When Will Leica Come out with a NEW Digital Camera

[rollsman4]

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Whats happening with Leica in the Digital Market, They are still behind in technology and expensive in comparison to Nikon and Canon DSLR Pro cameras. I thought by now there would be a camera to compete with the Canon and Nikon 's. I am still waiting to spend my $$$ on a Leica, or maybe a Contax or any other German company. thanks, Rollsman

[cmb_]

Word is (rumor) that they will announce the R10 at photokina 2008 (September 23-28).

Until then there is the M8, the R9/DMR (both of which compete rather strongly with Canon and Nikon depending on the criteria one uses to judge the cameras), the Digilux 3, and three compact cameras (V-Lux 1, D-Lux 3, and C-Lux 2).

[rivi1969]

By the time Leica will released the R10 Canon/Nikon would have throw in the shelves a couple of new models, maybe with the 1500-2000 dlls with far better capabilities than the Leica... (of course the glass still will be the edge, in my case prefer by a wide margin the files I get from my L1 with the zoom+25mm f1.4 than with my D80+18-70mm+50mm 1.4)

 

Regards,

Ricardo

[Guest malland]

Whats happening with Leica in the Digital Market, They are still behind in technology and expensive in comparison to Nikon and Canon DSLR Pro cameras. I thought by now there would be a camera to compete with the Canon and Nikon 's. I am still waiting to spend my $$$ on a Leica, or maybe a Contax or any other German company. thanks, Rollsman

You've got to be joking: your main criterion for buying a camera is that is should be German? Earth to Rollsman: the Contax is no longer a German camera.

 

—Mitch/Paris

Flickr: Photos from Mitch Alland

[ptomsu]

Whats happening with Leica in the Digital Market, They are still behind in technology and expensive in comparison to Nikon and Canon DSLR Pro cameras. I thought by now there would be a camera to compete with the Canon and Nikon 's. I am still waiting to spend my $$$ on a Leica, or maybe a Contax or any other German company. thanks, Rollsman

 

Nice that you wait for a digital Leica DSLR, I am doing so as well.

 

I cannot see any rebirth of Contax in the medium future though. This brand was closed down by Kyocera (unfortunately) and it seems that they are not thinking of forwarding their licenses or patents to any other camera vendor. I would have hoped Sony had bought this instead of Konica/Minolta.

[graham_mitchell]

If you want an all-German camera, get what I've got: Rollei 6008AF (just been replaced by the Sinar Hy6 - even better) and a Sinar digital back (made by parent company Jenoptik)

 

Lenses made by Zeiss and Schneider. Lovely.

 

 

In what way is Leica behind Canon/Nikon? Last I saw the image quality of the DMR beat anything the others had to offer (still!) at lower ISOs.

[mgcd]

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In what way is Leica behind Canon/Nikon? Last I saw the image quality of the DMR beat anything the others had to offer (still!) at lower ISOs.

 

Precisely.

[telyt]

In what way is Leica behind Canon/Nikon? Last I saw the image quality of the DMR beat anything the others had to offer (still!) at lower ISOs.

 

Agreed. Leica would have to downgrade the bit depth to 12 or 14 bits to compete with C or N

[robsteve]

I think this like other similar threads on the Leica SLR should be renamed "When will Leica bring out an inexpensive DSLR at a price Like a Canon 5D or Nikon D200?"

 

The answer to that question is never.

 

The Leica SLRs have always been priced just a bit over the professional SLRs of other manufacturers. For example, a R9 and DMR combo when bought with the rebate was about the same price as the EOS 1ds MKII.

[sdai]

As many have pointed out over and over again, Leica may have always considered the used market as their inexpensive solution ... this strategy should work out especially well in the digital age.

[ruiespanhol]

As many have pointed out over and over again, Leica may have always considered the used market as their inexpensive solution ... this strategy should work out especially well in the digital age.

 

So how you explain that Leica was in 2005 in bankrupt?

In time of film cameras it was no big problem to spend lot´s of money in one Leica camera because the tecnh. can´t change so much in many years but now whit digital is diferent story.

Now every day tech. changes very quickly and no make any sense to spend lots of money in one digital camera from Leica that run outdate very quickly.

It was time to Leica made one R digital more affordable not at same price of Canon or Nikon because I know it was impossible for Leica due the small batch production and size of the company but just litle more expensive(not much) if they want to survive and stay out of bankrupt.

