How much would you pay for the Leica R10 DSLR?

[leicapages]

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Everything else than a full-frame digital R10 I would probably prefer to stay away from... and it would seduce me to look at a Hasselblad H3D instead ;-)

[stevelap]

my dealer in melbourne tells me it will be aud 20000+ as it is a 20 megapixel camera meant to compete with medium format

 

Just a thought, and meant to be nothing more than harmless speculation, so no need for anyone to break out the worry balls just yet....

 

A while ago we heard from someone at the LHSA that Leica top-brass had hinted at a 'full frame or larger' R9 replacement. If we assume for the moment that this is going to happen, it could indeed be that this camera eventually surfaces as an ultra expensive (almost a certainty, this is Leica after all!) near medium format IQ camera.

 

Now that (for the sake of clarity let's call it the 'R10') would be a superb camera I'm sure, but what of the price differential such a strategy would leave between it and both Leica's and their competitors other dslr offerings? Well, a large price gap is of course a marketing opportunity waiting to be filled, perhaps one that Leica might decide to fill with a suitable product based on it's ties with Panasonic and the 4/3rd's consortium.

Depending upon Leica's future stance on the financial v brand dilution argument, this could evolve into a second tier Leica dslr (again, for clarity let's call it the Didilux 4) based upon the recently released Olympus E3 and it's Panasonic cousin. Such a camera would still have more than a whiff of badge engineering about it of course, hence the finance v brand argument, but early reports suggest that the E3 at least is shaping up to be a good product.

 

Personally I'm looking forward to welcoming the R10 as a full frame replacement for the R9/DMR, but if it's price goes stratospheric might there just be room for something else, dslr, beneath it?

[lct]

...I don't expect to a monster R camera ... despite the Bigger is Better thread I've started...

He he! so you don't want a Godzilla Leica any more do you.

Why not 28x36 if it does not alter backward compatibility, otherwise 24x36 is enough for me.

[leicapages]

I realize that we are in the realm of pure speculation here, but it the next digital R were indeed 20 megapixels aimed at near MF quality, I doubt it would be able to compete at all. Its price would probably put it quite close to current digital MF offerings, and moreover, I doubt the image quality would be in the same league. Too many limitations inherent to the 35mm design. Even the lenses would most likely not be able to beat the quality obtained with Hasselblad H lenses for instance. I guess there is no way that 35mm, be it analogue or digital, can ultimately compete with MF, at least in terms of obtaining the highest possible image quality. Of course, there may be quite other reasons to opt for 35mm rather than MF, but that's another matter.

[4season]

my dealer in melbourne tells me it will be aud 20000+ as it is a 20 megapixel camera meant to compete with medium format

 

Your dealer is telling you that he doesn't want you waiting 12-18 months to make your purchasing decision when he's got shiny new Nikons and Canons to sell you today I think 20K AUD (~17K USD) for a single piece of photographic equipment is already well beyond most Leica user's comfort zone.

[sdai]

He he! so you don't want a Godzilla Leica any more do you.

Why not 28x36 if it does not alter backward compatibility, otherwise 24x36 is enough for me.

 

Just to clarify ... I've not problem with Godzilla cameras but the form factor of current H3D et al just doesn't fit my needs and I want to be able to use my R lenses, they can do a godzilla camera for others who like it but I'm looking forward to accepting some sort of compromise between quality and "mobility".

 

28x35 is definitely doable without tweaking a lot of stuff ... if you take one R camera apart and measure things you'll know what I'm talking about ...

 

However, this is not my camera company so I could only wait ... and see.

[hankg]

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Your dealer is telling you that he doesn't want you waiting 12-18 months to make your purchasing decision when he's got shiny new Nikons and Canons to sell you today I think 20K AUD (~17K USD) for a single piece of photographic equipment is already well beyond most Leica user's comfort zone.

 

Well if its a $17,000USD camera then they are not making it for R and DMR owners. They would have to hope pro photographers are ready to dump their Phase and Leaf backs for Leica. That's a pretty risky move. I think if it's a 20+ MP bigger then full frame camera it will have to come in at the price of the 22MP Canon 1Ds MKIII. That would get it a chunk of the R market and a shot at a piece of the 1 Ds and lower end of the MF market assuming the camera is done right.

[rsolomon]

i would not pay 17,000 usd..... i might pay a little less then half of that..... $7500 usd, however before any of that i have to want it...... and to want it means it needs to be significantly better in some way....or deleiver significantly better image quality..

[bono0272]

How much is the price for a Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III in the States?

[telyt]

How much is the price for a Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III in the States?

 

About US$8,000 at B&H.

[bono0272]

About US$8,000 at B&H.

 

If the price of the R10 is within 20% around the EOS 1Ds Mark III, that would be very competitive, of course provided that the R10 is at least a FF camera with higher pixels than the DMR.

[Stuart Richardson]

I realize that we are in the realm of pure speculation here, but it the next digital R were indeed 20 megapixels aimed at near MF quality, I doubt it would be able to compete at all. Its price would probably put it quite close to current digital MF offerings, and moreover, I doubt the image quality would be in the same league. Too many limitations inherent to the 35mm design. Even the lenses would most likely not be able to beat the quality obtained with Hasselblad H lenses for instance. I guess there is no way that 35mm, be it analogue or digital, can ultimately compete with MF, at least in terms of obtaining the highest possible image quality. Of course, there may be quite other reasons to opt for 35mm rather than MF, but that's another matter.

 

What makes you think H lenses are any better than R lenses? I am just curious, as the standard mantra has always been that 35mm lenses can be built with much higher performance than medium format ones. I use Leica R along with a Hasselblad 200 and Rollei 6000 series lenses, and while the medium format lenses look better because of the larger film, there is no question that the Leica R lenses outperform them handily given the same image area. Are you talking about the "digital lens correction" stuff in the H series? Because that could just as easily be done with Leica R, but I don't think it needs it...

[R10dreamer]

Leica is in the lens business. Camera's are just the means by which they can sell their lenses. That said, the new R10 should not cost more than $6,000. Unless of course it is FF, 20mp, light, handle 8gig cards, backward compatible with all R lenses, autofocus compatible with all NEW R lenses AND free of electronic glitches.

 

I love my DMR. I think that it takes unbelievable quality prints. But for $6,000+ they better be even with the existing technology - not three years behind like they have been in the digital past.

[kobold]

Like mark, I will be getting to know a D3 and the two new wide and short zooms over Christmas.

 

Assuming FF (possibly larger), the R10 price will be the same, or less, than the 1DMkIII, I feel. And on that note, I expect that the MkIII will come down in price, too, over the next year.

 

For me, the R9/DMR was disappointing. I had a lot of money tied up in R lenses, as some might recall, but until the DMR, all lenses were used on a 1Ds and a 5D via adapters. R glass is excellent, of course, but MF.

 

Too much of my work requires AF and—sorry to say this—client's expectations are changing as the technology changes. AF is improving, even for my litmus test, portraiture. I think the D3 will be a winner in this regard.

 

For some work, MF is perfectly suitable. For other work, MF is much harder to use. For me personally, Leica-R means exquisite glass, somewhat problematic bodies (and attendant software) and all this means that even if the R10 was reasonably priced, I would not be inclined to reinvest in the system at this point.

 

Re. robsteve's comment: that's a safe bet! cheers to all.