B&W digital....

[KmH]

A Bayer filter doesn't diminish sharpeness, the AA (Anti-Alias) filter does that.

 

[Nikon_Josh]

I'm sorry dude, I respect you as a forum member and I have no beef with you, but I can't see how this makes sense.

Really, with a Leica, you're paying for design. I'm not talking engineering wise, I'm talking about the visual aesthetics of the camera chassis. There's no reason that I can fathom to spend more money on a feature-stripped camera.

Price is important to a lot of people. Leica is notorious for exorbitant prices for their gear. The fact that they're taking steps towards a B&W only digital camera and it's more expensive than an M9... It just seems dumb.

Do you use Apple if so same thing applies

Clearly a PC user, Apples mac's don't just look nice as people say often. They actually have a much higher standard of build quality and are almost silent in operation and I am not biased, I hate apple as a company and have work with PC's in my job! So, Gary you prefer Canon, Film and using PC'S? i get the picture now!

 

[o hey tyler]

I'm sorry dude, I respect you as a forum member and I have no beef with you, but I can't see how this makes sense.

Really, with a Leica, you're paying for design. I'm not talking engineering wise, I'm talking about the visual aesthetics of the camera chassis. There's no reason that I can fathom to spend more money on a feature-stripped camera.

Price is important to a lot of people. Leica is notorious for exorbitant prices for their gear. The fact that they're taking steps towards a B&W only digital camera and it's more expensive than an M9... It just seems dumb.

Do you use Apple if so same thing applies

**** no.

 

[gsgary]

I'm sorry dude, I respect you as a forum member and I have no beef with you, but I can't see how this makes sense.

Really, with a Leica, you're paying for design. I'm not talking engineering wise, I'm talking about the visual aesthetics of the camera chassis. There's no reason that I can fathom to spend more money on a feature-stripped camera.

Price is important to a lot of people. Leica is notorious for exorbitant prices for their gear. The fact that they're taking steps towards a B&W only digital camera and it's more expensive than an M9... It just seems dumb.

Do you use Apple if so same thing applies

Clearly a PC user, Apples mac's don't just look nice as people say often. They actually have a much higher standard of build quality and are almost silent in operation and I am not biased, I hate apple as a company and have work with PC's in my job! So, Gary you prefer Canon, Film and using PC'S? i get the picture now!

I just don't like paying silly prices, means i can get more bits for my motobikes

 

[gsgary]

I'd take a Lieca at the drop of a hat especially an M9, my friend has every M series ever made and R series

 

[Derrel]

Apple is the Mercedes of computers. Well-engineered, superbly designed, built to LAST, built to just simply WORK RIGHT. Yeah, you pay more than you do for a cheap POS PC, but you also get more. A lot more. It's the old "buy right, buy once" kinda deal. There are things to economize on and take the cheapskate route on...like buying generic laundry soap or buying generic cat litter....and there are things one wants to spend more money on to get better tools that work better, faster,easier, and more reliably, and which have elegant industrial design and higher user satisfaction...that's why Macintosh computers and other Apple products are so popular. That's why the iPhone dominates the smart phone market. That's why the iPad crushes all other tablets. That's why the iPod is the most expensive MP3 player in the world--and also the world's leading seller. Some people can recognize and appreciate quality. Other people eat at McDonald's all the time.

Leica has intangibles, and also many very obvious benefits and qualities to its products. Those who cannot see beyond the shape of the Leica camera are pretty clueless. Pick up a 60 year-old M3 and dual range 50mm Summicron and shoot it for just one day, and be prepared to proclaim your Canon 5D or Nikon D700 a royal piece of chit, build wise...and optically? Leica's lens performance, build quality, and sample-to-sample tolerances are the best in the 35mm arena. Leica lenses that do not pass muster do not leave the factory. Nikon and Canon lenses that are out-of-spec are boxed and shipped out and sold at retail with all too much regularity. When a 50mm lens is priced at $3995, there are no "clunkers" leaving the Leica assembly plant...not so with Canon and Nikon...

Anyway...B&W digital Leica...yeah...I think it could actually happen. Leica doesn't need to sell 4 million units to break even, like Canon does. BMW and Mercedes each have less than 1.5% of the total automobile market, and they are doing fine.

 

[belial]

That's why the iPhone dominates the smart phone market

This is only partially correct. Roughly 2/3 smartphones are androids. iOS only takes roughly 20%. The difference is apple monopolizes their iOS where android is shared among several major manufacturers. It's more an issue of free trade versus a monopoly as to why apple has squeezed more out of smart phones which quite often have been well behind on processing power.

