The other day, Leica announced an upgrade program: for a substantial amount of money - but still less than the price of a new camera - M8 owners will get a quieter shutter and improved display window. The programme, which will start this coming autumn, is interesting in itself; it is good customer policy. There are surprisingly few, or rather none at all, upgrade programmes in the DSLR field: people should instead buy wholly new cameras every other year or so, to stay up to date with the rapidly developing digital technology.
Now, the latest rumour to come out of the PMA is about a possible full-frame sensor for the Leica M8.
Anton Corbijn takes official portraits of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and gets criticized by Koss Breukel, the pictures are seen as … well, not what could be expected. Perhaps that is what this post at Rood Petje’s blog is about. I wouldn’t know, I don’t understand Dutch.
Pictures in the usual Corbijn style wouldn’t fit in the genre “famous photographers takes official colour portraits of royalty” - Cecil Beaton and all that -, so criticizing Corbijn for not delivering the great heavy b&w we all love him for is, I think, a bit strange. But let’s make a thought experiment; who knows, Corbijn might have slipped an A12 loaded with Tri-X in after the colour stuff was done?
Don’t think so.
Fuji shows a prototype camera behind glass at PMA, a camera that we don’t know that much about - it is supposed to be a 6×7 folder with rangefinder focusing, manual and aperture priority exposure, and an 80/3.5 lens - and the web response is huge; hundreds of posts on blogs and forums. Look here or here; David Bram links to a short video clip about the camera.
Amateur Photographer has talked to a project manager at Fuji, who claims that they have not yet decided whether to market the camera.
MF rangefinders are an interesting niche, and with Fuji’s history in that segment, it might very well turn out good. Prices for used Mamiya 6’s and Fuji rangefinders seem to hold up well, so there are probably some people out there who would buy the Fuji. If it ever reaches the market.