[Leica] M9 - the end of the line for Leica?

[jbm at jbm.org (Jeff Moore)]

2009-11-10-13:59:32 Henning Wulff:
>   ...as do the Panasonic lenses for the m4/3 system now. Distortion and 
> CA correction are done in firmware/software. The software is either the 
> jpeg engine in the camera or the raw converter (which has to be aware of 
> the correction parameters). It works very well, and enables the tiny 7-14 
> zoom, for example to be both extremely sharp and essentially free of 
> distortion.
>
> Some P&S cameras, like the new Canon S90 apparently also do this.

This sort of thing is apparently the reason for how long it took for Adobe to
provide raw support for the pretty neat little Panasonic DMC-LX3.  Panasonic
were apparently insisting that no raw conversion would have their approval
unless it incorporated correction of geometric distortions (said correction
having already been built into the camera's jpeg creation, and into the
painful-to-use Silkypix raw converter Panasonic provided).  Users clamored 
for
Adobe to just release a straightforward conversion, which people could fix
afterward with the magical barrel/pincushion slider, so everyone could use
their accustomed Adobe tools;  but rumor has it there was such iron 
insistence
from Panasonic that a company which allowed people to see the uncorrected
images from that lens was no friend of theirs, that support for the camera 
had
to wait for a new revision of Adobe's whole raw-processing pipeline which
incorporated the notion of per-device image corrections which had to be
applied before something came out the other side.

 -Jeff