Amen

I love Thom Hogan. First of all, he answers my emails. Second, he writes things like “Sweet Spot”. Read it here. Pay particular attention to the last paragraph.

Hand Job

In addition to making great lenses, the Germans are now mind readers. Like many other photo-addicts, I have been studying the E-P1 with great interest bordering on obsession. One of the things that concern me is how I’ll manually focus the little devil. The latest issue of Zeiss Camera Lens News (no. 32) contains a lengthy article entitled “Manual Focusing with AF Camera Systems”. As the Brits say “brilliant”. Download your copy here.

Happy 4th!

Happy Fourth O' July! Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, Tater Salad, Family Photos and Fireworks. If you've ever wondered how to take great fireworks pics, wonder no more. Miserere has published a great tutorial on Enticing The Light here. Read it and start making plans.

More Leica News

Here is a summary from an L-Camera Forum Q&A. I think it is verrrrrry interesting. Join the forum.

Strategy In General

Panasonic Cooperation

• The Panasonic cooperation will continue
• More compact cameras to come

Leica and Micro FourThirds

• Leica is not going to offer MFT cameras
• Leica may offer MFT lenses
• MFT is an interesting system
• Sensor size is a very limiting factor

Leica As Lens Supplier for Other Camera Systems

• Patents needed are only swapped inside of the Japanese camera industry
• Zeiss lenses are manufactured by Cosina who are seen as Japanese company
• That way Zeiss receives the patents, Leica as German company does not
• Leica's attempts to come to an agreement failed until now
• Reverse engineering is legally too risky

Extending The Product Range

• No Leica scanners are planned
• The LCD projector range is continued but won't have interchangeable lenses
• Maybe the customer service will offer to implement different lenses

R-System

R10 and Alternatives

• There will be no digital SLR aka R10
• But there will be - and we are working on this - a suitable solution how to use R lenses digitally
• It's very important to us, that owners of R lenses can take pictures digitally in the near future
• This solution will have nothing to do to with the S2
• Leica has examined intensively which features and what price tag a R10 had to have
• Price would have been 6000 - 7000 Euro and it would have been far behind the competitors
• This would have been a solution for the existing customer base but not for new customers
• Therefore the R system is discontinued, the existing system runs out
• There is no due date for the new solution
• Definitely it's not going to be a SLR

M-System

M9

• A LEICA M9 will come
• Developing full format is technically very demanding because of the M lenses
• We are one step further but still not there where we can announce the camera

M8 Upgrades

• No more upgrades are planned
• Dealers don't like upgrades as no additional sales are generated
• The M8 upgrade constrained Leica M8.2 sales
• Used cameras are entry level cameras thus attracting new customers to Leica
• This would drop by future upgrade offers

Sensor Supplier

• Kodak is prepared to Leica's needs, for example the special size of the S2 sensor
• Other manufacturers like Sony only offer a fixed range of sensors

Summarits / Entry Level Lenses

• Summarits are true Leica lenses
• The LEICA ELMAR-M f/3,8 24 mm was already an extension of this line
• More affordable Leica lenses are to come - perhaps not named Summarit (reserved for 2.5 lenses)
• Summilux 50mm sales are 100% above of Summarit sales

Super Wide Lenses
Asked for super wide lenses:

• Leica already has an 16mm - Leica can only offer shorter lenses
• This is a topic we could work on...

18mm Finder Availability

• 18mm finder to come in June
• The frame precision wasn't sufficient yet therefore a rework was necessary

NOCTILUX Availability

• NOCTILUX was announced for February
• Production turned out to be more complex than assumed
• NOCTILUX consists of 8 elements in 5 groups
• These groups are first cemented (?), then coated
• This process had problems which are solved now
• End of June, beginning of July larger quantities will reach the market

S-System

• Pilot lot is in production by now
• Everything is on schedule
• Price will be on the same level as the top cameras in the digital professional segment - like high end solutions by Hasselblad and Phase One
• Body will be below 20,000 Euros
• Because of the Leica lens quality and the lacking low-pass filter LEICA S2 can compete with 50MP cameras of the competitors
• Target group of the S2 are professional photographers (studio, fashion, automobile)
• Total market are about 10,000 cameras per year
• Leica is going for a at least two digit market share

Leica News

According to the latest e-mal form the L-Camera Forum, ther will be no Leica R-10 (digital). Leica is working on the M9. See the video here.

R U Un-Filtered?

A Senior Prom photo event. A strapless dress and camera. A sudden downburst. A fumbled umbrella. A dropped D700. Result? A broken filter.

