[Leica] Digital Bessa, NOT

["Don Dory" <dorysrus@mindspring.com>]

I saw the display in an acrylic tower.  Something locked up in acrylic
is not going to be available in 6 weeks.  I talked to a very reliable
source and there is no expectation of a new body in even 6 months.  New
lens(es) yes, a digital body no.  Speculate all you want about how awful
Leica is, but there is not going to be a digital Bessa available this
year.  Could Cosina get one out by very early next year, possibly.

Please bear in mind that there are very few foundries that sell chips
outside their interest group.  Sony, Kodak, Kyocera, Micron, Mitsubishi,
Phillips and possibly one or two more.  For the most part, production is
spoken for, especially on the better chips.  Say you want a generic 3MP
CMOS then you can buy all you want, especially in the smaller sizes.
But if you don't have technology or some other interesting trade then
you are not going to get any chips APS size or larger.  So, what does
Cosina have to offer Sony?  A digital Bessa would only be of interest if
the magnification factor is in the 1.5 ratio or smaller.  That leaves
Kodak and Panasonic as suppliers.  I don't think there are going to be
too many extra 6MP chips available as the D70 is going to suck a whole
lot of those out of the pipeline as well as the istD and maybe the
Minolta which was also announced.

Also please consider that Cosina has a lot of optical expertise and not
a lot of electronic ability, just like Leica.  Therefore they also need
a partner.  A more rational thought is that both Cosina and Leica will
use the same equipment set: they would both need similar custom low pass
filters that also redirect light back to vertical for the wide lenses.
Cosina could be the beta tester of similar technology as people would
not be as bent out of shape with a $2000 lemon as a $5000 dud Leica.

0.02

Don
dorysrus@mindspring.com


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