Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/01/30
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On 30 Jan 98 at 21:46, Erwin Puts wrote: > > > >Specifically, from Jonathan Eastland's "Leica R8," Hove Books, page 7: > > > >"The main Central Processing Unit (CPU) is based upon a 16 bit Mitsubishi > >chip with 2K RAM and 60K ROM operating at a clock frequency of 8Mhz. The > >special software required to run the R8 uses more than 50K ROM." > > Mr. Eastland is not famous for accuracy of statements. 'Based upon' > is one of those journalistic non-info statements that convey no real > informational value. It is techno-speak. The projectmanager and body > designer of the R8 (Mr Henrichs and Meinzer) whom I could interview > a few years ago, told me that the design of the electronics has been > done by the Leica (German) design team with the help of university > people. It is more than logical to buy one of the many industrial > chips available and not invent the wheel again. This tells you > absolutely nothing about the quality or functionality or > originality. NO one would say that Leica lenses are Japanese because > some of the glass used is bought from Hoya. The computers that run > their optical programs are Intel based. Gives you a very good > insight into the origins of the Leica designs, does it? Erwin Let me agree with what Erwin said and add the following: it is ridiculous to think that Leica's use of a Japanese processor in the R8 makes this a Japanese camera, as someone stated earlier. Do you have any idea how much it costs to run a state-of-the-art chip fabrication line these days? It costs literally billions of dollars to bring such a fab online, and then to recoup costs one must keep it busy all the time. To suggest that a camera company that does not fab its own processors is not making its own cameras is ludicrous. It's like suggesting that they should have a steel mill to make the steel used in the chassis. What matters in terms of creativity and providing unique capabilities in a modern camera is not the particular microcontroller used -- one microcontroller will often do instead of another. What matters is the software and the high-level circuit design. Engineers who can do these things can be found in any industrialized country, and of course Leica have or could hire their own. The fact that the R8 has its own capabilities, different from those of other cameras (such as its particular, unique flash metering capability) is enough to make it clear that Leica are not using some off-the-shelf design from another company. - -Patrick