C J Campbell wrote:
On 2009-09-15 13:32:18 -0700, Alan Browne
said:

C J Campbell wrote:
On 2009-09-09 16:06:54 -0700, Alan Browne
said:



http://www.dpreview.com/news/0909/09090909leicam9.asp

Some day I am going to get me one of those. Seriously.

Right after the 200-400 VR, the 600 VR, and the second D3x body. Yep.

Sure, I would love the smaller body size, the light weight, the
selection of smaller lenses (even pancake lenses -- are you
listening, Nikon?), and just the coolness of having a Leica. But
Leica does not have the long lenses I need for much of my
photography. Still....

Rangefinders (not just Leica) have rarely had long lenses. For one,
large lenses can obstruct the viewfinder, ficus is difficult and the
viewfinder would need significant magnification to make framing (and
focus?) possible.

Yeah. For all the raving about the advantages of rangefinder cameras,
people sometimes forget that the SLR has its advantages, too.

The market sorted that out 30 years ago which essentially drove RF's (at
least the successful ones) to the higher end of that niche. Still, RF's
are a favourite of many journalists (combat, travel mags, nat-geo and so
on).