[LRflex] Re: and on... the R10
- From: William Abbott <wbabbott3@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 9 May 2007 11:13:38 -0700
Hi David,
Thank you for the info; I now have much more faith in my friendly
Leica sales guy.
In the aerospace world, the process you describe, after all the trade-
offs have been studied, debated, re-studied, re-debated, etc.,
finally ends up in what is called a "point design," ready to
prototype and test.
Each variable parameter of the design, and they are all variable "in
the beginning," to coin a phrase, is now a point on its scale, hence
the term "point design." Some parameters get frozen early, by
customers for instance, some live in endless debate to the very end,
when a decision has to be forced. It is often not a pretty process at
all.
I'm sure size, weight, cost, sources, delivery capability, lead
times, material availability, manufacturing processes, tooling, QA,
test equipment, and light transmissibility of the prism are among
the major drivers of the R10 design, and we'll see how their trade-
offs turn out, what "points" they choose. I hope for the best.
As ever,
Bill
On May 9, 2007, at 10:33 AM, David Young wrote:
At 08/05/2007, you wrote:
> Aram, David,
>
> When the R8 was brand new, I was in my dealer's shop looking at one
> and talking to a Leica-savvy sales man with whom I was familiar,
> wondering what it had that my R7 didn't have.
>
> One thing he told me about the R8 configuration and size was that it
> had been sized to have adequate room for digital photography.
>
> I have no idea if anyone from Leica told him that or where it came
> from but it sure looked like that to me and I have obviously
> remembered it. It may - or may not - come to pass. If Leica can all
> but replicate an M7 in digital form, the M8, perhaps my dreams will
> come true: an R10 smaller than an R9.
>
> Best,
>
> Bill
Good Mornin' Bill!
The R8 was designed, from the outset, to take the DMR, which had not
yet been designed. Leica engineers tried to think of everything that
they could, to make it work with a digital back that they never
expected to build. They missed a couple of things, and that's why
the R9 was created. It is this element of design which your
salesman was most likely talking about.
One of the major reasons for it's size/weight is the size of it's
pentaprism. The R8/9 finder is very close to that of the SL. If it
had only spot metering, and thus a 90% fully silvered mirror, it
would likely be as good as the SL. However, the multi-pattern
metering needs a semi-silvered mirror, and that robs light from the
finder. The R3 though R7 finders were not as bright, simply because
smaller prisms do not (for reasons I do not understand) deliver as
much light to the eyepiece.
Every camera is a trade-off of features vs. price. Smaller prisms
are [a] cheaper, [b] smaller and [c] lighter. All good things from
the standpoint of a designer who wishes to please the public (smaller
& lighter) and his/her marketing & accounting departments
(cheaper). Unfortunately, the smaller prism also results (all other
things being equal) in a dimmer finder.
The problem is that we (Leica users on this list and other lists)
keep saying we want an SL quality finder in an R7 sized body. It's
not going to happen. You can have one, or the other. But not both.
Because of the modern marketing need for matrix metering, I know that
Leica will never again have a finder as good as that in the
SL/SL2. But it is also why I keep hoping for an R8/9 sized body ...
in order to gain the high quality finder of that camera. I would
not like to go back to the R3 finder brightness! But all the
digi-bits would have to fit into that carcass. Not be the size of
the current DMR.
What size it will really be, will be discovered in about 18 months.
Cheers!
---
David Young,
Logan Lake, CANADA
Wildlife Photographs: http://www.telyt.com/
Personal Web-pages: http://www3.telus.net/~telyt
Stock Photography at: http://tinyurl.com/2amll4
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