Retrofit for Leica R Series - Film to Digital

[Yachtboy9]

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A question for owners of R series Leicas, specifically Film based R4's onward.

 

If your R series body could be retrofitted with a Leica quality Digital sensor allowing you to make digital photos using your old gear, would you be interested in purchasing it.?

If yes:

1.what would you think is a reasonable price point? ( specify Euros or $)

2.What is the minimal pixel resolution you think would make it worthwhile.?

 

Please don't send me any diatribes as to why it can't be done, or shouldn't be done. That's not the question. We are just looking for your opinion on this

 

Thanks for any feedback

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[johnastovall]

Not interested, would rather use my R glass on my Canon bodies which I can do now for under US$100.00.

[gdb]

YES! I would be VERY interested to use my R lenses on a Full Format Digital Leica-made body.

 

Price is not an issue. But resolution is: I read about rumors SONY preparing a 32 Mpx Alpha 950. Why not think of an equivalent product ?

 

Cheers

Gérard

[spydrxx]

At one point several years ago I would have said a resounding yes. But not today, I've found other bodies to use R lenses on, and significantly less expensive than Leica would charge even under the best of scenarios. Too bad, Leica, you missed the boat!

[lct]

...If your R series body could be retrofitted with a Leica quality Digital sensor allowing you to make digital photos using your old gear, would you be interested in purchasing it.? If yes:

1.what would you think is a reasonable price point? ( specify Euros or $)

2.What is the minimal pixel resolution you think would make it worthwhile.?...

Hardly credible but definitely yes.

1: EUR 3,000

2: 21 MP

[andybarton]

No, it's a pointless exercise. And if you're thinking of investing money in it, I have a great big hole in the ground that you're welcome to fill with any folding currency. You'll get just as good a return.

 

You would need to make it better than and no more expensive than a 5DII or a D700

 

Been there, done that, moved on.

[redbaron]

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It would need to be at least 35 mp, with a dynamic range of 14 stops and be independant of mains power before I'd have a look.

[jacobh]

[quote name=

 

If your R series body could be retrofitted with a Leica quality Digital sensor allowing you to make digital photos using your old gear, would you be interested in purchasing it.?

If yes:

1.what would you think is a reasonable price point? ( specify Euros or $)

2.What is the minimal pixel resolution you think would make it worthwhile.?

 

[/quote]

 

1) 2500 Euro.

2) 20 - 30 Mp (Assuming full size sensor)

[stuny]

Yatchboy -

 

Welcoem to the Forum. In about 2004 Leica released a digital back for the R8 and R9 called the Digital Module R (DMR) and made about 5000 units before sale of one of their partners to a competitor made it impossible to continue. The performance of the DMR is still amazing even though it is ancient in digital terms. There are rumors that a digital body will be coming from Leica (probably via a partner) but all that is is rumors. Converting an earlier R to take a digital back is probably not feasible.

 

If you elect to try R lenses on Canons, Nikons or Sonys be advised that you can only shoot in stop down metering (no auto diaphram) mode, and in some cases the metering is a bit off.

[tobey bilek]

I went to a Civil War reenactment yesterday. Two lenses,70/210 and 300 4.0 Nikkors and I autofocused every shot allowing me to capture things I would never have gotten with manual. I chassed around a few kids in the petting zoo with a 300 4.0 which I mounted on a Leica shoulder stock from my 400 & 560. A bit of modified wood coving trim & gaffer tape put an electric Dot Line release on the handle in just the right location. It is egonomically better then original.

 

That handles the action. Leitax mounts handle the landscape and still life or Leica I use the old viso lenses sometimes with bellows.

 

So no I am not interestd. Their pricing has driven me away from further purchases. My doctor can`t even afford Leica anymore.

 

Once every great while I lust for the M9 because I own a pot full of RF lenses. But then I consider $7000 for a camera which nobody but Leica can service. Then there is the issue of electronic parts availability. If I lose a $3000 Nikon to "sorry, no special circuit board", I will be unhappy, but a $7000 camera. I would have to go into backruptcy. Then there are all the issues about focus accuracy. and I come to my senses.

 

Furthermore I have yet to require a repair on a Nikon. I kept several + Leicas because one was always cycling thru someones repair shop.

 

So I won`t probably buy a M9 or a digi SLR, specially an EVF one. S2 models are like wishing to drive a Ferrari or live in a 100 room mansion with a staff of servents.

 

The airplane left the airport years ago. Leica was late. Unlike the recent episode in New York, they don`t bring it back to the gate for a restart.

[pgk]

1.what would you think is a reasonable price point? ( specify Euros or $)

2.What is the minimal pixel resolution you think would make it worthwhile.?

