but arent all high end digital cameras SLRS? I dont think it would be possible to make a SLR which could take the leica M lenses do to short flange to sensor distance. Maybe they could develop the world's first digital rangefinder? JCO
> -----Original Message----- > From: Rob Brigham [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Monday, September 02, 2002 5:19 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Michael Reichmann's take on current marketplace (inc stuff on > Pentax digital) > > > From "http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/get-it.shtml"; > > Manufacturers. Don't get me started! Well, maybe a little. > > The saying goes that "The Internet changes everything", and to some > extent it's true. But try telling that to some of the large Japanese > manufacturers. Epson is a good example. They release products in Europe > ahead of North America and then when reviews appear online and questions > start to be asked their U.S. office plays dumb. New printer. What new > printer? > > They then ship essentially the same product but with quite different > accessories, and a different product number. Most memorable is the > fiasco of not including the Gray Balancer that ships with the European > Photo Stylus 2100 with the North American 2200 model. Back before the > Internet (say, prior to 1995) no one would be the wiser. An American > might buy a UK photo magazine months later, read about the difference, > shrug and think that these were two different products. Not anymore, and > Epson just doesn't get it. > > Not to pick only on that estimable printer manufacturer. We all owe them > a debt of gratitude for their advances in photographic inkjet printing > technology. There are other examples. Mamiya is one already mentioned, > for assuming that consumers still can't figure out the huge price > differential being charged for the same product in different countries. > Click. Ahh, so that's what the price is in the U.K. > > Pentax is another, but for different reasons. They make two excellent > medium format cameras, the 645 Nii and the 67ii. There is a huge > installed base of lenses, especially for the 67, which has been around > for some 30 years. But almost alone among medium format makers they are > being sidelined by digital. Most medium format makers have models with > interchangeable backs. This means that digital backs can be used, and > they increasingly are by professionals. The economics of professional > photography demand this, if nothing else. > > But the Pentax 67 can't take any backs, and the ones on the Pentax 645 > are inserts, not full backs. Unless Pentax addresses this situation soon > they will be marginalized in the medium format arena as photographers > increasingly move to digital. There may be nothing they can do with the > 67 format, but certainly they can bring out a body that accepts digital > backs and that uses the array of autofocus and prior lenses for their > 645 system. If they don't, and soon, legions of photographers with > investments in Pentax MF systems will start to abandon them. > > Then there's Leica. Dear old Leica, maker of arguably some of the finest > (and needless to say, most expensive) 35mm photographic lenses ever > made. There's no way that they have the financial wherewithal to develop > a digital camera that can utilize them themselves. But, they've recently > partnered with Matsushita (Panasonic), and Leica branded lenses are > showing up on Panasonic digicams, and Leica is OEMing these under their > own brand. > > Matsushita also makes advanced imaging chips. In fact the chip in one of > the major high-end DSLRs from another major camera manufacturer is from > them. So, how about taking Panasonic's chip technology and manufacturing > capabilities and marrying these with a some high-end Leica glass? That > would put Leica back on the map and would give them something worthwhile > to do other than produce green lizard-skin covered M6's for the Japanese > collector market. >
