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Now that Nikon, Canon, Panasonic & Sigma has joined into the Mirrorless market. I highly suspect that Canon & Nikon are shifting their DSLR product line over to Mirrorless over time as it calls for repurchase of camera & lenses although an adapter can allow mirror less camera users to utilise DSLR lenses. Others see it as an opportunity to take on some of Canon & Nikon user market along the conversion to mirror less process.

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Let's hope that Leica uses this as an opportunity to further develop their "das wesentliche" philosophy. Given that there is now another SL mount camera that is overloaded with buttons and tries to do everything, perhaps the next SL can have video deleted, make the camera body smaller, and make it more minimalist. 

:lol:  :lol:  :lol: That is M territory...  

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Video delete button I support.

 

No to reducing camera size. Firstly, the SL lenses are not compact, reducing the camera dimension does not have an overall effect impactful to user. More importantly, the M camera has a shorter Long exposure than SL due to overheating sited as the reason due to camera dimension and poor heat dissipation property. Reducing the SL size will kill the landscape photography application and reduce the camera’s functionality.

 

Interesting. I like the small sizes of the M (and LTM) lenses.

 

IBIS would make the heat dissipation even worse with its free hanging and actuated sensor. See discussions in the FM forum, Sony division.

Jan

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Mike Owen states in this interview that Panasonic is chasing Nikon and Canon professional sales and is also setting up a Lumix professional support network 

 

That's interesting. I was recently emailed by a friend who had broken a Panasonic lens and wondered who to send it to. I had to do a web search myself and its the manufacturer or a few other repairers. It would make great sense to have 'cross platform' (L-mount) repair facilities to me.

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Let's hope that Leica uses this as an opportunity to further develop their "das wesentliche" philosophy. Given that there is now another SL mount camera that is overloaded with buttons and tries to do everything, perhaps the next SL can have video deleted, make the camera body smaller, and make it more minimalist. 

 

Haha, the "Das Wesentliche" excuse again ;). I doubt there will be another SL in the future, but if Leica indeed does so, it will sell even less than the current model due to the competition with Panasonic in such case. 

The photo market is changing quickly, and I applaud Leica that it now tries to do the same and to keep up with technology and doesn't try to reinvent the wheel in regard to electronics where other companies (Panasonic, Sony etc) are miles ahead. 

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Just wait for the SL2 ;) It may not sell to you, but the L partners are without doubt serious about product differentiation. Leica M cameras have always sold better than Bessa or Zeiss rangefinders, despite the same mount and a substantial price difference. The "miles ahead in electronics" is a hoary old chestnut. They buy them either from one another or from the same Chinese and Indian suppliers.

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Just wait for the SL2 ;) It may not sell to you, but the L partners are without doubt serious about product differentiation. Leica M cameras have always sold better than Bessa or Zeiss rangefinders, despite the same mount and a substantial price difference. The "miles ahead in electronics" is a hoary old chestnut. They buy them either from one another or from the same Chinese and Indian suppliers.

 

The sensors are not bought from sporadic Chinese or Indian suppliers ;). But other electronics certainly are like with everything these days. Digital Leica M cameras still sell for the outrageously high prices since there is no competition - up to now with the just released Zenit camera (which is also not cheap and still made in collaboration with Leica). I also expect the Leica M to continue as it is since it is a good seller for Leica - here I agree. 

Edited by Martin B
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The sensors are not bought from sporadic Chinese or Indian suppliers ;). But other electronics certainly are like with everything these days. Digital Leica M cameras still sell for the outrageously high prices since there is no competition - up to now with the just released Zenit camera (which is also not cheap and still made in collaboration with Leica). I also expect the Leica M to continue as it is since it is a good seller for Leica - here I agree. 

 

 

Part of the 'high prices' is due to the actual production cost for the optical rangefinder … it's a precision component manufactured to exacting standards.

 

dunk 

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Digital Leica M cameras still sell for the outrageously high prices since there is no competition. 

 

Well there is no reason why another company couldn't compete. Unless costs are too high and potential sales too low to make a cheaper RF camera worthwhile :o. Something to ponder.

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Part of the 'high prices' is due to the actual production cost for the optical rangefinder … it's a precision component manufactured to exacting standards.

 

dunk 

 

Suuuuure.....I rather believe the manufacturing cost is 40% or less of the sales price of the digital rangefinder M cameras. But hey, if people pay for it, it's not my problem!

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I wonder what Yosuke Yamane means by the ‘new AI autofocus system.’ Below is a paper I found on automatically constructed machine-learning-based algorithms for CDAF in order “to find the lens position that corresponds to the image with the maximum or highest peak of the focus measure φ(p) over some set of lens positions p ∈ {a,a + 1,...,b}.” He could mean that.

 

Such algorithms coupled with the new Venus processing engine would result in significant speed improvement for the S1’s and S1R’s DFD-AF system. Very exciting.

 

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0955/06fe4a8a006dfa222903528c427e7554eec4.pdf

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Well there is no reason why another company couldn't compete. Unless costs are too high and potential sales too low to make a cheaper RF camera worthwhile :o. Something to ponder.

 

Yes. In the film days, there were several other companies making quite nice and reliable rangefinder cameras, too. But currently Leica has a monopoly for the digital rangefinder cameras - maybe there is some patent restriction which would make it hard for potential competitors? I really doubt it is the cost of manufacturing - Chinese/Japanese companies could easily make this kind of system, too. Probably it is more a thing of low demand - not worthwhile at this point for others to vest into this kind of technology with availability of P&S, DSLRs, and now even MLCs. For a kickstarter initiative it might be too cumbersome to develop. 

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Suuuuure.....I rather believe the manufacturing cost is 40% or less of the sales price of the digital rangefinder M cameras. But hey, if people pay for it, it's not my problem!

With the sensor alone costing (net) 1800 Euro and the RF mechanism over 1000 to build? I think this post comes into the "I wish" category.

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Suuuuure.....I rather believe the manufacturing cost is 40% or less of the sales price of the digital rangefinder M cameras. But hey, if people pay for it, it's not my problem!

Is this different than other high end digital cameras? The claim wasn’t that they are selling at cost or at low margin. The alternative is to have no digital rangefinders on the market. We are almost there.

 

The manufacturers should sell at whatever price they deem appropriate. Consumers can choose not to buy and exert pressure.

 

I would like to spend less for everything I own but I also recognize I have chosen to buy what I have. Because of this complaining about price or even commenting it to be too high is not logical for anything outside staple goods.

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