Hi everyone,

I was looking at digital cameras (although I am not a fan of those suckers) and was wondering why I haven't seen a digital rangefinder yet. Most of the digital cameras are SLR's such as the Canon D-whatever, Nikon D1x, etc. etc. Although I'm a big SLR/Leica R fan, I would be happy to know whether companies just scrap doing a digital rangefinder :)

sincerely, Alfie

-- Alfie Wang (albert.wang@ibx.com), November 06, 2001

Answers

I would love to see something that could use my Leica M lenses in a digital body and return their wonderful characteristics, but it might be a while coming.

Right now, the closest thing I'm finding to an M in the digital world is a Canon G2 or Olympus C4040. Most of the upper range digital cameras are way too bulky and clumsy to handle, these two seem pretty good so far.

I haven't bought yet either.

-- Godfrey (ramarren@bayarea.net), November 06, 2001.

A little off topic, but take a look at the Canon S30/40 (the difference is just in the resolution). It is a similar shape to the M6 and it feels great. Very responsive and a surprisingly nice interface in aperature priority mode. I've used lots of digital cameras, including expensive SLRs but I think this might just be my favorite so far.

-- Fergus Hammond (fhammond@adobe.com), November 06, 2001.

Leica Laser Rangemasster

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), November 06, 2001.

Because the majority of consumers wants either a P&S or SLR, just like in conventional photography. Only when the general market demand has matured, we can expect the companies to look at niches like the rangefinder market.

-- Niels H. S. Nielsen (nhsn@ruc.dk), November 06, 2001.

Have a look there.

-- Xavier Colmant (xcolmant@powerir.com), November 07, 2001.

Theoretical ramblings about lens quality aside, I think the real reason you won't see a digital M mount camera are economic and engineering based.

1. Leica can't do the R&D needed to develop such a thing.

2. The form factor of the Leica M body, at this point, is not large enough to hold the hardware you need to do a really good solution.

Most small digital point and shoots are not responsive enough to make a Leica user happy, and the memory and processing and battery power you need to make a digital camera that really shoots like a fast film camera really an only fit into something the size of a D30, D1x or what have you.

It will be a whilte before this isn't true.

-- Pete Su (psu_13@yahoo.com), November 07, 2001.

Actually I was not necessarily wondering about a digital M6 but a digital rangefinder like a digital Canonet or digital Olympus XA. :)

Alfie

-- Alfie Wang (albert.wang@ibx.com), November 07, 2001.

Actually I was not necessarily wondering about a digital M6 but a digital rangefinder like a digital Canonet or digital Olympus XA.

That's pretty much what cameras like the Canon Digital ELPH S100/S110 provide already. If you're looking for manual focus at the low end with an optical rangefinder, I think the answer there is pretty much "forget it" ... I doubt that will ever happen. The demand at the low end is automation ... focus, exposure, etc ... and for cost reasons the controls are simplified.

-- Godfrey (ramarren@bayarea.net), November 07, 2001.

Hmmm, isn't this a digital rangefinder (and comes with a Leica lens too!): Lumix DMC-LC5?

-- Hoyin Lee (leehoyin@hutchcity.com), November 09, 2001.