photokina - Your Questions To Leica

[Roberto V.]

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What's the future of Leica film cameras? Will we ever see new offerings from Leica in other formats?

[adan]

As a journalist, I would call Christian Erhardt's comment on current Leica film camera production (post #99) a "non-denial denial."

 

You'll note that everything he said - very careful phrasing - would still be true even if no film Leicas were being made at the time of his visit to Solms, none have been made since 2009, and Leica never produces another film body.

[esiegel]

I have two S2-P bodies and the three released lenses; given the plethora of new announcements and coming announcements from other manufacturers, including monster sensors and high-end computer processing, what news can we expect on the S2, S2.2, S3, etc. front and upgrade path to match? The lenses obviously will be current for years and the best optics I have ever used, including Hasselblad, but I am concerned about new bodies and potentially obsolescent equipment.

 

Many thanks,

EBS

[lct]

1. Can we expect to get a viewfinder with a larger window allowing the use of wider lenses with higher viewfinder magnification in a digital M?

2. Can we expect to get a 0.85x or larger magnification digital M someday?

3. Can we expect to get a longer based rangefinder on a digital M?

4. Can we expect to get a rangefinder using laser technology like Rangemasters or Geovids?

5. Will the "R solution" be based upon an EVIL platform

6. Will the "R solution" be based upon an APS or a full frame sensor?

7. Will we see a digital CL of some sort in a foreseeable future?

 

[giordano]

4. Can we expect to get a rangefinder using laser technology like Rangemasters or Geovids?

 

The laser technology in these devices isn't nearly accurate enough for general photography. They are accurate to within a metre at ranges from a few metres to a few hundred metres. To focus a Noctilux "perfectly" wide open on an M9, the rangefinder (and its mechanical coupling arrangements) needs to be accurate to within a few millimetres at one metre, or a few centimetres at three metres.

 

In other words orders of magnitude more precision are needed at close and middle distances. Laser rangefinders seem to be capable of this, but it's not just a matter of squeezing the guts of a Rangemaster into a camera body.

[lct]

Oh well thanks for the info.

[pierovitch]

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Could we have online print resolution brochures and product shots, for those with the printers and the bandwidth to make them look good in print.

[thrid]

Oh well thanks for the info.

 

You probably also don't want to shine a laser in your subject's eye, when you are focusing a portrait...

[thrid]

2) Can we look forward to a 28mm Summilux-M at some time in the near future?

 

Wilson

 

+1

[thrid]

Can Leica reduce the shutter lag on the X1?

There is a noticeable lag, between depressing the shutter release and the picture being taken (even if the cameras is prefocused etc). Apparently some of this has to do with the behavior of the iris and could perhaps be changed in the firmware.

 

Could Leica also add some more extensive scale focusing parameters to the X1?

Prefocus to 2m/3m/5m/10m/15m? Maybe take a look at something like a Ricoh GRD III? Again, this is something that could be done via a firmware upgrade.

[lct]

You probably also don't want to shine a laser in your subject's eye, when you are focusing a portrait...

Do i look like a newbie that much?

I happen to have a system like that with my Sony DSC-V1 and it works pretty well in low light and even at night.

Can be disabled easily so no problem at all.

Excerp of the user's manual below.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

[commissioneranthony]

Why is leica against video recording? 1080p would be great on an M9.Yes, I realize there might be a technical issue that restricts video capability, but it seems like every leica camera that isn't a pana-leica doesn't have video support (x1 included). I don't see how video recording is considered bloatware, it is a useful feature. If your gonna drop $5000+ on a M9, I'd be annoyed that it couldn't take video when even smartphones can take 720p now.

I'm all for a non-stupified video mode, for example like having just straight video recording mode, not some flashy menu setting where there's a video setting for fireworks, weddings, closeups, etc. A simple and barebones approach to video recording would do the leica M9 a whole deal of good.

[chaincondom]

Just curious to know if there is a Summicron 24mm in my future? Seems to be something missing between the 1.4 and 2.8, If you build it I will buy it!

 

Love my 35/2 and 75/2.

[redbaron]

Why is leica against video recording? 1080p would be great on an M9.Yes, I realize there might be a technical issue that restricts video capability, but it seems like every leica camera that isn't a pana-leica doesn't have video support (x1 included). I don't see how video recording is considered bloatware, it is a useful feature. If your gonna drop $5000+ on a M9, I'd be annoyed that it couldn't take video when even smartphones can take 720p now.

I'm all for a non-stupified video mode, for example like having just straight video recording mode, not some flashy menu setting where there's a video setting for fireworks, weddings, closeups, etc. A simple and barebones approach to video recording would do the leica M9 a whole deal of good.

 

Less is more, for some.

 

An M9 can't shoot video. Neither can a fish, vase, or goat, because of minor "technical" issues. But they all do exactly what they were designed for perfectly.

[davidhunternyc]

Will you please improve the Leica X1 skin?

 

There are already enough posts on the Leia X1 skin. Though the skin is technically not "vulcanite" (a hard nonresilient rubber), I call it that because the word has become synomous with the wrapping on cameras. The vulcanite on the X1 is instead made from some kind of plastic or vinyl. The posts, so far, on the X1 vulcanite have been about how it peels away from the camera. Granted, this is an alarming concern for a camera with the name "Leica" attatched to it. I have yet to have problems with my vulcanite but I have not had much heavy use with my camera yet.

