Late to Digital, Leica Slow to Refocus

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1221...cle-outset-box

In rec.photo.digital Maurice Blanchard wrote:

| http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1221...cle-outset-box

Leica needs to decide how many cameras they want to sell, then find the market
level willing to buy that many. If they make $50,000 cameras, they may well be
the very best camera in the world. But if they sell only 100, how is that
going to pay for the R&D?

Maybe they can make the kind of camera I've long wanted. That would be one
with a continuous view through the electronic sensor, and viewed not via an
LCD on the back, but through the traditional eyepiece. So the LCD screen
would have to be inside. Add a feature which operates when a special button
is pressed that takes the center portion of the sensor and expands it pixel
for pixel to the LCD screen as a focusing aid. Taking the picture would be
the expected steps: close the shutter, clear the sensor, open the shutter,
wait the exposure time, close the shutter, store the image from the sensor.
It's just that in this case, the shutter is not a focal plane shutter, but
instead is in the lens just like a rangefinder. It's just opened also to do
the composition.

Or maybe someone can figure out how to make a sensor that can shift out the
image by latching the image and transferring it through a non-exposed path,
so that the sensor itself can be an electronic shutter.

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On 2008-09-22 20:00:38 -0700, "Maurice Blanchard" said:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1221...cle-outset-box

HAHAHA! Talk about bad timing! The article comes out just as Leica
announces the S2. So much for Leica's lack of innovation.

--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor

"C J Campbell" a écrit dans le message de
news:2008092307495850073-christophercampbell@hotmailcom...
On 2008-09-22 20:00:38 -0700, "Maurice Blanchard"
said:


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1221...cle-outset-box

HAHAHA! Talk about bad timing! The article comes out just as Leica
announces the S2. So much for Leica's lack of innovation.

dumbest post ever about this subject, congratz !

On 2008-09-23 08:33:03 -0700, "Maurice Blanchard" said:


"C J Campbell" a écrit dans le message de
news:2008092307495850073-christophercampbell@hotmailcom...
On 2008-09-22 20:00:38 -0700, "Maurice Blanchard"
said:


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1221...cle-outset-box

HAHAHA! Talk about bad timing! The article comes out just as Leica
announces the S2. So much for Leica's lack of innovation.

dumbest post ever about this subject, congratz !

Give it time. There have only been 4 or 5 posts about this subject so far.
--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor

C J Campbell wrote:
On 2008-09-23 08:33:03 -0700, "Maurice Blanchard"
said:


"C J Campbell" a écrit dans le
message de
news:2008092307495850073-christophercampbell@hotmailcom...
On 2008-09-22 20:00:38 -0700, "Maurice Blanchard"
said:


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1221...cle-outset-box


HAHAHA! Talk about bad timing! The article comes out just as Leica
announces the S2. So much for Leica's lack of innovation.

dumbest post ever about this subject, congratz !

Give it time. There have only been 4 or 5 posts about this subject so far.

I would describe the Leica S2 as a "brave" rather than "clever" move,
considering that the market for MF digital is currently dominated by
modular system cameras with removable/replaceable backs and viewfinders.
My guess would also be that the top-end Canon and Nikon 24x36mm sensor
DSLR cameras are also competing for the same market segment that the
Leica S2 is aiming at.
Only time will tell if the S2, combined with royalties from Panasonic
licensing can really save Leica.
I wouldn't count on the (barely) incremental improvements of the M8.2 to
have much impact, considering that Leica seem to have given up on fixing
the faulty IR filter used in the M8.