Luminous Landscape wants Leica to abandone the rangefinder philosophy.
We from 43rumors do believe that Leica were really close to join the M4/3 system. But at a certain point they choose to not join the MFT world. Now Luminous Landscapes suggest them to abandone the rangefinder tecnology in favour of the new “mirrorless” camera systems.
That’s what Luminous Landscapes says:
“I am arguing that the current M9, and any other camera built further on the viewfinder / rangefinder paradigm, has become an evolutionary dead-end. It serves to support the superb range of current and previous Leica M lenses, but it does so with a design brief that is now at least several decades out of date.
So, now the controversial part. Viewing. Since this camera will use M series lenses it can not be a DSLR. Some pundits are arguing that this design’s days are numbered in any event. That means either a live view LCD screen and / or an electronic viewfinder, and Live View pretty much means a change to CMOS from CCD.”
Read the whole article here: http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/leica-open-letter.shtml
Brian
4 years ago |One of the main points of the letter here is that the viewfinder and focusing technology need to be updated, perhaps to a good electronic viewfinder with various features to assist the photographer. That’s a far cry from creating a “new ‘mirrorless’ camera system.” The Leica M system is already mirrorless as far as the light path through the lens to the sensor/film is concerned. If anything, I believe the assumption is the mount will stay the same: “Since this camera will use M series lenses it can not be a DSLR.”
Chris
4 years ago |Brian: The letter clearly states “any other camera built further on the viewfinder / rangefinder paradigm, has become an evolutionary dead-end.” Without the viewfinder or a rangefinder, you would have to design a new system for viewing and focusing, and therefore design a new mirrorless camera system.
They’ve already got the X1, all they have to do is make it full-frame and let it take interchangeable lenses and that’d be their new mirrorless camera system.
Archer
4 years ago |What Mr. Reichman is suggesting is that any further M body not be a rangefinder, but also not be autofocus. What he’s suggesting is a new visual focus confirmation paradigm as well as metering for digital instead of film (as all current cameras do). I must say that I agree with him. The idea of Leica making an m43′s camera seems silly to me, and although I can’t afford one the idea of a world without Leica glass doesn’t seem like a place where I’d want to be a photographer.
Alfons
4 years ago |They way of focusing that Mr. Reichmann illustrates would be an welcome addition to m43 too.
It is far more practical just to compose and turn the manual focus ring and see a red box or boxes moving in the EVF to the right spot, than to magnify to specific spot, focus manually and then compose.
Do you think Leica took the wrong decision not joining MicroFourThirds?
4 years ago |[...] week Luminous Landscapes was one full of discussions. In short: LL asked Leica to abandon the rangefinder [...]