It's Not What You Pay

I notice that Leica have just issued a recall for their M8 Digital Rangefinder. Apparently there are banding/ghosting issues that need an upgrade and also an over-sensitivity to IR light makes for magenta shadows. The solution to the latter is a special UV/IR filter for each and every lens owned. Then you need software to compensate for the light fall off with non-retrofocus rangefinder lenses...And so it goes on, compromise after compromise.

The point I am making is you could spend £3000 and end up with a product that does not deliver the quality of an *istDL.

Pentax IMHO represents an excellent balance between quality and cost. Long may that continue.

Hear, hear!!!

What amazes me the most is when people produce absolutley fabulous shots using Pentax gear (which IS excellent), and admirers are always stunned when they find out the gear is way more affordable than they thought.

"An awesome camera doth not an awesome photographer make, but an awesome photographer will make any camera great." ~ MdR
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I am not going to say much until the K10D rolls out.

As to the M8, Leica have suffered from a series of faulty boards which cause the banding and green ghosts on some images. Leica are offering a free fix (understandable) and 30% off a lens of the owners choice plus some free filters. I hope Pentax offer the same if the K10D has problems.

As to the IR "problem", this is in reality part of the design concept. They have drastically reduced the thickness of the IR filter over the sensor compared with DSLRs and this provides a dramatic improvement in the image quality although when shooting colour in certain light, it means that there is more of the magenta cast in manmade black fibers which reflect a lot of IR. It does dramatically reduce colour fringing and many of the oher problems associated wth digital photos. I have seen some results from the camera and they are quite amazing. At least one respected source has compared the quality as being similar to that achieved from scaning 5x4 negs. That is no mean achievement from a 10MP camera. It would be very nice to think that I will get the same results from my K10D when it arrives but somehow I doubt it.

Kim

Hiya,

Well said, but IMO this is a not a Leica issue, but an on-going issue with many digital products. Both Nikon and Canon have had issues with their DSLR's including some of the top end ones.

Digital products are complex and the camera makers are trying to solve very tricky problems caused by the digital products inherant weaknesses and foibles. Also IMO the camera makers are making rods for their own backs by rushing out products to market before they are fully sorted.

This happens purely because of the very fast paced market and products becoming obsolete (in a marketing sense) so quickly. Olympus have taken so long developing their E-1 replacement that the E-2 has now been leap-frogged and the new Olympus top end machine will be the E-3.

Likewise I believe Fuji have given up on the S4 and will be bringing out the S5 instead. This never happened with film products, it is simply due to the camera market now being in the electronics industry instead of the optics/mechanical industry.

Some observers believe the very succcessful Canon 5D is inherantly flawed and vignettes to an unacceptable extent with some lenses.,,another issue with digital products..

cheers Steve.