Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/01/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Dante the link is an interesting read. I think fair to say that Leica would prefer to sell some new lenses as well as M8s. The excellence of design and quality in those lenses is the area where they distinguish themselves from the multitude. Dr Kaufmann too has stated a preference for optical performance over image processing. This in reference to sensor design and firmware. I can follow what you are suggesting. My personal preference is for the menus to remain as simple as possible, rather than move towards the complexity of dSLRs. That opinion is likely coloured by my camera history but I think that Leica has attempted to keep the M8 as close as feasible to the film M experience. Actually I'd even rather some analog controls for some functions, but that seems unlikely. Regarding 'rocket science' during my career with defence, I spent 10 years within a science and technology and R&D environment. We had a standing joke regarding incorporating modifications into existing technical systems. "Oh it's only a simple software change" Of course it never was. I recall reading a number of reports by users who 'hacked' their firmware in their M8s to produce elegant paperweights. With at least one of those, Leica actually corrected this vandalism by the owner at no charge! I'm not aware of any other camera manufacturer providing a system where anyone can write software to alter its functions. Can you imagine the consequences for their service structure? I think that the optical system was an ingenious way to add functionality to entirely mechanical lenses. I don't understand the mechanics of the frame selection integration into the system but it is there as we know. Some speculate that it is to prevent third party products from having the same functionality. In fact the lens mount of course is copied by other manufacturers and Zeiss for example now include the necessary change in their bayonet. I can't fault Leica for holding a patent (presumably) on the optical reading system nor hoping that you will purchase some new lenses from them. Leica have excluded almost no lenses from 50 odd years of production from working fine with the M8. I think that is pretty solid support for the existing Leica lenses out there. At the same time I definitely don't want any electrical complexities added to M lenses. Better maybe to look at what is possible with the R10 and new technology to be debuted in the S system? 2009/1/22 Dante Stella <dstella1@ameritech.net> > There is no technical problem except approaching potential menus from the > wrong direction. > Most users do not have, and will never own, 64 lenses. In fact, I would > bet that five lenses is probably the median collection. Put a feature in > the host software where you can define which lenses appear on the camera' s > optimization menu (i.e., the ones you own). Set up the camera so that if > it > can't read a bar code, it pops up the menu when the lens is mounted. If > the > user fails to pick one of the options and starts shooting pictures instead, > tough luck - no optimization. This is amazingly easy. The popup menu > already exists for the Tri-Elmar. > Calculating the appropriate vignetting and color correction strength for > any lens out there - and maintaining menus of presets - is not rocket > science, even for end users. It is something Kodak did with the SLR/n and > SLR/c cameras - and it did not even require host software to do. See it > here: > > http://download.kodak.com/professional/software/dcsproSLRn/Pro_SLRn_Lens_Optimization_Overview.pdf > Leica might do well to open-source the M8 like Google has with Android - > rather than try to push purely proprietary solutions. You can still make > money off of that. Leica does make money on M8s even if they are never > used > with Leica lenses. > How about a simple RFID chip that is adhered to some accessible noncritical > part of the back or inside of the lens? Leica could sell them for a > massive > profit at $50; it would obviate shipping, insurance and delays; and Leica > could actually make money off people's using the chips for third-party > lenses. And any competent camera repair shop could install them. It would > be even easier than AI coding in the old days. > I have always been puzzled by the 6-bit coding's use of optical detection > and frameline lever position. Why not just make it 8 bits and call it a > day? > > Dante > > > -- > Cheers > Geoff > Life's too short for slow zooms >