End of the R9

[Blunderer]

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For you info - just seen the latest Amateur photographer, in which it said that Leica had confirmed to them that they won't be producing any more R9 cameras

 

Apparently Leica haven't announced this on their web-site for fear of it impacting on the sales of the remaining cameras.

[masjah]

To quote the AP piece: "Leica has quietly 'phased out' its Digital-Modul-R digital back less than two years after its launch but confirmed that the Leica R9 camera system will remain."

 

The AP article says only that the DMR is not in priduction, not the R9 itself.

[ho_co]

Not likely to officially kill the R9 with photokina almost two years away.

 

And I question the terminology "Leica has quietly 'phased out' its Digital-Modul-R...." Not that "quietly," it seems to me. They've been pretty up-front about the discontinuance and the reasons for it, as in the editorial on p 4 of LFI 3/2007. Not strictly the voice of Leica, but appearing in a semi-house organ.

 

--HC

[mgcd]

Sounds like misinformation to me...

[Ivar B]

To quote the AP piece: "Leica has quietly 'phased out' its Digital-Modul-R digital back less than two years after its launch but confirmed that the Leica R9 camera system will remain."

 

The AP article says only that the DMR is not in priduction, not the R9 itself.

 

It is probably safe to assume that for all practical purposes R9 sales are minute these days. In a separathe thread, many members are asking what the dramatic price cuts on R lenses and the R9 body signify. Many of course wonder if the whole R line will be scrapped. This state of affairs does no one any good.

 

In such a situation with lots of rumours flying around, a responsible supplier should reassure that market. If Leica indeed decides to develop a new digital R which is compatible with the existing stock of lenses, let us know. If not, I would like to know that too. I just sold my R9, but I kept 4 lenses hoping that there will be a body in a year or two which will take these lenses. Meanwhile, my MP serves me well.

 

If a future digial R is not 100 % compatible with existing R lenses, I would not even consider a digital R.

[rob_x2004]

What sort of price cuts are on R lenses? The only prices I see for new R are staggering?

[telewatt]

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The next year there will be new cameras, but I think and that is a personal thinking...

they will go the same way like with the M-Leicas.... ..a new R-Digital camera with new lenses and a new R-camera for non AF Objektives.. ..more the Leicaflex SL2/R6.2 style..

 

regards,

Jan

[thrid]

What ever is in the works, lets hope that Leica is smart enough to NOT devote themselves to the 4/3rds format, which is a technological dead end. It will be a cold day in hell, before anyone will get good high ISO performance out of a chip with such tiny receptors.

[hpu]

What ever is in the works, lets hope that Leica is smart enough to NOT devote themselves to the 4/3rds format, which is a technological dead end. It will be a cold day in hell, before anyone will get good high ISO performance out of a chip with such tiny receptors.

 

What is actually wrong with the 4/3 format? I have now the Digilux 3with which I am very very happy. It serves me right. Still I can get OLY lenses which are, in my opinion, not wrong for a amateur.

[Ivar B]

What sort of price cuts are on R lenses? The only prices I see for new R are staggering?

 

In a separate thread:

 

http://www.leica-camera-user.com/customer-forum/22923-future-r-series.html

 

you will find that some UK dealers offered Leica R equipment with a 50 % discount, not just on the "old" lenses but also on the modern designs.

 

If I had bought a lens like, say, the 70 - 180 and found it at half price the week after, I would have been quite upset.

 

In my home country, Norway, you can only get Leica R by special order, and I would be surprised if any dealer has sold anything new at all for a year or so,

[thrid]

What is actually wrong with the 4/3 format? I have now the Digilux 3with which I am very very happy. It serves me right. Still I can get OLY lenses which are, in my opinion, not wrong for a amateur.

 

The problem has to do with the available surface area on the sensor and how that affects the size of the receptors. As you increase the megapixel count you are fitting more and more receptors into the same size sensor. Thus the individual receptors have to be made smaller. The smaller the receptor the more limited the dynamic range and the greater the noise will be as the asa value increases. Even at 6 and 8 megapixles the 4/3rds system is unable to deliver clean high iso images comparable to what Nikon and Canon are delivering with bigger ASP size chips. This will only get worse as across the market the megapixel count goes up and the demand for less noise increases.

 

4/3rds came about a few years ago, as a more economical alternative to the APS size chips. But since then the industry has been able to reduce the production costs of sensors to the point that you can buy a fullframe Canon 5D for the cost of a APS size D30 from a few years ago.

 

So, if Leica really wants to deliver top image quality they are heading down the wrong path with the 4/3rds concept. The chip is simply too small to meet the future demands of the market. They need to go at least APS-H, (as is found in the DMR, M8 and Canon 1D mkIII etc) or even better fullframe for their pro line and at a minimum APS for their prosumer models.