's my theory: There will be no adapter for the old lenses. You R users will have to buy a whole new crop of R lenses.

So this is my best guess. I don't know if it will be FF or not, but the big news in September will be about an R body and lenses.

[leica_mage]

Quotes are taken from this thread.

Originally Posted by gravastar

... I know it went back to them more than once. If I remember it used to be returned OK but after a few films had been through the scratches would appear again.

This is the only announcement I want to hear from Leica at Photokina:

Leica is proud to announce a new version of both their quality control and customer service.

Originally Posted by gravastar

... I suspect in the end Leica replaced the pressure plate.
Bob.

The typical story: after three or four world tours of the parcel with the offending contents or parts thereof, Leica decides to do the obvious: replacement.

As someone who deeply "loves" Leica, this is my primary and only concern at the moment. I hate being scared of sending them something to fix, and I hate having to go through six brand new silver chrome lenses to discover which one's aperture ring doesn't rattle...

[jackal]

i think ive just about heard every possible permutation for photokina ...



28mm 1.4
new prime wide angle M lens
Digital MF back
R10
M9
rebadged Canon DSLR
micro 4/3 camera
Cinema lenses
cut down price M rangefinder
Visoflex
new affordable M lenses
D-lux 4



any other offers ?

I have to say its all getting quite exciting ....... be funny if all they showed was the sapphire glass and reworked M shutter.

[dpattinson]

Originally Posted by jackal

i think ive just about heard every possible permutation for photokina ...



28mm 1.4
new prime wide angle M lens
Digital MF back
R10
M9
rebadged Canon DSLR
micro 4/3 camera
Cinema lenses
cut down price M rangefinder
Visoflex
new affordable M lenses
D-lux 4



any other offers ?

I have to say its all getting quite exciting ....... be funny if all they showed was the sapphire glass and reworked M shutter.

You missed:

24 f 1.4
18 f 3.5'ish (ok, i guess that's the new M WA prime?)
50 f 0.95 asph

[stnami]

rebadged Canon DSLR

........ I made that up!!~!!! .........backed it up with nothing except my boredom

Over at drp or whatever it was there is a rumour that Leica are considering rebanding Canons for their DSLR range

....no such site if one would have bothered to check

[jackal]

oh yes, i heard 24mm summicron as well

[stnami]

that's how Mick and Boris got the slab of bear and the durries, sold the blueprints of the bloody camera to a bloke in Texas that makes ashtrays.

.

Good news tonight ,the head white coat here told me that I can finally go home and get out of the nuthouse. I've been here for almost 7 months now. No more wackos disturbing my sleep

............. hang on I said that 12 months ago

[overgaardcom]

35mm f/0.95
MF system with basic lens kit
Magnetic car badge, numbered limited edition "Leica DMR rocks" in stead of R10

[Tim Delbeck]

Originally Posted by overgaardcom

35mm f/0.95
MF system with basic lens kit
Magnetic car badge, numbered limited edition "Leica DMR rocks" in stead of R10

a numbered limited edition of car badges printed with 'Leica DMR rocks' would be a nice idea.

[jdlaing]

Originally Posted by jackal

i think ive just about heard every possible permutation for photokina ...



28mm 1.4
new prime wide angle M lens
Digital MF back
R10
M9
rebadged Canon DSLR
micro 4/3 camera
Cinema lenses
cut down price M rangefinder
Visoflex
new affordable M lenses
D-lux 4



any other offers ?

I have to say its all getting quite exciting ....... be funny if all they showed was the sapphire glass and reworked M shutter.

You forgot "Partridge in a Pear Tree"

[mooky]

Wasn't there the twenty-something new lenses??????

[Charles Frenkel]

I'd want (good luck) an "affordable" digital M camera for street photography. I've never handled an M8, but some veteran street photographers don't particularly like it when compared to the M film cameras (loud shutter, shutter lag); but maybe the latest iterations of the M8 have taken or will take care of these problems. Probably Panasonic would build it to keep costs down, but I've always wondered if Cosina would do it since they had to bail on the Epson RD1. Not sure if Leica and Cosina have a good relationship though.

