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IR compensation sensor ( for M9 ) possible ?


mym6is12

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Is this possible ?

 

Take what's done with layers of semi-transparent photodiodes (like Foveon ).

Then add an additional bottom layer that is long-wavelength IR sensitive only ( and use it to offset charge for the diode above )

 

This could be applied as an additional layer to the 4 site 'Kodak' white-RGB ; 3 site Bayer or 3-layered Foveon sensors.

 

( This thread made me think about it - so I first posted the idea there first )

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More then likely when and if there is a M9 it will have a new type of sensor altogether.

I wouldn't expect to see a M9 for at least 2-5 years, from now.

I would also suspect the body to get thinner, back to the width/thickness of the M3/M4 because by then all processing will be on one chip. You know everything is always getting smaller.

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I agree than an M9 doesn't make much sense unless and until there's a step change in sensor technology. Whether it can ever get back to being as thin as an M7 is another matter.

 

Mark I have never held a M7, or 6 for that matter, but I thought the M7 was thicker then the earlier M's. Having something to do with the A mode and the shutter.

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You would mind as soon as you compared the results...

 

Hi Jaap

Absolutely - after 2 years struggling with cyan/magenta shifts on the Kodak SLR, I realise every day what a good decision Leica made in keeping the IR filter thin. IMHO the only mistake they made was not being up-front about the need for the filters in the first place.

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Ed, the M6 and the M7 main bodies are the same thickness, ignoring protruding knobs and buttons. The film speed dial in both protrudes behind the main casting.

 

In these cameras, the film to lens flange distance is 28mm and the lens flange sits flush with the front of the camera. The depth of the base plate is 32mm and there's a rear extension of the casting of 2mm beyond the base plate to accomodate the speed setting dial, making 34mm in all. In effect, the back of the camera is 6mm behind the focal plane.

 

In the M8, it turns out they needed a total of 12mm behind the focal plane to accomodate the sensor, it's board, the electronics board behind it and the LCD display, as Jaap says.

 

How to provide that extra 6mm? Well, they could have made the body a corpulent 40mm deep, they could add 6mm to the rear extention, making it difficult to get your eye close to the viewfinder without imprinting the camera on your cheekbone, or they could move the lens mount forward as Epson did (and pointed out by Andy ages ago) with the R-D1.

 

In the end, they did all three. They increased the body depth by 3mm (making the depth of the base plate 35mm), they moved the lens mount forwards by 2mm (which allows the sensor to sit further forwards as well, creating more space but potentially upsetting the rangefinder coupling and the use of goggled lenses/macro adapters) and they added 1mm to the rear extension which houses the buttons, thumb wheel and LCD display.

 

To get back to the thickness of the M6/7, which I would like, they either need to reducing the packaging depth requirements behind the sensor or allow the lens mount to sit still further forwards. Hold an M6 and an M8 side by side and the M8 is a bit of a porker by comparison...

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IMHO the only mistake they made was not being up-front about the need for the filters in the first place.

 

I do so agree. Where the IR filters are regarded as a solution to a problem, they could so easily have taken the position that with the Leica Digital M, the optical system starts with a conditioning filter, then the lens, then the sensor and the lens coding integrates the lens with the camera's electronics and software. All part of making the lens "digital ready".

 

At the time, we would have said, that sounds interesting, sign me up, instead of which a problem discovered in the field turns into a crisis.

 

If Leica can do one thing, it is to revamp their announcements. True, something may be lost in translation but my reading of the German versions tells me they are equally abstruce.

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I do so agree. Where the IR filters are regarded as a solution to a problem, they could so easily have taken the position that with the Leica Digital M, the optical system starts with a conditioning filter, then the lens, then the sensor and the lens coding integrates the lens with the camera's electronics and software. All part of making the lens "digital ready".

 

At the time, we would have said, that sounds interesting, sign me up, instead of which a problem discovered in the filed turns into a crisis.

 

If Leica can do one thing, it is to revamp their announcements. True, something may be lost in translation but my reading of the German versions tells me they are equally abstruce.

HI Mark

I hope you're well.

Truth be told, I don't really think that they knew quite how bad the issue was going to be - it's almost incomprehensible with hindsight (but isn't anything). When you're looking at how good something is, it's so easy to miss something as simple as a purple tuxedo:) .

As for the announcements, I sometimes wonder whether the style isn't perfectly matched to their clientele (at least, to their traditional clientele).

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