 

Best,

[Bo_Lorentzen]

Good Morning Rui,

 

I beg to dissagree with the above statement.!

 

In the old days of film photography, we consumed a few expensive camera boddies every say 8-10 years... however most professionals probably consumed in excess of say $3000 in film and processing each year.

 

In todays digital world, we no longer consume the film and processing - personally I have seen this budget directly transfered to hardware.

 

This have afforded me a luxury of lenses and tools - and more importantly money to comfortably buy new exciting camera bodies... that is as these slowly approches the dynamic range of a roll of 100 iso negative film ha ha. personally I would be happy with a noisefree 8megapix camera with great dynamic range.... but noooo. the newest is still more pixels and still contrasty.

 

Well just my two cents.

 

Bo

[lennycam]

I was one of those people that put a deposit on the DMR a year before it came out, and when it finally was available, before i bought one, i asked the leica rep to let me test his one day to make sure i liked what i was getting. maybe i did not do enough tests, or maybe it was too early in production, but i cancelled my deposit and bough a nikon d2x, my first digital camera. i later switched to canon after seeing my friends using the 5d and really liking the look of it. little by little i have been selling my r lenses, first went the 400/4 modular, then the 100 macro, and now i am selling my 19mm (i am holding on to the 35/50/80/180/280 just in case). I tried the novoflex leica/canon adapter, but the focus was bad 50% of the shots, and taking if off was really hard if not impossible without breaking it. I am very happy with my 5d and the few choice prime lenses i have bought for it (not a fan of zooms, i do have 3, but not my favorite lenses) but i still wait and hope that Leica will make a R10 that will make operating and financial sense. (i say in the $5,000 to $6,000 is the most I would want to pay for such a camera, and it better be great)

 

One more thing, am i the only one that has a problem with the M8's noisy shutter action? i would have rather have a manual winding mechanism than this horrific sounding thing! it is a digital camera, for heaven's sake, shouldn't it be a little quieter? or at least as quiet as my M7? i don't get that, and as much as i would love to have a digital M camera, i can't live with that clutsy shutter, it almost seems sacrilegious!! is there hope for a M8m, as in M8 mechanical?

[giordano]

is there hope for a M8m, as in M8 mechanical?

 

Probably not. If you look here http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m8-forum/21331-anatomy-leica-m8.html you'll see that there's not enough room inside the M8 for a traditional M shutter.

 

I don't like the M8 noise either - but in practice people don't seem to notice it any more than they do a traditional M. Maybe when photographing a Quaker meeting room?

[FastFashnReloaded]

Whats happening with Leica in the Digital Market, They are still behind in technology and expensive in comparison to Nikon and Canon DSLR Pro cameras. I thought by now there would be a camera to compete with the Canon and Nikon 's. I am still waiting to spend my $$$ on a Leica, or maybe a Contax or any other German company. thanks, Rollsman

 

Ya...

 

The last update on the Contax web site is here:

 

ContaxUSA | Promotions

 

Where have you been sleeping for the past three years? Jaysus H...

 

Now, perhaps you meant Zeiss?

 

https://photo-shop.zeiss.com/welcome

[Jamie Roberts]

Probably not. If you look here http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m8-forum/21331-anatomy-leica-m8.html you'll see that there's not enough room inside the M8 for a traditional M shutter.

 

I don't like the M8 noise either - but in practice people don't seem to notice it any more than they do a traditional M. Maybe when photographing a Quaker meeting room?

 

...Perhaps because in practice, at a distance (like minimum focus distance) there is virtually no difference between the click of my m3 and m6 and the click whirr of the M8.

 

At your ear, there is a tremendous difference. In a still room, from a subject perspective? Not so much IMO.

[elansprint72]

...Perhaps because in practice, at a distance (like minimum focus distance) there is virtually no difference between the click of my m3 and m6 and the click whirr of the M8.

 

At your ear, there is a tremendous difference. In a still room, from a subject perspective? Not so much IMO.

 

If you want quiet, get a Digilux 2.

[lennycam]

(Probably not. If you look here http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m8-forum/21331-anatomy-leica-m8.html you'll see that there's not enough room inside the M8 for a traditional M shutter.)

 

thanks so much for the link, it was very interesting to see the inside of the M8. but i did see space, in the bottom, for a mechanical winder, a la leicavit m. i would be happy with that.