My question is (rhetorically) how will this new "digital CL" be compromised when compared to the M8? No viewfinder maybe? (that would be annoying!) Obviously Leica would have to 'dumb down' the junior M so that the M8 is still desirable. I liked the RD1 in that it was pretty simple: a rangefinder that happened to be digital (even with the charming advance lever). I'd sort of want the same thing from Leica. Some people think the RD1 is a better street camera than the M8...

[andybarton]

What about if they just brought out and improved M8.x, and cut the price on the existing one?

[mat_mcdermott]

Originally Posted by Charles Frenkel

I'd want (good luck) an "affordable" digital M camera for street photography. I've never handled an M8, but some veteran street photographers don't particularly like it when compared to the M film cameras (loud shutter, shutter lag); but maybe the latest iterations of the M8 have taken or will take care of these problems.

In practical street shooting the shutter sound and any difference in shutter lag is entirely negligible. I want a quieter shutter too, and would consider a cheaper digital CL as well, but the current M8 is perfectly suitable for street shooting. My two cents.

[Charles Frenkel]

Thanks, Mat, that's good to know. Some folks expressed reservations about firing off an
M8 in a quiet room, but I guess if there's ambient noise on a crowded street... (though sometimes the street *is* quiet!) I'll have to check one out myself rather than going on what others say. Still, even used, the M8 is quite a financial commitment for a technology that's changing by the minute (which Leica understands, I'm sure). If they just reduced the cost of the M8, there might be a riot, unless the M8 was broken into two classes: the original and improved (with the original being dropped in price). That would be kinda boring though. The Leica CEO seemed to be enthusiastic about the CL of yore, when asked, so that may be a template for a small, digital M...

I'd love to keep using the M4-P, but with a digital back, but that might not be feasible, economically , ergonomically -- or developmentally. The R digital back was supposed to be great, but very expensive.

[leicanewbie]

While I can understand that a price drop on new M8's would cause some buyer's remorse,
I don't think it would be a major disaster. It would be basically saying that the company
is adjusting to the market realities and making the system more accessible.

By price drops I mean something of the order of 10%. The lens prices could stay where they're at
because the goal would be to get more M camera users out there while would
drive follow-on lens business.

[andybarton]

a digital back on a completely manual camera body is not possible.

And, yes, the DMR was and is a superb piece of kit. It was the same price as the M8, and therefore a real bargain for the quality it continues to offer.

[wattsy]

Originally Posted by andybarton

a digital back on a completely manual camera body is not possible.

Rubbish, of course it is possible - digital backs have been available for years for the all manual Hasselblad V series bodies. These kind of backs work by using the camera's flash sync signal as a trigger.

Having said this, just because something is possible doesn't make it desirable. An M4-P is fine and dandy just as it is.

[andybarton]

I stand corrected

How you could get an M4 to work a digital back is defeating me at the moment, but I have been up since 3:30am

[jaapv]

Originally Posted by Charles Frenkel

I'd want (good luck) an "affordable" digital M camera for street photography. I've never handled an M8, but some veteran street photographers don't particularly like it when compared to the M film cameras (loud shutter, shutter lag); but maybe the latest iterations of the M8 have taken or will take care of these problems. Probably Panasonic would build it to keep costs down, but I've always wondered if Cosina would do it since they had to bail on the Epson RD1. Not sure if Leica and Cosina have a good relationship though.

My question is (rhetorically) how will this new "digital CL" be compromised when compared to the M8? No viewfinder maybe? (that would be annoying!) Obviously Leica would have to 'dumb down' the junior M so that the M8 is still desirable. I liked the RD1 in that it was pretty simple: a rangefinder that happened to be digital (even with the charming advance lever). I'd sort of want the same thing from Leica. Some people think the RD1 is a better street camera than the M8...

Shutter lag?? That is a new new one. In daily use it is exactly the same as any other M camera: nil.