old rumor about new AF rangefinder

[fotografz]

The m9 s are my go to system ..20k images year mostly street. Agree with Marc on the evolution of the product line. Better Iso performance...they are close but the loss of DR and color fidelity is noticeable even if noise is correctible . Focus confirmation would help especially in low light situations with the fast glass...not sure this is possible using today s technology. Weather sealing for sure. An all day battery would be nice.

Surprised about the comment about ISO 160 as I struggle with getting the most DR possible ... Florida light. I went to 160 for everything on the m8 and have stuck with it. What am I missing.

I only move up when I get below f2.8 and 1/250. Florida is bright easy to shoot f5.6 until dusk.

I live in Michigan with Moscow grey skies most of the time ... plus about 75% of my M shooting is at near-night or indoors I like the look of the M9 files @ 640 and did so with the M8 also. If I could have that look @ 1250 I'd be a happy puppy. 160 seems to start feeling a bit "digital" to my eye ... but not all that bad if I need to go there with the 0.95. But that is neither here nor there, and just personal preference.

My biggest wish is to stabilize some of this digital gear and get off the bank busting upgrade cycle. The M10 would have to offer considerable benefits over the M9 to spend the money. I feel my gear box is well balanced right now with the M9 rangefinder, S2P for mobile DSLR type work (in concert with a Sony A900 back-up), and the H4D/60 for commercial assignments requiring specialized applications like view camera work, fabric shoots, or very large files. My hope would be that better ISO performance would be a firmware upgrade for the M9s ...like Hasselblad did for their existing backs.

-Marc

 

[glenerrolrd]

I would chalk it up to the difference in light intensity. (ISO preference). Florida is often strong light,strong color etc and you need to watch the DR . Not at all unusual to blow highlights and block shadows even at ISO 160. I even shoot with the 28 and 50 summicrons because they are lower in overall contrast than the summiluxes (24/35/50 ) .

In flat light ..the summiluxes shine and I don t need as much DR and up to 640 looks great. So for northern cities like NYC its mosts summiluxes and 320.

But at night ....you often have bright points of light and deep shadows ..here I need near ISO 1600 without losing 25% of the DR. Christmas is a good example .

You can see the differences if you go thru the DxO mark charts and use the see the result feature at the right side of the chart . Nice example of a Bally s sign I believe.

You can also see how the different sensor/cameras are tuned .. Look at the X100...the sensor peaks at ISO800 ..keep increasing the ISO on the camera and you get 800 anyway. M9 at 1250 is the same as a Nikon at 1600....same sensitivity ..

 

[Jeremy]

I would chalk it up to the difference in light intensity. (ISO preference). Florida is often strong light,strong color etc and you need to watch the DR . Not at all unusual to blow highlights and block shadows even at ISO 160. I even shoot with the 28 and 50 summicrons because they are lower in overall contrast than the summiluxes (24/35/50 ) .

Ditto down here in Texas, which is why, with retooling my camera setup for some medical issues I have been looking for a 50mm summicron (or Hexanon-M as I've heard they have much better flare resistance than the era Summicron I could probably afford) instead of a lux.

 

[ptomsu]

So easy answer

24MP
ISO 3200 NOISE FREE!
Electronic frame lines
Large 3'' LCD with > 900k
Image Stabilisation built in

 

[Jerry_R]

Leica to launch a new compact mirrorless system camera at Photokina 2012
http://leicarumors.com/2011/06/22/l...-camera-at-photokina-2012.aspx/#ixzz1Q02yWOJM

I still hope it will be FF. Otherwise, at that time we will have plenty of APS-C ones from Sony, Samsung, Ricoh, maybe others...
At least two of them accepting easily M lenses.

PS: focusing manual M lenses on NEX became real fun when they added color peaking with recent firmware!
Sometimes, especially when you want to focus not in center of the frame - it may be better than rangefinder mechanism.
Focusing became much more quicker.

Plus EVF - better, with more resoilution than one in GH2 - expected in NEX-7 - what can Leica make better in APS-C world?

The only thing that comes to my mind are microlenses. But what is benefit of them on APS-C if wide angle won't be wide anyway, especially fast...
Quicker and more accurate is using quick profile in C1 or CornerFix...

For me - it makes a lot of sense, but so far - only in FF world.

 

[Godfrey]

Focusing is situation specific to me.

There are times when a manual rangefinder mechanism seems best, when its accuracy and the available light and contrast make it easy to see coincident image doubling. There are other times when TTL viewing through an optical viewfinder gives the best focusing, when being able to see the focus point anywhere on the screen at all times is important. There are times when TTL viewing via an electronic viewing device works more effectively than anything else because the viewing device can ramp brightness and magnification to suit the need. There are times when various kinds of in-focus indication with TTL systems works well ... confirmation lamps, peaking edges, etc. There are times when auto-focus does the job brilliantly, with speed and focus tracking, etc.

And there are times when all I want is to just set a precise distance and focus zone on the lens using the focusing ring and aperture control, and have a clear, empty view of the subject to aid in framing.

No one camera does all of these things, and those that do a combination are compromised in various ways depending on the implementation. So ...

- I have an SLR with manual and auto focus for when an SLR does the best job.

- I have a camera that implements TTL EVF/LCD or simple optical viewfinder, with convenient manual and auto focus, for when those are the best options. Soon it will have the option of taking manual focus lenses with clearly marked focus and aperture scales, and DOF markings.

- I don't have a rangefinder camera at present. I don't know of any rangefinders that implement auto-focus, or focus peaking, or focus confirmation, nor do I know how they would implement those things without a serious compromise of the rangefinder's basic values. But if one shows up, I'm happy to take a look at it ...

 

[Lonnie Utah]

Plus EVF - better, with more resoilution than one in GH2 - expected in NEX-7 - what can Leica make better in APS-C world?

Nothing. Especially with a $4600 price tag. Sure collectors will buy it, but I'm not sure who else would vs those other cameras...

 

[peterv]

I guess they'll probably make better lenses than the Panny's and Sony's of this world. These lenses won't be cheap though, and I'd be very much surprised if Leica's camera electronics would better their µ4:3 or NEX APS-brethren.