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bringing more tradition back to m digital


cheewai_m6

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Why would Leica do worst than Epson?

 

 

I really don't know, therefore I ask. Manually levered Ms never had more than 1/1000.

 

I think the R8/R9 had the same Copal-Shutter as the M8/9. The Rs have 1/8000. Did they have manual levers? As I never touched a R8/9 I don't know.

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ok, this is just a question, and it's about your/mine opinion. just asking what you think or whether you would like it.

 

what would you think if a the next m digital had a 'film' advanced lever on it? obviously it would only be re-cocking the shutter. it would increase battery life, and bring back more of the m tradition. i know time have changed, but i personally wouldn't mind an m digital with an advance lever. it'd be more like shooting film, but not.

 

i know it's simpler to have no lever, but it's just more traditional. whether leica can fit the mechanism in is beside the point, i'm pretty sure they won't try it anyway. just asking whether you'd like it or not. i would.

 

the rd1 has it and I like it.

 

However I dont think it would happen.

 

Still I am happy that Leica has achieved to keep the M8/9 pretty tradional overall and not listed to people with funcky wishes like EVF, AF etc

 

 

If I had to chosse I would prefer the version with a lever.

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...The Rs have 1/8000. Did they have manual levers? As I never touched a R8/9 I don't know.

Yes they did and still do BTW. What is difficult is to get a fast and quiet shutter at the same time but the M9 seems to have made some good progress on this point.

 

4059244082_0b3752675a_o.jpg

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And they later regretted the decision to implement such a complex design into the R8 instead of using a built-in winder, because it's a compromise which makes the motor-driven (with additional winder) version bulkier, slower and noisier. So they rather went the other, non-traditional way with the M8/9.

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Perhaps something like an optional Leicavit-style baseplate winder. Quick, quiet winding, without taking the camera away from the eye. Simpler in the camera since no winding lever required, only the Leicavit coupling.

 

And, the Leicavit is very traditional.

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And they later regretted the decision to implement such a complex design into the R8 instead of using a built-in winder....

Interesting indeed, would you have a link about those regrets? All film bodies had manual cocking then if memory serves.

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My vote would be no. Firmly no. I don't see the point in a digital camera imitating another technology. That pretty much defines bad design, like making an automobile imitate a horse-drawn carriage. A film advance lever is not a tradition, it's a lever. And it's a lever that belongs to the film era -- where it had a necessity and a purpose. On a digital camera, it's just one more thing to get in the way of making a photograph. Film traditionalists should really use film and get 100% of their tradition, instead of seeking a digital camera with vestigial parts. Adding a "film" advance lever to a digital camera is like adding a "film" rewind knob to a digital camera, or a film-shaped memory card. There is something very absurd about it. :eek:

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My vote would be no. Firmly no. I don't see the point in a digital camera imitating another technology. That pretty much defines bad design, like making an automobile imitate a horse-drawn carriage. A film advance lever is not a tradition, it's a lever. And it's a lever that belongs to the film era -- where it had a necessity and a purpose. On a digital camera, it's just one more thing to get in the way of making a photograph. Film traditionalists should really use film and get 100% of their tradition, instead of seeking a digital camera with vestigial parts. Adding a "film" advance lever to a digital camera is like adding a "film" rewind knob to a digital camera, or a film-shaped memory card. There is something very absurd about it. :eek:

 

Agreed - well said!

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... Adding a "film" advance lever to a digital camera is like adding a "film" rewind knob to a digital camera, or a film-shaped memory card. There is something very absurd about it. :eek:

Nothing to do with film. Just a cocking lever. Saves battery life as well. Very ecological if you ask me.

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1) Just so we know - no camera with a vertical blade shutter has ever been made with the ratcheted type of wind lever that allows for multiple short strokes in a small arc. It has something to do with the springing and other construction of the shutter. They have to be wound with a full stroke, or with several short strokes without a ratchet that still add up to one long stroke in terms of the final location of the lever. See Cosina Bessas, R-D1, Nikon FM2, etc. etc. etc.). One of the main appeals to me of the film Leicas (way back when) was this winding pattern compared to the single long stroke of the FM2s - but it requires a horizontal curtain shutter and the associated slowish speeds (1/2000th, 1/90 sync).

 

So I would not be excited much by a long-single-stroke wind lever.

 

2) But on the subject of "bringing back tradition", I am using my M9 with "soft release" permanently enabled becasue it feels more like an M6 release - which means I no longer have exposure lock - which means I am doing a lot more manual metering instead of depending on "A". And THAT is a lot of fun, and my exposures are better, and more consistent, especially in interesting light.

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I'd vote no. That silky feeling we enjoy when we wind up that next frame on our film M's is mostly related to advancing the film, not re-cocking the shutter.

 

What I would like to see is a "slow-wind" option, one that extends the shutter re-cocking over a handful of seconds, attenuating the sound it makes. The Nikon F4 had that. In combination with discreet mode, it would go a long way towards giving us back the quiet-environment performance we enjoy with our film M's.

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My vote would be no. Firmly no. I don't see the point in a digital camera imitating another technology. That pretty much defines bad design, like making an automobile imitate a horse-drawn carriage. A film advance lever is not a tradition, it's a lever. And it's a lever that belongs to the film era -- where it had a necessity and a purpose. On a digital camera, it's just one more thing to get in the way of making a photograph. Film traditionalists should really use film and get 100% of their tradition, instead of seeking a digital camera with vestigial parts. Adding a "film" advance lever to a digital camera is like adding a "film" rewind knob to a digital camera, or a film-shaped memory card. There is something very absurd about it. :eek:

 

M film cameras can be manual advance or motor wind. Why should digital M only be motor driven? Digital is the technology not the mechanics... ;)

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My vote would be no. Firmly no. I don't see the point in a digital camera imitating another technology. That pretty much defines bad design, like making an automobile imitate a horse-drawn carriage. A film advance lever is not a tradition, it's a lever. And it's a lever that belongs to the film era -- where it had a necessity and a purpose. On a digital camera, it's just one more thing to get in the way of making a photograph. Film traditionalists should really use film and get 100% of their tradition, instead of seeking a digital camera with vestigial parts. Adding a "film" advance lever to a digital camera is like adding a "film" rewind knob to a digital camera, or a film-shaped memory card. There is something very absurd about it. :eek:

 

That lever also re-cocks the shutter...even a digital camera needs to do that. I'm fine with another, more modern, method to silence that action, but that lever worked fine for that purpose.

 

Jeff

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