IMHO, Nikon missed the boat completely for serious shooters with their mirrorless announcements. Based on all the comments that have been flooding the interwebs I believe this is an excellent, gentle wake up call for Leica. Here's what I believe Leica should develop for their mirrorless camera:
1. M mount (obvious)
2. APS-C sensor, no smaller (1.5X multiplier max)
3. CMOS with great ISO 3200 performance
4. High quality EVF (1M pixel or more)
5. 960K pixel LCD
6. Keep the body as small as possible
Feel free to add your "must-haves".
Curmudgeonly Comment #1:
I have
no interest in Nikon 1 or Pentax Q or any other small-sensor system camera. FourThirds format is as small as I want to do as smaller than that requires ultra-ultra fast lenses only to provide the focus zone control that I want.
As someone else mentioned, your list specifies the Ricoh GXR + A12 Camera Mount ("GXR+A12-M") almost perfectly with the exception that the EVF is not quite that resolution. (Answering to another one of your follow on comments, the GXR+A12 Camera Mount is more responsive than the GXR+either A12 AF camera unit, most of the sluggishness you commented on have to do with the AF system, a small bit with the IO subsystem. Without the AF system issues, the IO subsystem sluggishness isn't generally too problematic. .)
What I'd like to see Leica do is take the X1 body's control design and pack the GXR+A12-M functionality into it. Here's what I'd like in addition:
- Make it a little bigger ... up to a maximum of Leica M4 size ... for better handling, easier to use ergonomics.
- Build the EVF into it and give it at tilt up articulation (perfect for copy stand and low-angle shooting use.)
- Add a much faster IO subsystem with fully buffered writes.
- Add articulation to the LCD too, allowing it to be flipped completely closed as well.
Of course, Ricoh could do much of the same by updating the GXR body unit or coming out with an additional "GXR-Pro" model.
Curmudgeonly Comment #2:
I have
no interest in AF lenses. My photos with manual focus M-bayonet lenses and SLR lenses adapted to M-bayonet mount on the GXR+A12-M are proving to be consistently better focused, just like my use of adapted manual lenses with the Panasonic G1 always showed better focus consistency than I get with any autofocus system. Manual focus simply works better, most of the time, IMO.