[Leica] More RD-1 news

[bdcolen at earthlink.net (B. D. Colen)]

And notice how quickly the Kodak camera disappeared - in fact, did it
ever actually make it to market? It was to have an 18 megp grayscale
image...the idea was really exciting...but...

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
Henning Wulff
Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2004 4:51 PM
To: Leica Users Group
Subject: RE: [Leica] More RD-1 news


At 12:46 PM -0800 3/27/04, Adam Bridge wrote:
>On Saturday, March 27, 2004 B. D. Colen thoughtfully wrote:
>
>>First off, one of the glories of digital is that every single shot is 
>>both color and monochrome. ;-) Second off, it should be possible to 
>>have the monochrome option in the firmware. If they develop the write 
>>algorithms, having the b&w, bw-green, bw-red, bw-yellow  built into 
>>the camera could be wonderful. Carry around a pile of filters? Why?
>
>Aaaaaarrrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhhhhh!
>
>NO, B. D., it's NOT the same. Because IF you're not shooting onto a
>color sensor
>you can either have MORE sensors for a higher pixel density OR you can
larger
>sensors for a better signal:noise ratio. Otherwise you're letting the
firmware
>of the camera play Hobb by attempting to make a monochrome image from
various
>parts of red and green and blue.

When Kodak did their B&W digital camera, the advantages weren't all 
that great over colour cameras. What has changed since then?

>It's not the same thing at all. Why shoot with black and white film
>at all then?
>Why not just shoot color? But we DO shoot black and white. But even
this isn't
>as great a difference as between a digital color and a digital
monochrome
>sensor.
>
>When the color sensors are of sufficient density and the SNR is up to 
>par then I'll relax this. But it's damn clear that Leica ain't likely 
>to have access to anything that's remotely close.
>
>So why shouldn't I ask for something that makes a lot of sense?
>Using an M to me
>means shooting in available light without flash. And all those
fabulously
>expensive pieces of glass that Leica makes are there to make it even
more
>possible.
>
>So why shouldn't Leica make a camera that exploits these features
>like no other
>camera can - that uses all the system's capabilities so that, by 
>golly, you can
>shoot at ASA 3200 or even higher and  have a SNR like that of the best
current
>cameras at, say 1600 (thinking of 1Ds and its CMOS sensor).
>
>Leica is a niche market. If they can figure out how to deal with the
>process in
>order to make it happen then there will be a reason to consider
investing in
>Leica.?
>
>We're seeing an increase in interest in black and white portraiture. 
>Why not a camera that does it superbly?
>
>Adam Bridge
>
>_______________________________________________
>Leica Users Group.
>See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information


-- 
    *            Henning J. Wulff
   /|\      Wulff Photography & Design
  /###\   mailto:henningw@archiphoto.com
  |[ ]|     http://www.archiphoto.com
_______________________________________________
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