[Leica] Leica S1 usage

[John Nebel <nebel@csdco.com>]

This Leica topic almost never appears here, I checked the archives to be
sure.  Hopefully it will be of some interest.

I couldn't find anything close to the S1's resolution and price back
when it was introduced.  The application was pretty narrow, photographing
coins so they could be viewed in detail on a computer and for presentation
on the web.

Some of these have historical significance,

http://www.money.org/h_tml/lydia.html
http://www.money.org/congress.html

or are quite striking in design,

http://www.money.org/h_tml/syracuse.html
http://www.money.org/medieval.html
http://www.money.org/h_tml/edu_nick.html
http://www.money.org/h_tml/lesher.html

or are quite valuable ($1M+).

http://www.money.org/h_tml/1804.html
http://www.money.org/h_tml/1913.html

The photo (actually it is scanning) set-up is: 

http://www.money.org/leica_s1.html

Most of the coin images on the money.org web site were taken with the S1,
the Vermont coppers and Russian coins being exceptions.

Perhaps the S1 diverted Leica from those products it could sell widely as
one of the articles in the LUG archive suggests, however, they produced
something excellent, at least to my way of thinking, at the time.  The
contemporary Sinar back was 2K x 2K compared with the Leica 5K x 5K.  The
Sinar was faster than the Leica but it didn't have nearly the resolution.
In four-shot mode, one could only use it for stationary objects, just as
with the Leica.

Judging by Leica's web site, they have given up on this line.  The latest
Sinar back with the latest Kodak chip finally surpasses the S1 for my
application, but Leica owned it for quite a while.

http://www.money.org/h_tml/unite.html is a Sinar shot, it is possible to
print this at 27" x 27" on a LightJet with no apparent grain 
(pixelation?).

John Nebel

(A Leica user and glad to have found this list)

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