 

This post has to do with the lack of quality that Leica has given to the X1 vulcanite. I remember the first time I uwrapped the X1 and was quite enamored with the whole process of opening the glorious X1 box (well, if cardboard can be "glorious"; we are not talking hardwood with dovetail joinery here). Then when I actually got to the camera, even before touching it, I was impressed with its teutonic efficiency (perhaps a bit let down by the plastic lens barrel). Yet, when I picked up the camera for the first time, I remember clearly being very disappointed with the feel of the vulcanite. It felt like hard plastic and was not at all satisfying to the touch. I immediately tapped it with my finger nail and the sound was what I expected; a hollow, high pitched, dull thud, like something you would hear by tapping a 99¢ beach pail. Dragging my finger nail across it was like scratching a chalk board. This, on a $2000 camera.

 

Well, image quality is the X1's trump card, isn't it? In a word, yes. For some, the fact that the X1 is the world's first compact camera accepted by Getty Images is justification enough of Leica's name. I do not agree. Leica's greatness is not only because of its photographic excellence but because of its industrial design pedigree. Leica's len's are lengendary. In this light, the vulcanite on the X1 is a catastrophic failure. It's like a M3 running through a Poloroid that kept on going.

 

To add insult to injury, I just discovered "JnK". They make beautiful and affordable full leather skins for micro 4 3rds cameras, and the prices are affordable. The backing of these real "leather" skins are made by 3M. This JnK skin makes the X1 skin look and feel a homework assignment in junior highschool. It's too bad. I am hoping that Leica will do a better job in the future, but I am not counting on it. Every once in a while the teacher needs to become the student. It's about time that Leica attends class:

 

!

 

_______________________________________________

[lct]

...I am hoping that Leica will do a better job in the future, but I am not counting on it...

Why so? The X1 is a novel product. Cosmetic improvements like the one you suggest will probably come soon or late.

[menos I M6]

Question:

 

1.) Is Leica committed, to aim the modern rangefinder camera system into the professional market, competing with big names as Conan and Nikon in fields, where the RF system has a sweet spot.

 

2.) Will Leica improve system accessories and introduce important features as light and compact, but powerful swivel head flash (SF58 is not exactly well handling on the small Leica)?

 

3.) Will there be a battery capacity extension bottom plate system in size similar to a Leicavit which can be used either for camera, external flash battery or both via power cord or even over the hot shoe?

 

4.) Will there be a "P" Press version of the digital Leica M with:

 

- improved, tougher LCD cover glass (don't tell me, you need extraordinairy expensive, custom made Schott cristal for that - Nikons cover glass is about perfect at a much lower price point)

- cost saving measures:

- no brass, but a tough, less expensive alloy,

- one standard powder coating - tough, cheap, environmental friendly,

- no tripod mount

- no USB connection

 

5.) Will there be a reliable service program for paying customers or agencies, that guarantees:

- quick service,

- loaner items within 24h for service period,

- supply priority for newly announced items

- service plan and extended warranties (get your service stamp a year and one year longer warranty manufacturing defects up to maximum x years)

 

I am not a professional, but I did follow some comments and interviews in the Leica world about the corporate marketing disturbing.

Most of which was an interview with a Japanese shop manager, clearly indicating Leica products being strongly aimed at the fashionable, the collectors, the corporate aficionados, but in no word hinted, to be thought of just a picture producing tool (and one of the most remarkable at that, as everyone here knows).

 

To me (and I could be entirely wrong), the Leica corporate image shows a newly risen traditional company, that happens, to have with clever ideas, tradition and timing in the last second (or even by luck) saved it's existence in producing the worlds best 35mm lenses and maintaining a traditional (but very valid and workable) concept of a still camera.

 

So far, the company (to my impression) is not aimed or even challenging the competitors yet, which in development have made big technological steps in professional still imaging, while Leica has been laid low. In my opinion, the Leica M has the full potential, to be seen in a big percentage at every press conference, event, but fails to do as of some missing backing of the usual customer.

 

I hope, the Leica remains not only a niche product, but a product, being named in one sentence with the other two big names.

 

I don't even dare to start, to think of a Leica 35 mm AF DSLR line, targeted technically and budget wise straight at Nikon and Canon.

 

The M is a great product, many professionals use it, but it is not my first thought of a professional camera system, when thinking about a M9, but an exotic or even expensive camera system, that of course can be also used professionally.

[marcbo]

May I make a suggestion?

 

why not a 36 mm x 36 mm camera as a successor to the M9? It only would take a square CCD chip? All M lenses would be used to their fullest . The square format is not an issue and neither is the telemeter . After that the sky is the limit:o

[wattsy]

May I make a suggestion?

 

why not a 36 mm x 36 mm camera as a successor to the M9? It only would take a square CCD chip? All M lenses would be used to their fullest .

 

I don't understand why you would want this? The current M lenses are not going to cover a 36mm x 36mm square. What is the point?

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Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[gautier]

What's the digital solution for R lenses?

+13