Leica Digital M

#1 Eric Hancock

That isn't the Leica website; that is LFI, a Leica photography magazine.

Leica has been publicly committing to a digital M for some time. If you speak to Leica people, September '06 is the projected availability date.

6:09 pm - Thursday, December 29, 2005

#2 eashton

It's not so much an article in the current issue of LFI but mentioned in part of an interview with Stefan Daniel about the products to come in 2006 and beyond. The section about the digital M is:

"LFI: Does 35mm photography, i.e., the orginal 'Leica Format', even have a digital future? What with the digital M, which you've announced for photokina 2006 look like?

Stefan Daniel: The digital M will basically maintain the size and the weight of a classic M, consisting of the same, high-quality materials and featuring the time-honoured optical rangefinder. In other words, it will remain an M, just without film. Of course, we had to solve the problem with the traditional cloth blind practically filling the entire M body, and since we wanted the digital M to maintain the same volume, we'll provice it with a metal-blade focal plane shutter.

Beyond that the digital M will have a focal length crop factor of 1.33. This technical constraint is necessary because our top priority is to deliver the utmost picture quality. Given the optical reality of M lenses and today's state of sensor technology, the ideal solution for our customers, a full-format sensor, would not live up to our high standards. This is particularly true for aspects such as vignetting and sharpness from image centre to corner. In this respect we've already reduced the thickness of the cover glass and filters located before the sensor to an absolute minimum so that laterally impacting light rays do not cause unwanted calculations. The radius of the micro lenses and their positioning before the sensor was designed in such a way that they channel as much light onto the pixel as possible. These measures and others ensure the picture quality that one has come to expect from the M system. The crop factor was selected so that the same picture angles are maintained - all one has to do is take a different lens: a 21mm turns intoa 28mm, a 28 into a 35. Having considered our options we are convinced that this is the best solution, in terms of attainable picture quality and - since the costs of a sensor increase exponentially to their size - in terms of the price of a digital M.

LFI: Consequently there would be a gap in the wide-angle department. Did you consider expanding the lens palette correspondingly?

SD: Indeed. We want to present the digital M from the start as a complete package. Therefore, we will be introducing it together with attractive wide-angle solutions. These will be compatible with both digital and analogue camera bodies - in the future this will hold true for all of our lens developments."

Which is good news for those of us with film M's who would love more wide-angle options, with or without a digital body.

10:30 am - Friday, December 30, 2005

#3 steven brooke

I'm a large format architectural photographer considering a 35mm digital alternative now that film labs are closing. My publishers require a minimum 300dpi, 8 bit,TIFF 12"x18" file. The Canon 1DsII barely gets there, but the wide angle lenses are poor. The Zeiss lenses are wonderful, but the best Leica camera is only 10MP - too small. What's on the horizon from Leica re: their digital bodies? Thank you.
Steven Brooke

12:24 pm - Tuesday, May 9, 2006

#4 paulr

am interested to learn what wide options there will be on release of the camera and if the 10mp will be upgradeable to a higher quality sensor. This really does seem very small considering what I guess leica need this camera to do for them and what it's likely to cost.

5:47 pm - Sunday, May 14, 2006

#5 Jeremy Molligan

10 mp isn't as small as one might think. It's not so much the pixel count, but rather the size of the pixels and the size of the sensor. In keeping the same sensor size, to add more "megapixels" one would need to decrease the pixel size and subsequently increase pixel density. This can lead to problems. If executed properly, 10 mp can output extremely beautiful prints.

2:05 am - Wednesday, August 2, 2006

#6 nick in japan

The requirements of the publisher can be met easily with even a 6mp camera/sensor, and I suspect, even the 4mp Nikon. It's called resizing in Photoshop. I do it all the time before working on a image that I like alot. Interpolation works well with sharp images. I must add tho, that I am talking about JPEG, and I'm uneducated about RAW manipulation, I'm assuming again, so my comments may not apply to your problem.
Some images handle interpolation well, others do not, one thing for sure, working with a 20mb file takes a while.
I use this process to help in close work, edges and touch up, then I revert to a smaller size, JPEG or TIFF for storing, depending on how much I like the image.

4:41 am - Wednesday, August 2, 2006

#7 Joe Brickler

Nick in Japan is absolutely correct. it's the output "save-as" that determines the final resolution. My 8mp Olympus E-300 makes beautiful enlargements (I've made acceptable prints up to 72" on the SHQ settng.)

