[Leica] Re: Camera life

[lrzeitlin at optonline.net (Lawrence Zeitlin)]

On Jan 24, 2007, at 1:17 PM, Jon wrote:

> The mechanical durability of a digital camera is of little  
> consequence. Advances in digital technology will relegate it to the  
> trash bin (forever) in single digit years. Is there a "Moore's Law"  
> for digital camera's?
> Already I am receiving e mails from software companies (QuickBook$  
> for example) informing me that their product$ are not compatible  
> with MS Vi$ta...That I will need to upgrade my program$
>


I don't really know about the trash bin. If you are content with the  
results, then you can continue to use old equipment until it  
crumbles, even electronics. I still use hi-fi equipment 30 years old  
and computers 10 years old, not to mention Leicas 50+ years old. But  
I get your point.

As far as Moore's Law for digitals, I have been using consumer grade  
digital cameras for 17 years. In order of purchase I have:

1990 Logitech Fotoman B&W, .28 MB sensor, $200 cost, $714/MB
1994 Agfa E307, .68 MB sensor, $150 cost, $220/MB
1999 Leica Digilux Zoom, 1.3 MB sensor, $450 cost, $346/MB
2001 Fuji 6800, 3.3 MB sensor, $400 cost, $121/MB
2004 Canon S500, 5 MB sensor, $280 cost, $56/MB
2006 Olympus E500 SLR, 8 MB sensor, $500 cost, $62/MB

Plotting this stuff on a statistics program, it appears that the  
sensor MB capacity is increasing almost exponentially, doubling every  
two or so years, while the cost per MB is dropping fairly rapidly. A  
check of the cameras on display at Best Buy shows that each MB now  
costs less than $50. Leica cameras are the outliers. Once the Leica  
nameplate goes on, regardless of who made the camera, the cost per MB  
rises over $100. The M8 costs $480/MB, about the same per pixel as  
the 1999 Leica Digilux Zoom.

Of the six cameras listed, I still use only the last three. The  
Logitech and the Agfa are so far behind the technology curve and the  
image quality so poor that they are not worth the bother. The Leica  
Digilux, an otherwise excellent pocket camera, failed mechanically  
and will cost more than a new modern camera to repair. Again, using  
my very limited personal database as a reference, I can estimate that  
the useful life of a digital camera is about 6 years. On the other  
hand my 50+ year old Leicas function very well.

Any comments?

Larry Z