Mr. Stefan Daniel (Director Product Management at Leica Camera AG) had an interview with Leica Blog (Via Megapixel). And there are first small hints about the future Leica mirrorless system with electronic viewfinder:
1) “The experience with the very successful Leica X1 leads us to the opinion that a Leica with an interchangeable lens should have at least an APS-sized sensor.“
2) “I think that the quality of the 1.4MP finders is already very good, and sometimes even more accurate than an optical finder, think of white balance or exposure. Over time, as technology is improving, optical finders will get less and less important. The X100 finder is a very nice concept and well executed.“
3) “Offering additional functions such as video and live view would extend the usability of the M camera significantly. CMOS is a prerequisite for it, therefore it will be the technology of the future.“
Now that sounds intriguing. Stefan praises the Fuji X100 finder concept. So will they try to use a hybrid viewfinder on their cameras? Would be amazing!
11 Responses
Hmm it’s at least encouraging to hear Leica is watching competing products closely and seems to understand the features they would have to match or better.
No M4/3…
I think the M system, with its fixed focal length lenses, would be ideally suited to an X100 style hybrid viewfinder. The optical viewfinder and rangefinder could be used for focal lengths in the 28-135mm range (as now) and you could switch to EVF mode to use wider lenses, for close ups, for precise focussing of longer lenses and for use with adapted lenses. Thus photographers could keep using the OVF for a lot of their photography, but Leica could extend the functionality of the M system using the EVF. It also opens up what could be a useful capability, to use Canon and Nikon lenses (such as e.g perspective control or fisheyes) on the M system.
Genius!!!
Give us a X100 like camera! With tilt screen, HDR mode, face detection…of course Scene modes (many please! And I suggest to get ride of the dial with the exposure speed and replace it by more scene modes), give us video (Full HD please and with 60 FPS).
Also…manual focusing is obsolete so we need a multi tracking focus system…so please Leica make your lenses with AF engines!!!
No I am kidding…
Seriously…what is Leica thinking? They have new sharolders so they are already planing to make crappy me-too products aimed to mass market to make a lot of money in a short time and close the company after 5 years.
A great idea!
If you have a Leica camera…with M lenses…why dare use Nikon or Canon lenses on your body? It is just USELESS! See yourelf with a Leica M and a huge 24-70 F2.8 on it…Soooo great….!!!! lol
That is exactly what they are thinking.
As more and more vendors bring out retro and Leica styled products their Leicas profits will diminish!
People WILL go to the cheaper alternative. They better develop new cheaper stuff now while they still have the money from those 30000 M9 sold.
If they dont bring out a cheaper product that can compete the risk falling behind once again…
The optical viewfinder is the thing that’s keeping the Leica alive…
RF VF FTW
Hats off to Leica for mentioning a competitor in an appreciating manner !
I think that Leica will always make an M-camera with optical viewfinder and manual M-lenses.
Cant see why Leica should NOT try to go for the mirror-less market with APS-C sized sensors.
When Fujifilm delivers an M8/M9-sized ILC with an EVF and class-leading sensor (12mp is sufficient) and compact prime optics (e.g. 21-24equiv f2, 28-35equiv f1.4, 40-60equiv f1.4)I will be waiting to buy one.
If they deliver a compact camera with awkwardly large zoom lenses then I might as well carry a 5D, K7, D700, etc..
The NEX-7 and 16mm pancake is tempting, but I’ll wait to see what Fujifilm’s (and Canon’s) new camera is before I buy anything new.
Leica is bold to be honest about the upsurge in EVF’s. As they continue to improve further in pixel count and in refresh rate, there will be fewer and fewer shooting conditions when an OVF is better, and lots of times when an EVF is better.
The Olympus EVF for PENs, and the one in the new OM-D which is slightly improved, show the way of the future…