Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/07/28
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Richard Clompus wrote: >>> When Leica Solms gets around to putting together a new R9, due to improved mirrors, coatings and pentatprism technology - they should use a pellicle mirror like Canon has done. I know everyone will think Leica copied Canon - but I'm sure Leica would add some tricks they have up their collective sleeves. <<< I have a suggestion, which I've been thinking about for a long time. As I understand it, a pellicle 'mirror' does not flip up during the exposure but remains in place - hence the continuous image and very fast motordrive possibility. However it reduces the amount of light available to the film and finder, so the finder can be fairly dim and available-light photography is disadvantaged. My idea is that someone should build a camera where the mirror is in fact a prism which gains its reflectivity from a silvered layer which is made of some kind of LCD. That way, there's no need for a shutter or a mirror movement (smaller, quieter, lighter, cheaper cameras...), the delay between pressing the button and the 'shutter' opening is reduced and the photographer is without a viewfinder image for only the length of an exposure (and remember, persistence of vision means that an interruption of viewing of less than about 1/20sec is not visibly descernible). Also, unlike a conventional pellicle, there's no impact on viewfinder illumination. Does anyone with a more scientific background than me know if something like this is feasible?