An open letter to Leica

vincecharus

http://photographsbypeter.com/20 ... -leica-mp/#comments

redrede

Too good to be true if

kgv

越睇 越喜歡 自己部 RD1s

raumplan

not sure if i totally agree with all the 8 points...

Wunderkind

The mechanical levers can go. They have no place in modern digital cameras.

The LCD display is a Must for me.

Wunderkind

I hate to say it. But I feel I must say these so-called Leica Oldtimers are a selfish bunch.

They want new leicas to feel and function like Leicas of old. They remind me of traditional buyers of Jaguar and SAAB. That is, they want new Jaguars and SAAB's to be just like the old ones. The end result: once these traditional Jaguar and SAAB buyers stop buying new models, these marques hit the brick wall because they can not attract enough new buyers with their antiquated products.

Leicas should be like the Mercedes S-Class of their segment, no less. They must be modern and make good use of the newest technologies while staying true to the values of Leica.   

redrede

Interesting, LCD would be good to keep, apart from sensor, what new technology need to be added to the new camera? Perhaps people buying Leica want to keep the mechanical build and sound, otherwise this is better to buy other brand. Leica is a luxury like Ferrari, doesn't expect everyone buying it so market strategy and price don't relate much, except when it lose its reputation.
And Leica make it very clear they just want to build a professional camera, not technology new toy, you need to show your skill, you are able to learn photography through all your photos that you have taken, the beauty works should leave it to PhotoShop or lightroom etc.

Leica CEO did label themselves like Ferrari, not even second rate item in photography industry. This is how they see themselves. For money and return, they look at lenses and Panasonic toys.

Wunderkind

By technology, I mean real attributes that would help us take better pictures, not gimmicks. The first thing that comes to my mind is the ISO performance of the M camera. Higher number of frames per second, and performance in different lighting condition is another.

I am relatively new to the Leica brand and I'd readily admit I still struggle to get the best from my M9. I left my M9 at home and took my RX1 to Japan last week and I am happy with the decision.

redrede

I see digital file is helping user to keep better in quantity, and trying to improve in quality, ISO is great to capture photo in low light condition, improve ISO which is mean minimizing the noise/defect generate from the sensor, to capture photo in low light condition, to capture better photo, all you need is a tripod and have longer exposure time, for movement photo, high ISO cannot give you better photo yet; AWB is another defect generate from digital sensor, its still improving to output correct colouring on subjects, film have very little to do with it and its all goes down the lenses technology, AWB performance is only trying to correct itself, not a new technology.

Leica is trying to make a photography tool to capture the true colour and moment, not to "create" better photo, it wasn't the objective of the company. The lenses ain't trying to capture better photo, but try to capture the photo like what you see in your eyes. If you can imagine the outcome of a photo, and you get the skill right, it will give you what you need.

like some people couldn't see green or red, they will never know if they whether able to get the right colouring through the digital LCD screen. New technology is only correcting itself, but there isn't improve much of a photo.

try take a few photos at the Victoria harbour, from ISO 3200 to ISO200, from 1/250 to 30 seconds, the more light get in the sensor, the more details you got, this is how I see the sensor still a long way to complete and Leica is not doing too bad of it.

bubu

I strongly support no video.

頭文字L

If have video, pls make it 4k resolution

ww129

To me, the beauty of Leica is Simplicity !  

LanLan

hope leica management team can realize where their true value is and dun launch 三不像 camera just to try following trend.

Kanedias

Using leica is a crazy thing by itself.

Some of my friends, who doesn't pretty much into photography but was attracted to leica as a luxury brand, always asked me if Leica = great picture.
I always told them great pictures could be made by a DSLR, a mirrorless or even an iphone. A leica is a different thing. Using leica is instead giving you a "handicap", and it is exactly its "non-handy" feature that forces the photographer to think and anticipate. The result? Every frame is hard-earned, and every frame yells at the photographer's effort.

A leica does not give you a greater picture, but it gives you a greater satisfaction with a picure.

Having said that, I would still regard the omission of the LCD is quite extreme. Reasoning being:
1.How do you test a lens when making lens purchase without a LCD??
2. After the lens purchase, how do you show your wife/gf instantly that she just look gorgeous on the newly acquired lens??
3. Go back to (1) when (2) is affirmative.

So other than the LCD part, I agree whole-heartly to everything the letter says.

bono0272

I like CCD but they can't go to high "usable" ISO is an headache...

duncanwong

Wunderkind 發表於 2014-3-14 20:57
The mechanical levers can go. They have no place in modern digital cameras.

The LCD display is a Mu ...

Not sure
But there is mechanical lever in Epson RD1
Any expert know whether that is for cock shutter ?

duncanwong

Very agree K San :-)
如果要做
Epson 大概十年前已做咗大部分
To Leica , this is history

Pandachief

I only need a M240 with CCD instead of CMOS and drop the movie function.  The look and size of M9P is fine, of course smaller better.

I don't want other request.. I might use my film camera instead if go to such extreme.