 

[jake337]

Seems like it would be a sweet device to own. I still think it's over priced. C'mon now, 8 grand? It's ok though, that's just my broke-ass-ness coming out.

 

[gsgary]

That's why the iPhone dominates the smart phone market

This is only partially correct. Roughly 2/3 smartphones are androids. iOS only takes roughly 20%. The difference is apple monopolizes their iOS where android is shared among several major manufacturers. It's more an issue of free trade versus a monopoly as to why apple has squeezed more out of smart phones which quite often have been well behind on processing power.

And in tests over here the phone i have beat the iphone, Samsung S2

 

[usayit]

The announcement and preview with more information regarding the "why?"

Leica announces M-Monochrom black-and-white 18MP rangefinder : Digital Photography Review

Leica M-Monochrom Hands-on Preview: Digital Photography Review

A Bayer filter doesn't diminish sharpeness, the AA (Anti-Alias) filter does that.

From the article:
---
Removing the color filter array from the front of a sensor has several advantages. There are certainly benefits in terms of noise, mainly because all the light hitting the sensor is available to be captured, rather than just one color being allowed through to each sensor location. But also, because noise isn't spread by a demosaicing process, the noise pattern doesn't appear to muddy detail. These two factors see the camera's maximum ISO increase to 10,000, rather than the M9's 2,500.

However, the biggest advantage is resolution - each captured pixel gives one output pixel, with none of the detail-blurring combining of neighboring data that demosaicing inevitably brings. As a result, the M-Monochrom immediately trumps even the low-pass-filter-less M9 for sharpness. Given the reputation of Leica lenses, this has immediate appeal.

There are drawbacks, of course - the 'headroom' found in Raw files comes mainly from the fact that bright regions have usually only over-exposed one of the three color channels, with usable data still available for the other two channels. With a true mono sensor, any overexposure is absolute - once the channel has clipped to white, there's no chance of recovery. Equally, anyone who has got used to producing mono images by converting color images, with all the selective color mixing that brings, will have to get used to pulling the correct color filter out of their camera bag at the point of capture.


-----

So the months long rumor turned out to be correct.... and there's a lot of talk / excitement over this in the Leica circles. Its still up in the air whether or not Leica accomplished what they set out to do. I suspect that the advantages of this new sensor will only be obvious in high quality prints....

 

[Josh66]

From the article:
[...] Equally, anyone who has got used to producing mono images by converting color images, with all the selective color mixing that brings, will have to get used to pulling the correct color filter out of their camera bag at the point of capture.

That's kind of what I was expecting - that it would be basically just like shooting film, but digital.

 

[djacobox372]

Theoretically, removing the bayer filter should give u three times better low light performance, 1.5 stops. Although i don't see how luminance sharpness would be improved.

 

[Infinite_Day]

Leica M Monochrom Digital Rangefinder Camera Body 10760

Pre-order yours today! If I were independently wealthy I would probably get one.

 

[usayit]

Theoretically, removing the bayer filter should give u three times better low light performance, 1.5 stops. Although i don't see how luminance sharpness would be improved.

Theoretically, removal of the bayer filter should also result in finer detail since there is little extrapolation being performed with neighboring photosites. Final detail not only contributes to overall sharpness BUT it is a better indicator of quality; ie. sharpness as the human eye views it doesn't exists, its an illusion... on the other hand, fine details absolutely exist.

Can you explain further what you mean by "i don't see how luminance sharpness would be improved".




One things for sure.... no blue/red noise in a monochrome image at high ISO... I used to do my own ink jet printing at home (long time ago when I actually had time to burn) and an acquaintance of mine explained to me digital photographer's tendency to over sharpen the photos on-screen. It became obvious as that on-screen image was made into a print. His eye and experience goes way back to the days of floor level enlargers which makes him especially acute to seeing these images. He showed me that the only "real" way to get a good print out of a digital image is to adjust, print, examine at proper viewing distance and conditions. Repeat. Time consuming and expensive but very rewarding in a subtle way. I can see people like him with very particular and discriminating tastes going for a monochrome sensor (note I am not saying the leica Monochrome... any properly done monochrome sensor). These are the same people that would love to spend thousands on exotic glass to strive for the finest of details...

 

[The_Traveler]

I may just buy a red dot.