Digital Leica M7 prototype
By Heinz Richter
During my last visit to Leica in Wetzlar I was treated to a private tour of the Leica archives. I saw a lot of interesting things, known and unknown. That by itself was a definite highlight of my visit, but little did I know about what incredible highlight was waiting for me. About half way through, Tim Pullmann, our guide, brought out a large box, stating that I most likely had never seen what was inside.
"It's a digital Leica M7," he said.
That statement alone got me thinking. After all, the first digital Leica M camera was the M8, so what was this all about?
Out of the box came, what was definitely a Leica M7, mounted on a rail, together with a Leica R9. I guess to call it a prototype is a bit premature. It was an early attempt to explore the feasibility of placing a digital sensor into the body of an M7, a Versuchsaufbau (experimental setup) . The DM_R digital back that had been marketed for the Leica R8 and R9 was modified to fit the back of the M7, to provide a sensor and some of the electronics.. Since the basic body of the M7 had no room inside for any additional electronics, a Leica R9 was used to provide the necessary electronics to run the digital DM-R back and to trigger the shutter via several cables from the R9 to the DM-R back.
While not even close to the first digital Leica M, the M8, it was definitely the first digital Leica M camera ever. After seeing this setup, it is easy to understand why the first digital M camera, the M8, had the same 10mp resolution as the DM-R back for the R8/9. Unfortunately, Mr. Pullmann's time was limited because he was needed to set up for the auction weekend, starting the next day. That unfortunately prevented any closer inspection of the camera.
All photographs Leica M 240 with 28mm f/2.8 Elmarit
For other articles on this blog please click on Blog Archive in the column to the right
To comment or to read comments please scroll past the ads below.
All ads present items of interest to Leica owners.
_______________________________________________________________________
To comment or to read comments please scroll past the ads below.
All ads present items of interest to Leica owners.
_______________________________________________________________________
Buy vintage Leica cameras from America's premier Leica specialist
Buy vintage Leica cameras from
America's premier Leica specialist
Click on image to enlarge
Click on image to enlarge
Click on image to enlarge
Click on image to enlarge
Click on image to enlarge
Click on image to enlarge
No comments:
Post a Comment