Ditch The Rangefinder And Move To An EVIL Camera

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Ditch The Rangefinder And Move To An EVIL Camera

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NikoDoby

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A well known and long time Leica owner Michael Reichmann has just gone all "Ken Rockwell" with "An Open Letter To Leica" over on his website. He says that the Leica M9, "desperately needs to be reinvented. Not because it isn't a good camera, or even a great camera, but, because at its core it is a camera based on an antiquated approach to composing and focusing."

He goes on to explain why he thinks future electronic viewfinders are the future! Even though I think he's just creating controversial waves to get traffic to his site,it's been slow, I agree totally with what he's saying.

Posted 3 years ago #
ChrisLange

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Haha, I'm going to stay out of this one, Niko :)

Posted 3 years ago #
bmxdad

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Chicken Chris, we all know were you stand on this on, but I hate to agree with Niko, but the Electronic viewfinder is going to be a very strong player in future camera designs even sports cameras

Pete

Posted 3 years ago #
ted2001

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If that EVIL viewfinder blacks out during exposure, it's not for any rangefinder fan I've met.

Posted 3 years ago #
ChrisLange

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ted2001 said:
If that EVIL viewfinder blacks out during exposure, it's not for any rangefinder fan I've met.

Quoted for emphasis.

Posted 3 years ago #
NSXType-R

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ted2001 said:
If that EVIL viewfinder blacks out during exposure, it's not for any rangefinder fan I've met.

How would it black out? It's a TV screen, pretty much.

Posted 3 years ago #
mb

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It would be in this tiny moment while the shutter is closed there will be no image, but this is not a big deal really ...
IMHO EVIL concept will replace any other, DSLR and rangefinders, in time

Posted 3 years ago #
PB PM

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EVIL has a long way to go before it replaces optical viewfinders. EVIL is are terrible in low light for one thing.

Posted 3 years ago #
mb

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Imagine 1 million ISO 4Mpix live view sensors, why not we do have 12Mpix 100K ISO available now, no human eye or optical system could not compete with this at low light and coupling it with 1Mpix electronic viewfinder will give you better image then anything else.
Then again I maybe wrong...

Posted 3 years ago #
PB PM

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Until I see a manufacture make an EVIL of that quality, I'll wait.

Posted 3 years ago #
mb

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PB PM said:
Until I see a manufacture make an EVIL of that quality, I'll wait.

You do that, but I will be getting one soon enough (as soon as Nikon makes one ;) because I need something small, good IQ and digital.

Posted 3 years ago #
NikoDoby

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You know if you doubt how far an EVF can advance in a few years time just look at the evolution of digital cameras. 10 years ago traditionalist cried about how crappy and pixelated images from a digital camera looked. No way was a digital camera going to replace a pro's film camera. Eventually, however, everyone except ChrisLange moved on to digital cameras! :^)

I have no reason to doubt that a "great" EVF can and will be made.

Posted 3 years ago #
PB PM

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I never said they wouldn't replace optical viewfinders, they just aren't good enough yet. Don't read things into what I say, that just aren't there.

Posted 3 years ago #
NikoDoby

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I didn't quote you PB PM so I wasn't reading anything. I was just making a general statement that it's silly to resist EVFs. I can just hear all the complaints if Nikon doesn't include a little tiny optical viewfinder in it's first EVIL camera :^(

Posted 3 years ago #
ted2001

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It would be in this tiny moment while the shutter is closed there will be no image, but this is not a big deal really ...
IMHO EVIL concept will replace any other, DSLR and rangefinders, in time

Not a big deal to DSLR users, but for a rangefinder camera it makes it worthless for me.

WORTHLESS

Posted 3 years ago #
ChrisLange

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Yeah, for those of us that have used TLRs or rangefinders, the blackout is a pain, as it is when the actual image is captured. There is no mirror delay.

That said, I also use the biggest offender of mirror delay, the Pentax 67, and it's my favorite medium format SLR, so what do I know.

Posted 3 years ago #
mb

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ted2001 said:
Not a big deal to DSLR users, but for a rangefinder camera it makes it worthless for me.
WORTHLESS

WORTHLESS or not no reason for you to shout …
Anyway Nikon and others dropped rangefinders concept some 40 years ago and Contax disappeared some 5 years ago so you have Leica to enjoy your need for constant view, or you could go for some HD video camera …

Posted 3 years ago #
ted2001

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I'm still hoping for a digital G2 from Contax. Didn't mean to shout, just disappointed that a real advantages of rangefinders can so readily be dismissed.

Posted 3 years ago #
mb

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ted2001 said:
I'm still hoping for a digital G2 from Contax. Didn't mean to shout, just disappointed that a real advantages of rangefinders can so readily be dismissed.

Let us hope Kyocera will revive the Contax, it would be the shame that one of the key brands in photography disappears, look at what Yashica is today http://www.yashica.com/ sad … by the way Contax S was the first SLR as far as I know ...

Posted 3 years ago #
PatMann

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Exakta their first SLR in 1933, and their first 35mm SLR in 1936 per Wikipedia. The Contax S came in the late 1940s.

Posted 3 years ago #
ted2001

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The Zeiss (mostly Cosina) lenses for the Contax G2 often rival some of Leica's best for a fraction of the cost, plus they support autofocus, are compact, optimized for rangefinders, full frame and they're already designed. In this environment I would suspect they might be a real resource for someone to exploit.

Posted 3 years ago #
mb

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Exakta was using mirror instead of a pentaprism as Contax and all current SLRs does, but you and Wikipedia are correct.
Good you have mentioned Cosina, they are currently making third famous German rangefinder brand Voigtlander, nothing digital yet though.

Posted 3 years ago #
[NR] admin

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I was surprised by this move from Michael Reichmann, after all he was one of the selected few that was invited in Germany a month before the M9 was announced to and got full access to all new models, production, etc. I am sure this would be his last trip to Solms. Next time they can invite me, I promise I will not write anything like that :)
Otherwise, I like the idea to keep the M the way it is and make the X1 (or a new product line) that take M lenses (interchangeable), EFV, live view, etc. After all, Leica's strength is in the lenses. I know, there are some adapters that makes it possible to use M lenses on m4/3, but a Leica solution will be better me thinks.

Posted 3 years ago #
NSXType-R

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admin said:
I was surprised by this move from Michael Reichmann, after all he was one of the selected few that was invited in Germany a month before the M9 was announced to and got full access to all new models, production, etc. I am sure this would be his last trip to Solms. Next time they can invite me, I promise I will not write anything like that :)
Otherwise, I like the idea to keep the M the way it is and make the X1 (or a new product line) that take M lenses (interchangeable), EFV, live view, etc. After all, Leica's strength is in the lenses. I know, there are some adapters that makes it possible to use M lenses on m4/3, but a Leica solution will be better me thinks.

Would you think Leica will move to M4/3? I doubt it, considering Leica's pretty conservative. But I guess they could.

Posted 3 years ago #
[NR] admin

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As far as I remember Leica officially said the "quality isn't there" for m4/3 - I will try to find the link, but I think it was in one of those Q&A videos.

Posted 3 years ago #