When it comes to protective filters photographers fall into one of two camps: filtered or unfiltered. Awhile ago I had an email exchange with Nikon guru Thom Hogan about his use of filters. Thom is a staunch un-filtered guy who likes his lenses straight. If he uses a filter at all it is only the Singh Ray neutral density filter. Thom has lots of good reasons for his opinion as do many Leica shooters who would rather die than use a filter. As for myself, make mine filtered.

Hot, Hot, Hot: E-P1 Fever

It’s been a long time since there was much of anything to get excited about, but boy are folks ever excited now. Normally calm, cool and collected commentators are almost breathless with anticipation over this new offering from Olympus. Mike Johnston has written or published eight articles about the camera since June 16th and it hasn’t even been released yet. Digital Photography Review published a multi-page preview complete with sample photos and videos. Even Nikon guru, Thom Hogan, has written about the E-P1.

"So why am I writing about an Olympus product? Those of you who remember my Compact Challenge know why: the E-P1 is one of the first cameras to come along that could be said to fit my description (compact sized camera, DSLR sensor features and image quality). . . . That's what my Compact Challenge was all about: every serious shooter I know--not some, but EVERY--is looking around for their Everywhere Camera and not quite finding it. We're looking at the E-P1 now and finding something that looks like it might pass muster.”

Here’s what people like about the newest Olympus:

Inter-changeable Lenses: Everybody seems pretty happy with the 17mm f/2.8 pancake. The 14–42mm f/3.5–5.6 zoom, not so much. The important thing is not what is available, but what will be available. With its highly adaptable Micro Four Thirds mount, the E-P1 will be able to take nearly any lens. If you think it’s amazing what folks have done with Panasonic’s G1, just wait. As for myself, my first purchase will be an M-mount adapter. I’m thinking Leica. I’m thinking Zeiss. As Thom notes:

“I'll give you a little advice: think Leica. As in M and screw-mount lenses. Quite a few small lenses for the Leica M series exist, and adapters are already available for M to m4/3. The only thing to pay attention to is the 2x magnification factor: divide the effective focal length you want by 2 to find the lens you should use. Want a 50mm equivalent? Then get something in the 24-25mm range. Lenses in the Leica mount go all the way down to 12mm, so this isn't as big a problem as it first appears. True, these are MF lenses, but they'll get you by until Olympus and Panasonic flesh out their lens lineups.”

In-body Image Stabilization (IS): Given that I am prone to some hand shake, I love IS. I also love not having to pay for it with every new lens. I wish that Nikon would get would get on board with this technology.

Size: Without having seen the camera, I assume that everyone is basing their opinion on the size comparison images at DP Review. Frankly, I could care less about pocketability, I just want something quite a bit smaller than my D700. That wouldn’t take much and I could probably get by with an E-430. Nevertheless, I want any camera that I use to have some heft to it. From what I have been able to glean, the E-P1 does seem to be “right-sized”.

Build Quality and Design: Once again, I think people are doing a lot of speculating based on the published specs. That said, the E-P1 looks to be the real deal, combining strength and beauty in one package. Olympus knocked the ball out of the park on the design. I just like looking at it. I may buy one and never charge the battery.

Nothing is perfect though, so here’s what people don’t like or are questioning.

No Built-In Optical Viewfinder (OV): To those of us who grew up with 35mm, the idea of a camera with no viewfinder, OV or otherwise, is a very strange one. Then again, I suppose the idea of a camera without a ground glass was a very strange one to my grandfather. My daughter has never owned a camera with a viewfinder. In this piece Mike does a very good job of explaining why the E-P1 cannot have a built-in OV. The same logic also explains why there are no zoom lenses for Leica Ms. I must admit, this is the one area where I too am a bit shaky. It seems to me that it would be hard to manually focus. Only an actual hands on will tell the tale. All that aside, Olympus has said that the goal with the E-P1 was reduced size. Another camera with an EVF is in the works.

Bells and Whistles: Most folks don’t seem to care about video or JPEG processing. With regards to picture styles and the like, I agree. I’m not so sure about the video though. I’m going through some old Digital Video Cassettes now and I’m having a blast. There are some subjects that just demand motion. In addition, the samples I have seen are pretty impressive.

Finally, here are some things that (sight seen and unseen) I like.

Image Quality: The few sample images are excellent. Although most of them were shot at ISOs under 800, even the couple 1600 and over look good to my eye. I know the E-P1 is no D700 in the high-ISO department, but it looks as though it would give me plenty of flexibility.

Price: Camera, lens, viewfinder and accessories for under a grand? God bless you Olympus!