Some News (or Rumor) About R10

[sdai]

Photoscala quotes an "reliable" source speaking that Leica is certainly going to bring a DSLR to the Kina '08, it's not a mockup and will soon be available after the show.

However, their source could provide no further detail, they can only guess it'll sport a 35mm FF sensor with more than 15 megapixels which might be named "R10" based on Leica's naming convention.

Leica R10 digital in der Pipeline | photoscala

Picture shows a R9.

[jimmy pro]

Last week when I stopped by Leica in Allendale one of the dudes told me that recently every Leica employee had to sign a NDA that has some really stiff penalties like a fine and reimbursement to the company for lost profits resulting from a leak. Dunno if it's true, or if it is, how they'd enforce it. But I'm tending to be even more sceptical now about stuff claimed to be coming from "reliable sources inside Leica". Besides, Photokina's just a few months off, and I've got a life so there're other things to occupy my concerns until then. And anyway I like surprizes

Jim Provenzano

[mat_mcdermott]

Is it a violation of the NDA to mention that you had to sign an NDA?

[Kent10D]

Originally Posted by mat_mcdermott

Is it a violation of the NDA to mention that you had to sign an NDA?

I don't think so. In fact I find it to be a handy reason not to discuss certain things with nosey people sometimes.

When people who know I'm working with advanced technology from a certain company start asking questions, I simply say "I can't discuss it because I have signed an NDA." That usually prevents any further "aw c'mon ... you can tell me!" type nonsense.

Usually.

[AlanG]

Well if Leica is coming out with a new DSLR, what do they have to gain by keeping it hush hush? Are they woried about affecting sales of current equipment? They aren't selling a DSLR now anyway (other than the 4/3rds models) and I wonder if they are selling many R lenses.

I could see a premature announcement of a new M model or M lenses affecting sales of current M gear, but I'd think any advanced word on a new R model might be pretty beneficial.

[lct]

Perhaps Leica has not yet decided on some details like how to render existing lenses compatible to the new mount if any.

[guy_mancuso]

Originally Posted by jimmy pro

Last week when I stopped by Leica in Allendale one of the dudes told me that recently every Leica employee had to sign a NDA that has some really stiff penalties like a fine and reimbursement to the company for lost profits resulting from a leak. Dunno if it's true, or if it is, how they'd enforce it. But I'm tending to be even more sceptical now about stuff claimed to be coming from "reliable sources inside Leica". Besides, Photokina's just a few months off, and I've got a life so there're other things to occupy my concerns until then. And anyway I like surprizes

Jim Provenzano

This would not surprise me for a split second and probably very true because i have a NDA as a beta tester and i honestly know nothing at all on the R10 or whatever name it will be. I keep saying it is a very tight lipped secret and i was not kidding. No one with any creditability is talking at all. I like surprises also but like everyone else i do expect something coming, i think that is a given.

[jdlaing]

Originally Posted by mat_mcdermott

Is it a violation of the NDA to mention that you had to sign an NDA?

No.

[mike_h]

Originally Posted by mat_mcdermott

Is it a violation of the NDA to mention that you had to sign an NDA?

It depends entirely on the terms of the NDA. An NDA may have terms that prevent the parties from disclosing the existence of the NDA, or it may not.

So if that is a term of the NDA then presumably parties won't be talking about it; and if it's not then they might be.

M

[jimmy pro]

Originally Posted by AlanG

Well if Leica is coming out with a new DSLR, what do they have to gain by keeping it hush hush? Are they woried about affecting sales of current equipment? They aren't selling a DSLR now anyway (other than the 4/3rds models) and I wonder if they are selling many R lenses.

I could see a premature announcement of a new M model or M lenses affecting sales of current M gear, but I'd think any advanced word on a new R model might be pretty beneficial.

My pure speculation is this. One, if they talk about it now it will be tried, convicted and executed in the court of internet opinion before it even sees daylight. Even though prolly most people who will buy it couldn't be unconvinced the Leica R is the best camera in the world, it could possibly effect some sales. Two, if they get people to expect to see it hit the streets after Photokina they'll have to sell it even if it has issues still needing to be solved. Witness the whole IR filter messup with the M8 not to mention the recall, SDS, and more than a year to get AWB usable.

[guy_mancuso]

Actually the bigger issue really is if they announce it by a certain date and they cannot produce it , it looks bad . So that is a big reason , plus the specs could change also or features. Really a lot of reasons not to announce it ahead of time. None which help us but more they can hurt themselves. Just like it is hard for us to predict what they will come out with it is hard for them to predict when it is ready and fully baked.