Well, as a Canon 5D2 user I'd say that it would be helpful to improve over the manual aperture control but not at a substantially higher price - I'd suggest a ceiling of £2500 to make a camera really worthy of consideration because more would IMHO mean that adapting an existing and cheaper camera makes good sense - this is given that R glass is, and will remain obsolete. The price of any 'retrofit camera surely has to reflect this and oddly, this is not far off the price of a used DMR.

As for pixel resolution, well the Canon 5D2 requires 'good' glass and some of the later R designs are certainly up to fulfilling its 21MPixel demands, but (I'll probably get lynched for saying this) much of the earlier R glass probably doesn't do so (I have a '60s 35/2.8 Elmarit which suffers from field curvature (probably fine on film as it 'follows' the film's potential curvature, but not so good on the flatter sensor). I'm not sure how much more resolution is needed, or is provided by even the very best lenses these days beyond the 5D2's sensor. So I'd suggest 18~24MPixels as being perfectly adequate.

 

Trouble is that I can't see such a camera being produced to retail at my relevant price.

[earleygallery]

We're talking about adding a digital sensor to an existing R camera here. I'm not sure I see the value in adding 1-3,000 Euro/Pounds worth of kit to a camera which is nearly 30 yrs old and could suffer a shutter or other electrics failure - then what?

 

But most of all, why waste a perfectly good film camera when there are plenty of digital alternatives.

 

A 'new' DMR module for the R8/9 might be a different proposition however.

[farnz]

A question for owners of R series Leicas, specifically Film based R4's onward.

 

If your R series body could be retrofitted with a Leica quality Digital sensor allowing you to make digital photos using your old gear, would you be interested in purchasing it.?

If yes:

1.what would you think is a reasonable price point? ( specify Euros or $)

2.What is the minimal pixel resolution you think would make it worthwhile.?

 

Please don't send me any diatribes as to why it can't be done, or shouldn't be done. That's not the question. We are just looking for your opinion on this

 

Thanks for any feedback

Not quite sure what a "Leica quality Digital sensor" would be but anyhoo.

 

Providing that it was a full-frame Foveon sensor in an R8/9 body then, yes.

 

Price point: <£2,000 (a 5DII is less than £2,000 brand new)

Pixel resolution: 7 or 8 MP (with a Foveon sensor this equates to 21 to 24 MP on a CCD or CMOS sensor).

 

Pete.

[james.liam]

Leica's business model is hard to figure out and their missteps are monumental. They canceled the R series, finally released the full-frame M9 warts and all; not every M compatible lens performs appropriately on the body. The rangefinder audience is limited and in decline albeit fiercely loyal and as a business enterprise Leica would have been better served financially by working the R instead of tossing Heaps of cash into the extraordinary S series whose appeal is a small fraction of what an R-based full DSLR would have been. As for using converted R lenses on Nikons, stop-down metering on a pro Nikon SLR really isn't an issue since it meters flawlessly once the focal length and maximum f-stop are dialed in and MF is likewise simple. I own a D700 with an after-market split circle focusing screen and have so far converted 3 Leica R lenses with Leitax mounts. They are all unique and a breeze to use though not for sporting events or fast-moving children. Leica "missing the boat" has become a tradition now and they probably will do so again with EVIL cameras so M lenses will ultimately find their second life on these and micro 4/3 cameras instead of a Leica.

[stunsworth]

Leica would have been better served financially by working the R instead of tossing Heaps of cash into the extraordinary S series whose appeal is a small fraction of what an R-based full DSLR would have been

 

The two cameras were at totally different points on the development cycle. The S series was close to launch, the R wasn't.

[fernando_b]

>> If your R series body could be retrofitted .... would you be interested in purchasing it.?

Yes.

 

>> 1.what would you think is a reasonable price point? ( specify Euros or $)

3000 Euros

 

>> 2.What is the minimal pixel resolution you think would make it worthwhile.?

12M

 

Regards,

Fernando.

[james.liam]

The two cameras were at totally different points on the development cycle. The S series was close to launch, the R wasn't.

 

That's the whole point. Their long-range strategies have not always served them well.

[stunsworth]

That's the whole point. Their long-range strategies have not always served them well.

 

Their strategy was to develop the S2, then use its technology in the R10 and M9.

 

What scuppered their plans was the worst economic crash since the 1930s. Leica can hardly be blamed for - or expected to anticipate - that.

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[derek_stanton]

Their strategy was to develop the S2, then use its technology in the R10 and M9.

 

What scuppered their plans was the worst economic crash since the 1930s. Leica can hardly be blamed for - or expected to anticipate - that.

 

The problem is that they're not strong enough to deal with that. WE can hardly be blamed for taking a more secure position with companies who WILL be able to actualize their plans.

[stunsworth]

WE can hardly be blamed for taking a more secure position with companies who WILL be able to actualize their plans.

 

So buy Nikon or Canon if that's important to you. No big deal.