According to our top sources Leicas new M-mount Full Frame camera will have a 18 Megapixel Black and White sensor manufactured by Platinum Equity. The exact resolution is 5216 x 3472 pixels. Leica will announce the camera tomorrow at 8pm (20:00) London time!
The sources said the per pixel sharpness is “spectacular” and the dynamic range also higher than anything they have seen before. But also the price will be higher than any other current digital M-mount camera (almost $8,000)! LOL 🙂
I will be here tomorrow and update you live with all the latest news about the camera. Stay tuned on MirrorlessRumors!!!
38 Responses
admin, 10pm = 22:00; 20:00 = 8pm.
Dang, I’d buy it if it were B&W and 3D 😉
Let’s wait, but 18MP, higher price tag. I can’t see the point.
Still waiting for a true, affordable, full frame, M-mount rangefinder.
(no EVF, OVF or whatever) Something simple, that would allow you to change
sensor every couple of years, without changing the whole box.
Is it so complicated to release such a camera?
sounds like the current CCD sans the bayer filter…. good times!
That was expected. The same or at least a variation of that sensor minimizes development cost. Pretty important on a model they can’t expect to sell a lot of.
@ Dummy00001
I’m not mentionning Leica.
Is it so sure that there is no market for that?
The film era has been filled with cameras like this :
Contax G2 (that in my opinion the Xpro1 is the closest, not the Leica M9).
All the voiglander Bessa R, The Zeiss ikon (discontinued this year, it’s true)…
They are all M-Mount cameras that are not only a cheaper alternative to M series,
but in certain aspects better (like the ability to see the framelines according to you lens).
When i see the success of the Xpro-1 i can’t help thinking that there’s a market, for a small / Good quality / old school / almost affordable camera.
(Think about the fact that you buy the box once and can replace the sensor once in a while, like computers and motherboard. Quite a good investment over the years when you think about it).
> Is it so sure that there is no market for that?
Yeap. I’m sure. There is no market for a $3000, MF-only camera. Even the Fuji has AF. And is cheaper.
And for they money you can buy e.g. the best m43 gear which would be much much more versatile package. And with zooms. And with AF. And with boatload of other features. And lighter. And overall smaller – because thanks for smaller sensor, primes are available in the pancake form factor. And you would be able to upgrade easily to the new body later, because the m43 bodies do not cost an arm and a leg.
But in the end, your comment simply fails at substance: you do not say what you do not like about the gear you already have, what it can’t do. So it is really impossible to help you. And if you are so much into collecting gear as you appear to be, then there is no helping you 😉
> Think about the fact that you buy the box once and can replace the sensor once in a while, like computers and motherboard.
Replaceable sensors exist in form of digital backs for medium format cameras. Several user opinions I have read were either neutral or negative about the digital backs. It either works – or you have to send the camera + digital back to manufacturer to correct the lens mount/sensor plane alignment. Because movable parts have the tendency *surprise* to move and move not where you intended them to.
As PCs go, you probably several years out of touch. By the time upgrade becomes economically attractive, one finds that only reusable component is the $40 chassis of the said PC. PC tech becomes half-obsolete in about 2-3 years now. PC which is 4+ year old can’t be upgraded on cheap and is easier to simply replace it with a newly built one. That, if the persons whyever decides for a PC – in the times when everybody buys/upgrades to laptops.
I can also put it another way: there are replaceable sensors already. You probably has missed them. They are called “camera body.”
Just like Leica to make something simpler to produce and charge more money for it.
If you ask who would want a sub $2000 full frame- autofocus- digital rangefinder, almost everyone would.
However manufacturers who already have an extensive portfolio of cameras and lenses to sell will not manufacture this as it could cause more loss by preventing sales of their own products. Hence they probably will do this in a phased manner over a period of several years.
The only companies who could make such a camera are those like Leica, Kodak (who have missed the boat), but even more possibly companies like ZIESS. But I am sure that all these are tied down by the current economic crisis and politics.
So please wait another 5-10 years before your dream comes true.
The rangefinder is an old mechanical focusing device that really feels outdated in this digital world. A rangefinder is a sensitive precision instrument that need to be correctly adjusted.
It’s really not made for todays automatic production and free of maintainance in use.
Fact is, except for some rangefinder lovers, most would be perfectly happy with some good digital foucus assist in an EVF.
Many think the focus peaking in NEX cameras is as good or better than focusing with a rangefinder.
What I and many would love to see is a modern camera (like NEX-7 or similar) with a full frame sensor that not only can use old rangefinder lenses with an adapter but also have no corner issues with wideangle RF-lenses.
The only camera producers I can see making such a camera are Sony, with their rumored hybrid E and A mount camera (NEX-9?) and Ricoh who could make a full frame M-module, although that may take several years from now to reach the market.
Why not an OVF with focus confirmation projected via LED into the OVF, plus focus balance to show distance and throwdirection towards focus? Technology is all there already. No mechanical RF needed, all infos are available via sensor. Such a device could be much smaller, since lacking RF module. This could be the MF-FF-version of the Fuji X100. No screens in and on the body – for the purists.
Why not an OVF with focus confirmation projected via LED into the OVF, plus focus balance to show distance and throwdirection towards focus. Technology is all there already. No mechanical RF needed, all infos are available via sensor. Such a device could be much smaller, since lacking RF module. This would be the MF-FF-Version of the Fuji X100, but without screens in and on the body – for the purists.
>>>Something simple, that would allow you to change
sensor every couple of years, without changing the whole box.
Go with the M7, you have plenty of “Sensors” and can change it every 36 shots ;D
Troilus910
“A few loud voices may clammer for a cheap, FF digital rangefinder on websites like this, but the general market – amateur, enthusiast and pro – doesn’t care for them at all.”
Anywhere Leica fans congregate also have VERY LOUD voices (for the RF , of course!) even when they are shooting with NEX’, OMDs,GH2s and X-Pro-1s. Actually those are the ones digging a big pit for mechanical RF cams. 🙂 If the value of their cherished M lens hoardings drop steeply, they will chant a different chorus. It is not about photography. Everything has to do with “investments”! 😉
it’s good that leica is still racking up some bucks to keep making new niche cameras. maybe i’ll win the lottery someday and i’ll buy the M-whatever for fun 🙂
Leica should go all out. Make a 3D rangefinder styled M mount camera with dual noctilux 0.95 kit and dual Color sensors.
Slow 3d manual photography… That would be a hystoric move!:-)
Price $40000!
$8,000? for a made in Portugal Leica?
Ridiculous!
@ Admin, DPR updated X Pro 1 sample images/studio test images. Colors were off in the samples and now that is fixed. IMO worth re-posting.
http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/05/07/Fujifilm-X-Pro1-studio-comparison-shots-including-ACR-conversions
The 1% need cameras too!
i will buy one.. i shoot B&W and there is nothing that can beat a leica for street photography.
Sounds so great. but I can’t understand “the per pixel sharpness is spectacular”. it’s confusing.
I believe the per pixel sharpness pretty much depends on a lens and shooting condition used, not a sensor.
I hope the camera come with some art filter, like “harcourt portrait” “good old grainy film” “stormy landscape” “blurry ufo shooting” 😉
Compared to color sensor, b/w sensor is so much easier for both hardware and software. It’s really nothing that Leica can make this happen. LOL.