So I can hardly restrain myself at the thought of a 10mp Lieca M. My M-6 is getting tired and I am really anxious to use my 50 year-old Summicrons digitally. I would offer this suggestion for anyone interest in extreme wide angle lenses for Leica M's. The Voightlander lenses made by Cosina are so near Leitz in quality it isn't funny. And the prices are in the mid $300.00 range, including the auxilary viewfinders. I own a 12mm and a 21mm and both are spectacular. See why I can hardly wait?

9:13 pm - Friday, August 18, 2006

#8 nick in japan

Joe, tease me a bit more!! Just before I went digital, I bought the Voitlander "L" with 12mm, ran a roll of velvia thru it and, well, needless to say, I was amazed! But the digital bug hit me and I was hooked. The 77mm PL, light meter and slip-in viewfinder, all make a great system, especially with no focusing actually needed, a "True" point and shoot ( Just keep those horizontals horizontal!)
At the time there were 3 companies that were trying to perfect a digital , drop in arrangement, that took the place of the film roll and extended over the shutter opening, it never panned out, I was hoping to use the camera in a digital-kind-of-way!
I did alot of reading about Cosina, I have alot of respect for their products , and, for their attitude towards "Quality". I kinda expect them to do something in the digital arena, maybe even a drop-in digital unit for the film cameras?.. Naw, probably not!
Someday, I'm gonna stop buying digital cameras and buy a scanner, the old Cosina will be one of the first to get excercised again!

9:56 pm - Friday, August 18, 2006

#9 Joe Brickler

Nick, the problem with drop-in backs turned out to be that it was too difficult to get the registration exact, that and shutter issues, and chip sizes, ad infinitum. I see that Leica has apparently solved that with their Modular-R system for the R-8's and R-9's, a true dual film/digital marriage. The M8-D (that's what I've seen for a designation) is not drop-in or interchangable. It is too be pure digital, from the article. It will probably spell doom for the Epson RD-1 and its 6mp chip. I hope not. It was a valiant first effort to give us digital rangefinders.

I'm hoping that technology is reaching a bit of a plateau, where we won't be seeing any major leaps for a while. Let's let the art catch up with the technology. With what's coming out of photo-art curricula these days film has already become an anachronism, relegated to teaching photo history, like the cyanotype and Van Dyke processes. Ask the photo marketers how long they expect film and processing to be viable. It ain't promising. Got room in your freezer?

6:07 pm - Wednesday, August 23, 2006

#10 nick in japan

Hi Joe! The film and processing is alive and well here in Japan and the way companies are putting new and improved films on the market, I expect to see it used for a long, long time. I don't completely understand it for the average person, guess in this part of the world change REALLY is slow for some age groups.

There is a growing class system here too, where there isn't alot of investment money for ocassional pictures.
A digital back shouldn't be that hard to produce, variations in sizes and attachments is a no-brainer.. I'd buy one, and I bet you would too if they had a quality sensor and processor!

8:58 pm - Wednesday, August 23, 2006

#11 Mark Goldstein

(Posted on behalf of Joe Brickler)

HI, Nick. Your comments about processng Japan are very interesting. I have a good friend who has a commercial lab operation and he's eliminating wet processes on a pretty regular basis. And from the press releases from Kodak, Fuji and Ilford will soon be the only major film companies.

I find it strange that the country that produces some of the best in cameras and computers is not embracing the technology-but them I understand the economics of upgrading.

I must admit that my info on drop-in backs is several years old now. I suppose that the big reason that only one 35mm manufacturer, Leica, has pursued the idea. There are add-on backs for medium format cameras. Mamiya and Hasselblad both have backs available from Leaf. These have been available for several years.The cost is still prohibitive for most of us

Watch for a drop in B&W film usage soon. Since Epson has introduced their "3K" systems, making good black and white digital prints has arrived. Two other companies, Cone and Lyson, have been maiking B&W conversions for inkjet printers for several years. They have produced archival inks that will outlast silver prints. They even have tones for sepia, selenium, cyanotype blue and various tones from cool to warm. Check out Inkjetmall.com and the Lyson site. It makes for some good reading. I currently have an old Epson 1160 ready to convert. I hope to be using it very soon.

Another site to check out is Wilhelmimaging.com. They are the independent testing lab that everyone sends their product to for archival testing. This is also some very interesting and eye-opening reading. They have results for all the films and papers, along with inkjet inks and papers.

1:23 pm - Tuesday, August 29, 2006

#12 nick in japan

Thanks Mark and Joe, Great information! Thank you for your input! Good Shooting! , and Great Printing!!
Semper Fi!

9:30 pm - Tuesday, August 29, 2006