Will the M240's successor have an optical rangefinder?

Will the M240's successor have an optical rangefinder?

  • YES, a M camera without an optical rangefinder is unthinkable!

    Votes: 91 82.7%

  • NO, its time Leica takes advantage of the newest RF technology

    Votes: 11 10.0%

  • Hmm, I have no idea

    Votes: 8 7.3%
  • Total voters
    110
As long as I can look through a viewfinder lens and adjust focus manually using a 2nd image I would call it a RF camera, say Leica M. If the viewfinder changes to a small display only (called EVF), it doesn't fit the specification any more of a real RF camera IMHO.

That's why I voted: still having an optical VF.
 
krötenblender said:
If it has no optical finder and mechanical RF, it is not the successor of the M, but another camera.
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As fans of the traditional M naming scheme learned with the M240, today's Leica management will name cameras whatever they like even it makes no sense.

Likewise the M240's successor is whatever management says it is, optical viewfinder or no.
 
When you look through the viewfinder on the successor to the 240M, I think you'll have viewing access to both natural and artificial light sources of your subject.
I'd expect Leica(sonic) to come up with a VF solution as intelligent and commonsensical as their manual focus solution is on the Q.
 
CameraQuest said:
As fans of the traditional M naming scheme learned with the M240, today's Leica management will name cameras whatever they like even it makes no sense.

Likewise the M240's successor is whatever management says it is, optical viewfinder or no.
Click to expand...

While I hate hypotheticals as much as the next guy;
Should a Leica SL have been labeled as a Leica M, do you really think anyone would truly considered that to be part of the "M Family"?

As to the term successor, I think there's a bit of ambiguity in that itself.
On one hand it could mean the camera that will replace and make the M line of cameras discontinued or obsolete, which I think you might be leaning toward. On the other, it means what I think most people are interpreting, that it is the next line in the M family of cameras.

I.e The successor in the Tudor family after Henry VIII died was Edward VI (still a Tudor). However, the successor to the Tudor family after Elizabeth I was James I from the House of Stuart.

Perhaps this is the better question for this thread.
Is Leica done with what we all know as the M Family of cameras or do they have another family of camera in the works with which it shall replace?


And you are right, Leica can call it whatever they want, but that doesnt mean the rest of the people will actually consider it to be part of the same M camera family if it doesnt have some form of OVF.


As for the name of the most recent Leica M, I always thought it was simply "M" and that it was then further denoted as the "Type 240". Presumably "240" because it's 24 megapix and simply "M" because they didnt want to goto double digits with M10 and to streamline their camera lineup with simple Alpha designation (rather than Alpha - Numeric). M240 seems like the moniker it has taken on the interwebs. Just like the M9M or MM or whatever people refer to when discussing the 1st vs 2nd Monochrom.
 
Leica is working on a major replacement for the current M right now. The M series is fully alive.

Perhaps this is the better question for this thread.
Is Leica done with what we all know as the M Family of cameras or do they have another family of camera in the works with which it shall replace?
Click to expand...

Leica's product palette is fairly logical right now:

Leica S

Leica SL Linked to S and M by adapters
Leica M and Q

Leica T -linked to SL by the L mount
Leica X series

Panaleicas

None of these cameras is meant to replace another series, but Leica does take trouble to build as much compatibility of lenses into the various series to encourage customers to use them side by side, each for their respective purpose. Thus the SL can be used as a backup for the S, a partner for the M and a prime camera over the T.
 
CameraQuest said:
As fans of the traditional M naming scheme learned with the M240, today's Leica management will name cameras whatever they like even it makes no sense.

Likewise the M240's successor is whatever management says it is, optical viewfinder or no.
Click to expand...

If you call a fish a duck, it is still a fish and starts to smell from the mouth. It will not be a duck for me.
 
My gut feeling is that for the digital M's they will go electronic whilst the film M's remain using the traditional mechanical rangefinder.
 
taemo said:
sorry for sounding ignorant here but is there such a thing as electronic rangefinder?
how does it differ to an optical RF?
laser for measuring distance or something like what Fuji offers with the X100T?
at that point would it still be considered a rangefinder or basically a mirrorless camera?
Click to expand...

Think of "rangefinder" in today's context, as slang for a Leica type rangefinder.

Bottom line put well by Wikipedia:
"Almost all digital cameras, and most later film cameras, measure distance using electroacoustic or electronic means and focus automatically (autofocus); however, it is not customary to speak of this functionality as a rangefinder."
 
The idea bandied around on the forums would be two small cameras, mechanically coupled to the lens, projecting a rangefinder patch into the optical viewfinder.
Advantage: slightly more precise, digital calibration possible, projected framelines - one per focal length- possible. Maybe focus confirmation.
It would leave the rangefinder feeling intact.
 
The classic RF optical viewfinder with its focus patch has landed more great photographs than any other camera viewfinder. Its very unlikely that Leica will kill its golden goose.
 
No - but they may modernize it to the extent that many more great photographs can be taken by photographers using it; insofar as a piece of gear or mechanism is responsible for the content of a photograph. I should think the person pressing the shutter button is the real culprit.
 
Considering that all Leica M lenses are manual focus, the modernization of M leica ovf has to offer a better manual focus mechanism than the classic patch.
 
pechelman said:
I.e The successor in the Tudor family after Henry VIII died was Edward VI (still a Tudor). However, the successor to the Tudor family after Elizabeth I was James I from the House of Stuart
Click to expand...

The bloodline will continue, but a successor, for the sake of profit and prosperity, has been named. :rolleyes:
 
Hsg said:
The classic RF optical viewfinder with its focus patch has landed more great photographs than any other camera viewfinder. Its very unlikely that Leica will kill its golden goose.
Click to expand...

And how did you quantify that?
 
Sorry, I can't find my crystal ball... Where is it? Damn! It must be somewhere here...

;)

I hope, it's 1. Something tells me it's unfortunately 2. But actually it's 3.
 
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