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Leica EVIL


kdriceman

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I'll repost this link I originally saw on a local dealer's site. It's an exclusive interview with Stefan Daniel, Leica's Director of Product Management: Exclusive: Leica Interview – October 2011 • MegaPixel

 

At least an APS sensor, and Daniel is in favour of EVFs. But no indication of date. My pick is an X1 successor with interchangeable lenses. I do hope it retains the traditional easy-to-use shutter dial aperture and aperture ring configuration, and top-quality primes including an ultra wide. Or, at least manual zoom starting at 24.

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I hope, it will be a successor of the M8 with APS-H. Leica lenses (circle 43.2 mm) for APS-C (circle 28.8 mm) is throwing away excellent engineering quality. In surface calculated services APS-C less than 50%!

 

Isn't a broad format 16:9 (36 x 20 mm) thinkable? It is always possible to crop to 3:2.

Jan

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I hope, it will be a successor of the M8 with APS-H. Leica lenses (circle 43.2 mm) for APS-C (circle 28.8 mm) is throwing away excellent engineering quality. In surface calculated services APS-C less than 50%!

 

Isn't a broad format 16:9 (36 x 20 mm) thinkable? It is always possible to crop to 3:2.

Jan

 

The new EVIL camera will certainly be AF and will certainly have its own range of lenses.

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The new EVIL camera will certainly be AF and will certainly have its own range of lenses.

 

AF could be realized inside the body. M-lenses could be used ("supported") still.

There is plenty room, if one sees the helicoid adapter for the NEX.

Problems however arise with the lenses with moving elements. Focus shift does not exist with EVILs.

It is an investment to develop a parallel range of AF-lenses with a new mount. But the situation is better than

at the time of the start of the M8.

Jan

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What is everyone's best guess on when EVIL will be launched
Alfred Schopf had originally hinted at a photokina 2012 announcement (“It's more than an idea. You will see something at the next Photokina.”), but that was months ago; whether there have been any changes to the schedule is anyone’s guess.

 

will it be APS-C or FF?

Either one or the other, or something in between. 3:2 aspect ratio, most likely.

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:rolleyes:In body AF??? A 50 mm lens moves about 10 mm as it focusses, a 135 considerably more. That would be a funny-looking M camera resulting...

 

A lens of 50mm with an extension of 10mm means a subject distance of 300 mm. That is close.

Huygens: 1/f = 1/v + 1/b with focus, voorwerpafstand (subject distance), beeldafstand (picture distance).

 

The title of this thread is EVIL, not M. So every form factor is allowed.

Perhaps do we wait, what the wizards in Solms develop. They have to earn money with their products, each one of us can only order a minor number of pieces or stay with Ricoh.:)

Jan

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Jan, we have been here before with Kyocera.

 

They couldn't make it work with all their experience of ceramics. The AX was a Marlon Brando of a camera, bloated, hard to understand and a shadow of it's former self. I used Contax extensively at the time and the AX was their big mistake.

 

Regards,

 

Bill

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The title of this thread is EVIL, not M. So every form factor is allowed.

Any form factor is allowed but you better build it so people will buy it. In-body-AF has all kinds of disadvantages, the only advantage being that you could autofocus using existing M lenses. That, however, would imply that the EVIL camera had to be larger than a digital M by about 20 mm at least (and that’s just for a 135 mm lens; surely one would want to use longer focal lengths). Not an attractive proposition, especially when EVIL cameras have come to be associated with being relatively small.

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The Contax AX is old news, but the concept of in body auto focus would be a huge bonus to Leica M lens users. Many are complaining about long lenses and auto focus. Most M users prize focal lengths below 75mm, and frequently shoot 50mm and wider. For 50mm and wider, auto focus would be fantastic, especially with lenses like the Noctilux. You could take the Noctilux in situations where you could never have used that lens before, and open a whole new way of using it as well as exciting new images. On the technology side: We are approaching 2012 and the Contax AX was made in a time where technology is nowhere near advanced where it is today. I believe you could make a reliable moving sensor device with what we have today.

 

Just imagine a world where your massive investment in M lenses can be used for ANY photographic situation and you would not need a second DSLR system. This would save the photographer money and increase the usefulness and value of a M lens investment. It may also create first time customers for Leica products for many, and may just bring Leica back to where they were when the first M series cameras were made. Lets not kid ourselves. Modern M glass IS among the best in the world, and in many cases THE best. Read this:

 

Sony NEX-7 Rolling Review

 

 

You can see how superior the Leica M glass is. to bring M lenses to their full potential and to new worlds of photography, and to enlarge their customer base, Leica MUST make an autofocus EVIL camera!!!!

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The Contax AX is old news, but the concept of in body auto focus would be a huge bonus to Leica M lens users.

Not really. There are limitations inherent in the rangefinder concept, namely that rangefinder-style manual focusing doesn’t work for either macro shots or long focal lengths. But a camery supporting in-body AF would either share just the same limitations or else have to be seriously bulky. It makes no sense.

 

Suppose the M10 would support live-view on its display (a larger and higher resolution display than the one we know) or an optional EVF, including optional magnification and maybe peaking or something similar. On top of the traditional rangefinder mechanism of course. This would be much simpler to implement and it would allow for both macro shots and focusing telephoto lenses. Still the changes to the classic design would be minimal; you could ignore the options and the camera would handle just like the M9.

 

M lenses are for the M system. Sure you can adapt your M lenses to EVIL bodies and when Leica introduces their own EVIL system they won’t go out of their way to prevent the use of M-mount lenses. They might even offer an adapter supporting 8-bit coding. But I don’t see Leica introducing a camera that was a full-fledged alternative to a digital M when they could just build a better M instead.

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The new EVIL camera will certainly be AF and will certainly have its own range of lenses.

 

How is - in our crystal balls - the idea of a new range of lenses? With built-in AF and no rangefinder coupling.

For a camera like the X1 (no rangefinder mechanism) with an EVF and with APS-C or APS-H.

 

Parallel to an M10 with rangefinder. A new line called EVIL with lenses incompatible to M.

Please think of the wished increasing market share.

Jan

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How about a hybrid approach.

Old lenses one can prefocus, by just getting it close enough ( green light), for AF to take over.

The focusing system in camera could be limited to let's say few mm of the lens or sensor movement .

And then, there naturally there would be a new line of lenses with full range of AF.

Jan

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