MF Leica

[R10dreamer]

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I, for one, will be very happy when all of this speculation is over and we can talk about the facts of a new (hopefully) Leica professional level SLR.

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The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[topoxforddoc]

Well, that's why I've just bought another DMR as a backup. I'm an amateur, and so I don't always need two working bodies. One will do; so hopefully, the pair should last me quite a while.

 

What's keeping me in the R line - the glass! The 180 cron and 280 APO are just spectacular tele lenses. Why move when you have these gems?

 

Charlie

[mjh]

They have or will have:

1. medium format

2. R-Mount (with DMR)

3. M-mount

4. FT

5. possibly Micro FT

6. compact model V-Lux size

7. compact model smaller than V-Lux sized camera

8. smallest compact model (C-Lux)

4. The Digilux 3 will continue to be available, as well as the FourThirds lenses marketed by Panasonic, but there will be no active development in the near future at least.

 

5. Leica says no. Neither Micro FourThirds bodies nor lenses.

 

6. Being based on the Panasonic DMC-FZ50 which is a bit long in the tooth, I suppose the V-Lux will be phased-out soon. It looks like Panasonic will announce a successor based on the Micro FourThirds standard at photokina, so as long as Leica doesn’t support Micro FourThirds, there won’t be a V-Lux 2.

 

7/8. It would be silly not to introduce new re-badged Panasonic digicams. It’s easy money.

[Bob Ross]

Hi Michael,

Where are you getting your information about Leica's FT & MFT policies? You make it sound like fact and I haven't seen any published information to that effect. Dr. Kaufmann was quoted as saying that they were sorting their product lines and that he wasn't sure about FT, but I have heard nothing more along those lines. Leica is still shown as a member of the FT group on the Four thirds.org site and it has been recently updated. That doesn't mean that they have to participate with products and maybe they wont, but they are still listed as a member

Bob.

[mjh]

Where are you getting your information about Leica's FT & MFT policies? You make it sound like fact and I haven't seen any published information to that effect.

Stefan Daniel said that just yesterday, at a press conference.

 

Leica is still shown as a member of the FT group on the Four thirds.org site and it has been recently updated. That doesn't mean that they have to participate with products and maybe they wont, but they are still listed as a member.

Yes, they are still a member, it is just that we won’t see any active product development in the near future. Fuji has been a member since day one, and never contributed anything so far.

[andybarton]

Michael

 

Do you know where there might be a transcript of this press conference?

 

Thanks

[lct]

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Truth unvailed soon. Great news for film users i bet.

[Bob Ross]

Thank you Michael,

So, Leica joins Sanyo, Fuji and Kodak in the quiet part of the 4/3rds gang. That should make the Digilux3 a collector's item....first and last of its kind....well, not actually, because all the Digiluxes (1,2 & 3) were first and last of their kind, weren't they?

I read yet another thread on what Leica's part was in the lenses that Panasonic uses and said that when an award for the 4/3rds lenses was give, it was given to the Panasonic engineer, with no mention of Leica.

Bob

[centresud]

The Rollei/Sinar/Leaf HY6 MF system was introduced at the last photokina and I'd be curious to know how commercially successful it turned out to be. If Leica wants to go into MF, it will have to deal with some well established competition in a very limited market.

[like_no_other]

4. The Digilux 3 will continue to be available, as well as the FourThirds lenses marketed by Panasonic, but there will be no active development in the near future at least.

 

5. Leica says no. Neither Micro FourThirds bodies nor lenses.

 

6. Being based on the Panasonic DMC-FZ50 which is a bit long in the tooth, I suppose the V-Lux will be phased-out soon. It looks like Panasonic will announce a successor based on the Micro FourThirds standard at photokina, so as long as Leica doesn’t support Micro FourThirds, there won’t be a V-Lux 2.

 

7/8. It would be silly not to introduce new re-badged Panasonic digicams. It’s easy money.

 

Thanks for the infos, Michael.

So the following numbers are left for announcements at photokina or later this year, without guarantee of course:

1. medium format

2. R-Mount (with DMR)

3. M-mount

7. compact model smaller than V-Lux sized camera

8. smallest compact model (C-Lux)

 

This would narrow the rumours of a cheaper M entry body to a larger sensor, at least no micro FT or FT which some people mentioned as a possibility after the news regarding mFT. That is a good thing.

For the Leica customers who bought into FT I really hope that Leica will make some clear statements about their strategy regarding FT/mFT around Photokina. I don't wan't to see these customers in a situation comparable to that R users have been into, not knowing much about the mounts future.

[andybarton]

The 4/3 mount is in the hands of Olympus, I'd say. They seem to be the only ones with any real stomach left for it.

[Bob Ross]

The 4/3 mount is in the hands of Olympus, I'd say. They seem to be the only ones with any real stomach left for it.

And what I have heard is that MFT is a child of Panasonic, as lead in the development. I also heard a rumor that Oly may delay announcing their MFT produts (at Photokina) in order to give Panasonis center stage credit. We'll see.

The press conference might have had the drop in sales for Leica,as a main topic.

Bob

[mjh]

Do you know where there might be a transcript of this press conference?

Where: here and everywhere. When: around September 15.

[sdai]

I guess it was one of those private shows Leica given to their preferred journalists and perhaps some major dealers already, so Michael and his colleagues can prepare for previews or may be hands on reports to accompany the announcement ... not exactly a press conference.

[macpaladin]

From a recent post by me in "R10" actually a Sinar m ... No?"-

 

While I have been quietly waiting for the R10 to materialize, I have a Mamyia 645AFD with assorted lenses gathering dust. I purchased my R9/DMR because of uncertainties of the future of medium format.

 

Now PhaseOne has teamed with Mamyia to give me an interesting alternative (though very expensive). What would be really interesting is if Lecia teamed with someone like PhaseOne to create a DSLR that can shoot with film or digitally. Leica would only have to make the lenses and body. PhaseOne would make the digital back and related software. And best of all, I could (hopefully) still use my existing Leica R lenses.

 

This would be my dream R10.

[lct]

So Leica called the press to keep a secret?

[mjh]

I guess it was one of those private shows Leica given to their preferred journalists and perhaps some major dealers

It wasn’t even an exclusive Leica event and pretty much everyone (every journalist, that is) was invited to come. Surprisingly, I didn’t have to forfeit my firstborn to get information before 9/15, but that might be because they didn’t disclose everything.

[sdai]

Now PhaseOne has teamed with Mamyia to give me an interesting alternative (though very expensive). What would be really interesting is if Lecia teamed with someone like PhaseOne to create a DSLR that can shoot with film or digitally. Leica would only have to make the lenses and body. PhaseOne would make the digital back and related software. And best of all, I could (hopefully) still use my existing Leica R lenses.

 

This would be my dream R10.

 

Leica is done with PhaseOne IMO considering their current relationship with Jenoptik, but if the "R10" really turns out to be a Sinar m I actually think it's a good thing 'cause at least the R folks can be satisfied with a R mirror/lens module, in that case, I'd like to see them leaving the back/camera interface "open" to third party digital backs.

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Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[sdai]

I didn’t have to forfeit my firstborn to get information before 9/15, but that might be because they didn’t disclose everything.

 

That's a good one, Michael ... but I've never doubted that you're one of the best informed persons on the board, excluding Dr. Kaufmann and Mr. Daniel. LOL

 

I think their financial report for the last quarter has given the hint ... no matter what happens we'll probably all have to wait till 2009 or even later then.

 

Cheers!

[carli1]

Leica Geosystems Introduces Leica RCD105 Medium-Format Digital Camera for LIDAR

 

 

 

(7/11/2008)