Hot damn... manual focusing using the digital Leica camera :)

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According to the latest issue of Leica Fotografie 1/2002E, I read that the Leica LC5 digital camera has "a fast f/2.0-2.5 (not bad) 33-100mm zoom (so-called DC Vario Summicron) which can also be focused manually." Well?

Which other digital cameras can be focused manually? None that I know of. Sounds like Leica/Panasonic got their right foot out of the door in the digital world.

Alfie

-- Alfie Wang (leica_phile@hotmail.com), December 12, 2001

Answers

All the Olympus C-xxxx cameras focus manually, but you wouldn't really want to do it, it's such a hassle.

-- Michael Darnton (mdarnton@hotmail.com), December 12, 2001.

the sony cyber-shot dsc-f505v also allows manual focus...

michael

-- michael thomas turner (pugachev@light-heavy.com), December 12, 2001.


Now if Leica had a digital camera that focused manually with an M style rangefinder set up, that would be special. Be pretty hard to make that work with a zoom no doubt. I'm afraid the camera referred to above seems a lot more Panasonic than it does leica to me.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), December 12, 2001.

Which other digital cameras can be focused manually? None that I know of.

Speaking of consumer cameras -- Olympus E-10 and E-20, for instance. If you go up a bit to interchangeable-lenses SLRs -- every digital body can do it as well as the film one. I do not see what does it have to do with Leica.

All the best,

Alexander

-- Alexander Grekhov (grekhov@wgukraine.com), December 13, 2001.


Minolta's 5.2 MP Dimage 7 and 3.3MP Dimage 5 allow manual focus as well. In actual use it is (IMO) worthless. Digital displays do not lend themselves well to this task, IMO.

-- Mike DeVoue (karma77@att.net), December 13, 2001.


actually most of the mid price range and up digital cameras focus manually. but it is nearly useless but for macro shots. nikons cp range apply a sharpening to the in-focus bits of the picture, which helps, but the lcd screens simply lack resolution for precise focussing.

i just sold my olympus e-10 and will get a decent folmscanner instead. digital has a few years to come to be a real alternative to folm. probably only two or three...

as the chips for digicams are very small, it is rather easy to produce fast lenses. don't compare the data with 35mm lenses. ever wondered why medium format lenses aren't as fast as 35mm? the leica lens on the lc5 is probably a 9-28mm lens, just 33-100 equivalent.

i read somewhere, that the chips in digicams now reach the resolution boundaries of cheap lenses, so manufacturer have to be more careful now.

if you want to go digital, think point and shoot, and buy anything that your money can buy. for anything serious you have to go $5000 and up.

-- stefan randlkofer (geesbert@yahoo.com), December 13, 2001.


Sounds like Leica/Panasonic got their right foot out of the door in the digital world.

Actually, there's nothing special about the camera they're producing. Plus, by the time that camera gets to market, it definitely will look like nothing special. Nikon and Canon (surprise, surprise) are the ones doing the innovative stuff in digital. Look how the CoolPix and G-Series lines keep getting better and better.

-- Richard Le (rvle@yahoo.com), December 13, 2001.


"if you want to go digital, think point and shoot, and buy anything that your money can buy. for anything serious you have to go $5000 and up."

Actually, $2,000 to $3,000 will get you a very versatile and useful interchangeable-lens digital body (Fuji S1, Canon D30). They might not produce great-looking 20" x 30" images, but 9" x 12" and smaller images are high enough quality for many practical (and professional) uses.

-- Mike Dixon (mike@mikedixonphotography.com), December 13, 2001.


Alfie, most of the Nikon Coolpix range has had manual focus override, I think your spouting off without any real facts or knowledge.

-- Joel Matherson (joel_2000@hotmail.com), December 14, 2001.

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