[LRflex] Re: Leica insolvency temporarily cured.
- From: Douglas Herr <telyt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 08:48:26 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
David Young <telyt@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> ... I tend to agree with the Luminous Landscape... If Leica were to
> build their lenses in Nikon/Canon mounts, only a very tiny percentage of
> those owners would ever buy one. But it would probably double Leica's
> lens sales! And lenses (not cameras) are where the money is!
This topic has been discussed a number of times on several forums. In a
nutshell:
If you want auto-diaphragm and full-aperture metering, there are two paths to
this: cooperation and reverse-engineering.
Cooperation won't happen, period. Canon doesn't want the competition. The
interest in using Leica-R lenses isn't minescule. Go to the Fred Miranda forum
and see how much discussion there is on the subject.
Reverse-engineering is risky, because Canon can (and has) made minor firmware
tweaks that "break" the compatability of third-party lenses. As a lens
purchaser you might be willing to take that risk if the lens offers you a
significant discount but are you willing to bet the price of a Leica lens that
it won't be turned into a doorstop? I don't see a market here.
Foregoing the auto-diaphragm and full-aperture metering would be using the
Leica lens in full manual mode, exactly like using an R-mount lens with an
R-to-EOS adapter. A manual-only lens in an EOS mount would lose the
flexibility of using it on a Leica-R body. I don't see a market there either.
Ditto for Nikon mount, with the possible exception of an AIS mount, except that
many current Nikon bodies treat AIS lenses as though they're manual-only.
Can't even use the camera's meter.
Doug Herr
Birdman of Sacramento
http://www.wildlightphoto.com
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