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From: "Robert B. Gorrill" 
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Subject: Re: Leica digital - M & R
Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2004 09:26:22 -0500
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Hey all of you Leicaphiles in the group.  Read this bit of news:

__Leica Camera Group is working on digital solutions 
  for Leica M and Leica R systems

The Leica Camera Group of Solms, Germany, plans to use 
the proceeds of the sale of convertible bonds to create the 
financial basis for its innovation and distribution strategy. 
The emphasis of the development work that is already in 
progress is on hybrid concepts that combine digital 
technology with proven analog products. 
"Well over one million high-grade Leica lenses for the Leica 
R- and Leica M systems await a solution for being used 
optimally in conjunction with digital technology. 
Our approach to digital cameras for existing lenses 
conforms to our philosophy of decades-long system 
compatibility and to our belief that the optics are the 
decisive elements for outstanding photographs - not the 
analog or digital path to those photographs", states chief of 
technology Ralf Coenen. In the Leica R single-lens-reflex 
line, work on the digital back for LEICA R8 and LEICA R9 
cameras - the LEICA DIGITAL-MODUL-R - is making good 
progress in cooperation with Danish firm Imacon A/S and 
the Kodak ISS sensor division. Another step in this 
direction is the development of a digital solution for the 
Leica rangefinder system, which has already been in the 
works for some time. For a long time, physical constraints 
were the obstacles to digital solutions for rangefinder 
cameras: Because of the absence of a mirror box as it 
exists in single lens reflex cameras, the rear element of a 
lens is often located very near the image plane. As a result, 
light rays strike that plane at an oblique angle, and this 
causes quality problems with today's sensor technology. 
"Based on a preliminary development project, we are now 
certain that a new generation of sensors with improved 
micro-lenses will lead to an image quality of the level that is 
expected of Leica", informs Mr. Coenen.


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