Forrest,
The Hy6 also suffered from its own weighty pricing, and inability to deliver on some promised things. Leica could follow that path, as they have in the past, and that will be disastrous for them.
On the flip side, the most recent announcement from Leica yesterday (or early today) was that there is no more R camera. (Details on this remain to be worked out, but the message essentially suggested that there may not be an R10, and that lots of Leica's efforts were being put into the S2 development.) So, it remains to be seen if they are able to deliver.
As for what the target group is.....they keep stressing professional photographers, and then they follow up with areas like fashion, weddings, products, commercial. They have not ventured deep into the 5-10% of "other" stuff that requires tilt-shift lenses, special architectural applications, etc. Does that mean they will not find some solution for those areas also? Maybe they will, maybe not. Obviously, it will not be a removable back to mount on some other camera, nor using other lenses.....for now. In my interpretation, Leica is not trying to create a camera that will do everything. They seem to be targeting a market segment of folks that maybe do not require all of those extra capabilities. That may bite them, or it may let them focus on doing some things really better than others within that segment. I think it remains to be seen how successful that strategy works.
So, maybe it is a supplement rather than replacement for some, but for others, it may be a replacement of present MF film or even digital stuff that is harder to keep up with for some. It may not replace all 35mm DSLR capabilities at the high end (I would not be using it for my action sports shooting for sure), but for the areas Leica is targeting, it does look like it could be a capable performer. (Not all 35mm DSLRs are able to deliver everything either, although Canon and Nikon have most ground covered. Yet I would bet that the percentage of photogs that "need" and the entire range of capabilities is not that big. It is nice insurance to know that one can expand if they needed, but a lot of the "potential" goes unused, I think.)
I remain excited with a cautious optimism. It has some pretty high marks to hit in some areas that we are only speculating on right now, so we shall have to wait. Other thing mentioned in the "no more R9" note had the S2 delivery mentioned as "late summer".....so think late August at the earliest?
LJ
The Hy6 also suffered from its own weighty pricing, and inability to deliver on some promised things. Leica could follow that path, as they have in the past, and that will be disastrous for them.
On the flip side, the most recent announcement from Leica yesterday (or early today) was that there is no more R camera. (Details on this remain to be worked out, but the message essentially suggested that there may not be an R10, and that lots of Leica's efforts were being put into the S2 development.) So, it remains to be seen if they are able to deliver.
As for what the target group is.....they keep stressing professional photographers, and then they follow up with areas like fashion, weddings, products, commercial. They have not ventured deep into the 5-10% of "other" stuff that requires tilt-shift lenses, special architectural applications, etc. Does that mean they will not find some solution for those areas also? Maybe they will, maybe not. Obviously, it will not be a removable back to mount on some other camera, nor using other lenses.....for now. In my interpretation, Leica is not trying to create a camera that will do everything. They seem to be targeting a market segment of folks that maybe do not require all of those extra capabilities. That may bite them, or it may let them focus on doing some things really better than others within that segment. I think it remains to be seen how successful that strategy works.
So, maybe it is a supplement rather than replacement for some, but for others, it may be a replacement of present MF film or even digital stuff that is harder to keep up with for some. It may not replace all 35mm DSLR capabilities at the high end (I would not be using it for my action sports shooting for sure), but for the areas Leica is targeting, it does look like it could be a capable performer. (Not all 35mm DSLRs are able to deliver everything either, although Canon and Nikon have most ground covered. Yet I would bet that the percentage of photogs that "need" and the entire range of capabilities is not that big. It is nice insurance to know that one can expand if they needed, but a lot of the "potential" goes unused, I think.)
I remain excited with a cautious optimism. It has some pretty high marks to hit in some areas that we are only speculating on right now, so we shall have to wait. Other thing mentioned in the "no more R9" note had the S2 delivery mentioned as "late summer".....so think late August at the earliest?
LJ
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