David Klepacki
New member
You bring up a great point. The images from the Leaf are certainly as good as the others, but their dedicated backs could be a serious detriment to them. The high cost of these backs will bring into question the longevity and flexibility of such an investment.... My feeling is that Sinar's Hy6 kit may have trumped Leaf with their adapter system (not to mention their somewhat higher pricing). This to me is a shame because I have been very happy with my Aptus backs, but I'm guessing Thierry is not losing sleep over this.
Leaf will have a tough road ahead of them ... maybe very tough. I see only two ways of staying alive. One is to be able to reduce costs significantly so that they are at the same level as the Mamiya. But even then, at the same price I don't want a camera that only takes one back (or vice versa).
The other option for them is to innovate. One example would be to add a focal plane shutter to their AFi body. Another example would be for them to exploit their large LCD screens further by integrating a focusing sensor/mechanism into their Aptus backs. Such a back would take the place of a SLR, and so could provide live-view "through-the sensor focus confirmation" and be used on Alpa rangefinder and any other system that would otherwise need a sliding back adapter to focus.
Otherwise, if they don't do something...soon....I am afraid it is only a matter of time that they will perish.