RE: [Leica] Interesting piece on the Digital R

[Adam Bridge <abridge@mac.com>]

On 2004-02-16 <bdcolen@earthlink.net (B. D. Colen)> thoughtfully wrote: 

>Adam - Your post is really interesting because what we have here is a
>great example of beauty etc. being in the eye of the beholder -
>I looked at this same PDF and thought two things:
>1 - Why are they wasting my time with a photos of engineers and a board
>- and why aren't they telling me more about what the camera will do if
>they succeed?

For me it's always interesting to see the "breadboard" layout phase of any
project. I'm an EE so its interesting.

Sometimes it's hard to believe you're even ASSOCIATED with MIT since any
engineer worth the degree would at least find these kind of images instructive
about where a project might be.

Back in a former life I remember following the MicroVAX BY DIGITAL from
breadboard to final formfactor. It was a fascinating project and one I enjoyed
following, even on the outside. This is just the same.

I like seeing the people involved: they're real.

>2 - These controls are weirdly laid out. I was particularly put off by
>the four buttons down the left side, which struck me as weird placement.

I don't remember if you use an R but if you do, and use the right-hand side
handstrap (as with the motor-R) then you'd find those four buttons would be well
located for left-handed operation. None of the buttons appear to be needed to
routinely operate the camera - which  you appear to be able to do via the
circular rocker panel to the right of the display with its MENU button. I'm
assuming the "ON/OFF" button might be for the LCD display.

I'm wondering at that "PLAY" button...

It doesn't look like there will be a mode with image AND histogram automatically
shown on the LCD display. Or just the histogram which is probably more useful
for me.

>The other thing that struck me was that this camera will really be quite
>a behemoth, and that I will at least no longer have to hear complaints
>about "giant" DSLRs from those touting this particular monster. ;-)
>

It looks to me to be the same size, or perhaps smaller, than a 1Ds. That's big
of course. The unit is, after all, a hybrid add-on.

I have not USED this camera (obviously) but I'm partial, as I said, to the R8
ergonomics. I like the way the Leica engineers think about cameras.

I see nothing in this image to make me feel differently.

now I WOULD also like a discussion about the digital back's design and
functionality. I can also imagine why they won't be talking about it in detail
for a while. But if Leica wanted to do everyone a service they'd use the
opportinity to write about the design decisions, firmware decisions etc that
went into the camera.

Adam Bridge
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