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LEICA DMR

Today we continue to talk about CCD cameras and continue this recent popular topic of dog blood. This time we are going to talk about Leica, a CCD SLR system developed by Leica at that time.

Although Leica quickly abandoned the system to develop fully automatic, larger S2 SLR and S systems, the system still created a coquettish operation that allowed 135 SLR cameras to have both film and digital capabilities. Film and digital compatibility are common on 120 cameras, but this is the only example that can be seen on 135 cameras. In the early Japanese digital SLR, many of them were modified from the film fuselage, but the attribute was film digital to choose one of the two, but Leica was compatible! It is not only a film machine but also a digital machine!

This is the DMR system developed by Leica in 2003 and announced at the end of 2004, which is the following board.

In the face of the advent of the digital age, Leica also realized that it might be completely cool if it was not reformed this time. The new M7 camera in the class was released only a few days ago. I finally got an A file, and now it's really hard to go digital directly.

So Leica came up with a compromise that would allow them to move quickly into the digital age, designing a digital back that would be compatible with the existing R camera body, turning R8 and R9 directly into digital cameras.

In fact, today's title is not rigorous, not that Leica developed a dual-purpose camera, but that they digitize the film camera, but can continue to use the film function!

Leica R8 and R9 cameras are originally film cameras, except for the lack of autofocus, the other parts are fully automated, which is very suitable as a digital platform.

Leica R9 was released in 2002, compared with the performance of R8 only fine-tuning, at least from the design structure of R9, it is still a film camera, not fully prepared for digitization. Because of DMR, many people think that R9 is a digital camera, but it is not.

Later, in order to distinguish, it will be followed by DMR, such as R9 DMR, which means that this is with a digital back.

In 2003, Leica launched the DMR project, the first digital project in Leica's conventional civilian cameras (not skin stickers), by using the existing contacts of the R8GI R9 to install a digital back for them and set up a new handle to power the camera and the digital back.

The sensor uses the APS-H size developed by Kodak. The 1000 megapixel CCD,APS-H is a sensor with a larger picture frame than the APS-C.

Leica has no digital design capabilities of its own, so the crucial image processing in digital cameras is left to IMACON. IMACON was later acquired by Hassel and developed the X5 scanner, but before it was acquired by Hassel, they had developed a number of classic film scanners, a very strong imaging technology company.

At that time, making digital cameras was not very cost-sensitive, and many measures now seem impractical. For example, when CONTAX came up and produced a 6-megapixel full-frame SLR, the result was so problematic that the market discouraged it.

Although the digital back does not have a full picture, it achieves the color depth of the 16BIT. Generally, only a medium-frame camera can reach this level.

Later, when Kodak designed the sensor for the Leica M8, it adjusted the CCD so that the two pieces were not the same. The CCD number on M8 is KAF-10500, and the actual size is larger than that on DMR.

Because we want to digitize quickly, the interaction between digitization and the electronic performance of the camera itself is not good. After all, the fuselage automation design of R8Query R9 is not built for digital cameras, so it does not take into account some of the turntables and functions that digital cameras need.

There are gains, too. Leica also designed a set of keys and operation logic for their own digital camera through this digital back, and then the back layout of the M8 was basically improved from this back. In addition to the digital dedicated SET, the above four buttons, menu key positions, game console-like buttons and turntable functions are basically the same.

In addition, the Leica's digital back is so expensive that when the Leica M8 went on sale, it was more expensive than an entire M8.

The assembly of the DMR is very simple and rough, only need to remove the back cover and battery cover of the R8 R9, install the CCD module, and then connect the handle at the bottom. If you want to change back to the film camera, you just have to remove it, because the electronic module of the R8Magi R9 itself has not changed. DMR is based on the electronic module of the R8Magi R9 itself.

The existence of the DMR module allows R8Magi R9 to have both film and digital properties, and it is easy to switch.

There is another point, that is, after the DMR is installed, the whole will be very heavy. Leica R8 and R9 are already very heavy.

Because DMR has the color depth of 16BIT, there is also a lot about its cowhide, such as its color is invincible, its color later CMOS can not catch up with …... Wait.

In fact, many medium frame cameras (or back) are 16BIT, such as Fuji's. Anyway, I'll tell you that the color of the back is not so good, not so divine, whether you believe it or not is your business.

I used this thing more than ten years ago, and it is really inconvenient compared with Japanese cameras in the same period, and the picture is not as magical as boasted, just as dry as ordinary digital cameras. At that time, the late software was not as good as it is now, and the color adjustment was also very inconvenient.

DMR actually went on sale very late and only went on sale in mid-2005. soon the Japanese camera will enter the full-frame era, and Leica will launch its own M8. DMR can be said to be eliminated at birth.

It also turned out that Leica had a clear mind, and they quickly gave up the DMR and, incidentally, the entire R system. It was once rumored that there was a digital R10, but it was not R10 but S2.

After all, in the digital age, people may be able to accept manual M as a cultural symbol, but it is impossible to accept manual SLR, let alone manual, now the pursuit is faster and more accurate autofocus.

The reason why DMR is used on R system is that it is the only way for Leica to get a digital camera quickly, while M digitization cannot be done by changing the back cover. At that time, Leica did not have the ability to independently develop other professional digital cameras.

R system is still in manual focus in the 21st century, and DMR itself or APS-H, whether R system or DMR, is difficult to compete and compete with highly automated, high-pixel Japanese SLR. What is even more outrageous is that these manual lenses of Leica R not only do not have excellent performance (as analyzed in the previous article, you can flip through), but the price is 2-3 times that of the Japanese automatic head. People may pay for Leica M's side-axis culture, but they are less likely to pay for SLRs that Leica is not good at, not to mention that COSINA was already making manual Zeiss lenses.

As for DMR, just like the camera introduced before, it has become a legend.

In other words, as film cameras, R8 and R9 are still very playable, and they are not expensive now.

This article is from the official Wechat account: film fan club (ID:jiaojuanmi), author: Shanghai Old dirty Turtle

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