[cwf]

Originally Posted by jdlaing

No.

The lawyer in me says that disclosure vel non of the existence of NDA is function of, among other things, what the NDA itself says. Contracts in the U.S. generally may include whatever terms the parties reach. Off of the top of my head, agreeing to keep an agreement's existence secret does not seem to be impermissible although such a provision would not seem to be leakproof.

[imported_digilux]

Originally Posted by AlanG

Well if Leica is coming out with a new DSLR, what do they have to gain by keeping it hush hush? Are they woried about affecting sales of current equipment? They aren't selling a DSLR now anyway (other than the 4/3rds models) and I wonder if they are selling many R lenses.

I could see a premature announcement of a new M model or M lenses affecting sales of current M gear, but I'd think any advanced word on a new R model might be pretty beneficial.

Question: What could Leica gain in already telling the news? There are still a few months left until fotokina 2008.... Maybe they just want to concentrate on the development of the new system?

[AlanG]

Originally Posted by imported_digilux

Question: What could Leica gain in already telling the news? There are still a few months left until fotokina 2008.... Maybe they just want to concentrate on the development of the new system?

They might keep a few people from buying Canon or Nikon. They might get a little advanced publicity that will generate anticipation for the product(s). Outside of this forum and a few other places, a Leica DSLR is hardly on anyone's radar screen.

Leica might think they can make a big splash by announcing at Photokina. But they also risk that their "news" will be lost in a sea of news releases.

I notice that car companies pre-announce cars all of the time. Some companies are talking about plug-in hybrids that won't be around for a while. The Rollei, Leaf, Sinar Hy6 was promoted and demonstrated at shows for a long time before it was released. (Too bad there wasn't a previous model called the Hy5.)

And I bet Sony's announcement of the "upcoming" Alpha 900 has kept some people on the fence in anticipation. I don't think Sony made a wrong choice to pre-announce it even if the camera has unexpected delays.

[AlanG]

Correction. I see that Sony has not "officially" announced the "Alpha 900" or whatever it will be called. But they announced they had a 24+ megapixel sensor and let a lot of information leak.

[overgaardcom]

I think Leica is doing best by not telling anything because, as we have seen so far, enthusiasts tend to triple the rumors and then when the new item is announced, it's kind of disappointing allt he things rumored to be which is not.

Also, Photokina is four months (almost five) away and whatever is released there is not even for sale till later.

I don't want to know about stuff coming in 8-12 months in digital products.

I love the way Apple does it. They keep it tight, then announce a revolution and one can buy it right after the announcement.

[marknorton]

No question though that whatever they're working on, they'll be working flat out. 4 - 5 months sounds a long way away but Photokina starts 19 weeks on Tuesday, less than 100 work days and I'm sure Maike Harberts and her team would like to take some holiday during the summer...

[stunsworth]

Maybe they're going to take a late holiday once the production team has taken over.

I'll be in Germany in a couple of weeks, I'll keep an eye out for any strange looking SLRs with logos covered in expensive looking black tape..

I wonder if they're still looking for beta testers, I'd guess there's be one or two volunteers from here - then again given the nature of an NDA there could be testers here already <grin>.

[thrid]

Originally Posted by marknorton

No question though that whatever they're working on, they'll be working flat out. 4 - 5 months sounds a long way away but Photokina starts 19 weeks on Tuesday, less than 100 work days and I'm sure Maike Harberts and her team would like to take some holiday during the summer...

I'm going to guess that if they intend to ship the R10 (or anything else for that matter) at or right after Photokina the camera is already or just about to go in to production...

[AlanG]

>I think Leica is doing best by not telling anything because, as we have seen so far, enthusiasts tend to triple the rumors and then when the new item is announced, it's kind of disappointing allt he things rumored to be which is not.

So are you saying that after all of these rumors, when Leica finally announces a new camera it will be a disapointment? Wouldn't they avoid that by pre-announcing?

>Also, Photokina is four months (almost five) away and whatever is released there is not even for sale till later.

Doesn't that depend on the company and the development state of the product? Why would any company wait any longer than necessary?

>I don't want to know about stuff coming in 8-12 months in digital products.

Why not?

>I love the way Apple does it. They keep it tight, then announce a revolution and one can buy it right after the announcement.

Apple has lines of existing products to sell and protect and thus must time its announcements to be most beneficial to Apple not to Apple's customers.