Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/05/08

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Digital
From: Eric Welch <ewelch@ponyexpress.net>
Date: Fri, 08 May 1998 20:38:12 -0500

At 10:08 PM 5/8/98 +0800, you wrote:

>Well for a start it has no movements, no dedicated range of lenses with
>appropriate coverage for such movements and it is so far as I have heard not
>actually available - your price quote notwithstanding (pls correct me if I
>am wrong and also let me know if you know of anyone who uses one).

I do believe there is an adapter for such movements. Check the PDF. I will,
if I can find it.

>But really my point was that a still life studio camera is hardly the kind
>of machine Leica needs to revamp its reputation: if Hasselblad came out with
>a digital picture desk would it help them?? - Answer: they did and it didn't
>and I feel that Leica is erring into territory alien to and at the expense
>of their core business. Get the R8 debugged and motorised then we'll see! ;)

Well, you won't get any argument from me. Except for the fact that Leica
has been doing digital research for quite some time. They were talking
about it in the mid-80s. If you remember, the first digital cameras were
all these big studio jobbies (at least ones with decent image quality). So
Leica is a few years behind, their optical quality is there, now they need
to work on speed and size. And they could do a deal with Kodak and attach
their electronics to the back of an R8 with minimal fuss. In fact, the way
the winder attaches to the bottom of the R8, would indicate it would be
easier to attach a digital "bottom" to an R8 than just about any other
camera out there. Just take off the back, and screw it in.

=========

Eric Welch
St. Joseph, MO

Lottery: A tax on people who are bad at math