Cameras go to extremes at PhotoPlus Expo
Most of the major camera manufacturers are here at this year's PhotoPlus Expo at the Javits Convention Center in New York showing off their latest point-and-shoots, SLRs, camcorders and camera accessories.
Two products are generating a lot of buzz, though they're not quite ready for prime time:
One, from Olympus, is based on the innovative micro four-thirds system used by Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 and combines a large sensor, similar to those SLRs use, with a small camera body. The camera (Click on image at right for a closer look) shown here at PhotoPlus Expo debuted last month at the Photokina show, in Germany. It will be similar to the first micro four-thirds camera, but the version I saw looked even smaller than the G1. (In case some Olympus SLR owners aren't interested in going the micro four-thirds route, the company also has another "concept" camera that will be based on the older, larger four-thirds camera design. This E series model should be out in 2009.)
A second camera, Leica's S2 (Click on the image at right for a closer look), is all the buzz among pros. This is truly an SLR-on-steroids, with a 37-megapixel image sensor, which is more than 50 percent larger than a full-frame sensor SLR. Although the model on view is still a prototype and the product may be modified, it's a really big, bulky camera, larger than almost any consumer or prosumer SLR. But what really adds heft to this camera is that the lenses are also gargantuan. So whereas the micro four-thirds products appear to be shrinking the size of cameras, Leica is expanding their size.
Neither the Leica nor the Olympus have prices yet. But the Leica will probably be more than $10,000. My guess is the Olympus will be around $700 or $800.
—Terry Sullivan
Posted by: SteveP | Nov 3, 2008 6:14:49 PM
As a Leica owner and fan, these two new products, I think, spell doom for German the camera maker.
First, the S2 is a huge, heavy, expensive SLR that competes only with studio equipment. While no doubt some will find a use for it (and the uber-rich will buy a few just to own them) it is hard to imagine a widespread need for a digital SLR that is not met or surpassed by the current Nikon and Canon full-frame offerings.
Note these Japanese companies have expertise in the area of speedy autofocus, reliable white balance and exposure control that Leica has yet to demonstrate. I suspect this is more two companies in trouble - Kodak (who make the large sensor) and Leica - grasping a chance to wring just a bit more publicity out of the Photokina cycle.
That leaves Leica with the M8 - out for two years and going backwards while technology marches on. The recent "updates" to the two-year-old M8 include a scratch-resistant LCD (gasp!) and a quieter but slower shutter.
And what will kill the M8? How about a much-cheaper four-thirds interchangeable-lens "rangefinder"? The image quality of the 4/3 sensor will probably trump Leica's "old" APS-size by the time it goes into production.
Not only that, but since it is a thin (no mirror box) body it will probably be possible to retrofit all those old Leica lenses.
I can hardly wait.