I remember about 18 months back, Guy's thread on the DMR was reaching epic proportions and there was much discussion on the quality of both the DMR images and the Leica glass. There were also some issues relating to focus accuracy and focusing screen adjustments, etc. Haven't seen a DMR thread in a long time, and I was wondering if those of you who purchased one are still using it and as enthusiastic now as you were then.

Hey, I have a blue merle Australian shepard. Is that what I see in your photo?

I guess the discussions moved to the Leica forum with guy. I think they also got distracted by the new shiny object - the Leica rangefinder.

dcmiller wrote:
Hey, I have a blue merle Australian shepard. Is that what I see in your photo?

I guess the discussions moved to the Leica forum with guy. I think they also got distracted by the new shiny object - the Leica rangefinder.

Close - its a tri Aussie (black,brown and white, with a little grey thrown in).

Its a bit of a shame, as I really enjoyed the discussions and it cost me a few $$ in Leica glass

Mine dog looks a lot like yours.

I hope you are enjoying your DMR even without the discussion. Any news on a new model?

Looks like the M8 is stealing the show . . .
Most of the DMR bible contributers are over here.
http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/digital-forum/

Funny thing is I started reading this forum interested in the M8 before it was announced. Ended up with a 5d and adapters (for my contax lenses) and 3 Leica R lenses, then a bunch of L glass for speed . . . and no M8 as of yet! With 7 M lenses, I'm ready to go, but I'm still not in a rush.

After shooting with L glass (for ease) for the past months, I just 'revisited' my Zeiss 35-70 and Leica 90/2 apo. The results are . . . I just put my 24-70L and 70-200L up for sale.

Kevin

I'm still using the DMR, still delighted with the image quality, still wishing the R8 had an SL viewfinder

I believe Guy deleted the DMR thread.

Doug, that's a lovely shot.

Yes, he did. And then he left this forum. He now resides on the Leica Camera Forum where he seems more like a Leica rep than his old self

Great shot Douglas!

I still shoot with mine and really enjoy it. I am always impressed when i make prints. They look so real.

I still have it and use it, but perhaps not so much as before, mainly because it has got competition from a charming new toy, the M8
It still produces wonderful, subtle colour and crisp out of the box images. With the latest firmware colour seems to be even a bit better. I believe the quality of the images is still unmatched in the DSLR world. (Except for resolution where the 1DsII is still top). In fact some of my friends who own R-glass and older R film bodies are now regretting not buying the DMR when it was still available.
Here are a couple of recent shots.

First was with the 180 mm Apo 2,8.
This is taken with 35 mm Summilux.

It was a great concept that could have done well with some better refinement, follow-thru and maybe a better 'partner' (e.g. Iamcon vs. say Kodak). Upgradable backs, FF or APS sensor choices, B&W only (no bayer filter) for better sharpness sensor, etc etc.

I suppose, also, that since the DMR was discontinued, everyone is just waiting to see what Leica is going to replace it with. There are rumours floating around of an R10.
You can find a recent discussion here. -- including contributions from Guy.

One reason there are few DMR threads is the low number of new users after it was discontinued some months ago. Present owners have mostly sorted out their initial problems I guess.

I still have mine and still love it! The files are very similar to the M8 which I also have. I have no issues any longer with the DMR and find it a joy to use. I can't imagine using the M8 for macro or longer telephoto so having a DSLR in the stable is a must and the DMR is the best DSLR I know of. And of course the R glass.

I believe leica will come out with a full frame DSLR in the near future (probably next Photokina) and the folks who sold all their R glass to play with the new (M8) will be scrambling to buy it back. I, in fact, have recently added a few R lenses to my toolkit given the lower prices. I got a near mint 180 2.8 for $2000. Superb lens.

Woody Spedden

I'm keeping all my R lenses with an R8 waiting for the new R10. DMR used still hold value well. Been shooting with my M8 and Pan L1. The R lenses are still superb to me.

Why was it discontinued?

> Yes, he did. And then he left this forum. He now resides on the Leica Camera Forum where he seems more like a Leica rep than his old self

Guy had an altercation with a B&S moderator who, according to various members, was not always very polite, although to be fair, neither was Guy. Guy's deletion of his huge and fascinating DMR thread caused consternation, but he was angry, and it was his thread to delete. It is possible that a little skepticism towards the absolute superiority of the M8 may have contributed to his mood at the time, although I believe his claim that it was purely about his treatment in B&S. His opinions were a great contribution to this forum and helped a lot of people, and he is sorely missed.

There was talk of members rebuilding the thread from their own caches. I think Carsten had some of it.

Leica announced the DMR project dead quite a long time ago.

In a more recent Leica release, see the link on this LUF thread:

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m8-forum/31562-could-there-come-m9-soon.html

Seems that making a diggi back to connect to a 35mm body was not as easy as one would think. I also read something about the R9/DMR was no longer compliant with some sort of current EU standards as far a electronic specificaions, production standards, or something like
that, so it was easier to scrap the project and start from scratch.

Yep, I have a good chunk of it saved as a PDF, but it was only about 8 months or so, ie. about half the thread. However, it is the first half, which was arguably the more valuable half, although many of the photos are missing due to some accident on the FM server. I offered once to put it somewhere on a website, but it is 372.3MB, so the only way I will pass it on to anyone is if they will put it up on a website. Hubsand offered once, but I lost contact with him before sending it.

From what I have heard, Leica made a single run of the DMR, and it was meant to last until the next camera came out. Unfortunately, they sold out early, since it was popular, in a slow Leica kinda way. The R9 was discontinued due to an EU regulation about lead in solder. It would have cost too much to redesign it, for little benefit, so Leica has no SLR/DSLR for sale at the moment, sadly. However, the new CEO is primarily an R fan (whereas the owner is an M fan), and the fires are burning under the R10 developers, and there is meant to be an announcement in time for Photokina 2008.

The current guesses make the R10 to be a FF camera, due to some leading comments from Leica's owner, and it should be around 14-18MP. It will be R9 size, with no DMR, and will be just digital, no film. Little more is "known" at the moment, but one Leica employee I chatted with (stressing that he does not know; the R10 project is super-secret, even within Leica) felt that there would be no point in bringing out a camera with no autofocus. I don't presume that Leica will be able to match Nikon or Canon's autofocus in a single generation -- except the 1D3; that should be a snap -- but they have gained some experience with both autofocus and stabilisation in the Digilux 3, so it doesn't seem too far fetched that they could design something useful.

Someone from Leica once made a comment about "full-frame or larger", which has of course led to massive speculation. Since the R lenses are all designed for a 35mm image, they couldn't cover a sensor larger in both dimensions, so my personal guess is that they will have a larger sensor which can be switched between 3:2 and 4:3 mode, both fitting with the image circle, the latter being popular with photographers shooting for print, as I understand.

Edited by carstenw on Sep 03, 2007 at 06:42 PM GMT

Hmmm. I could, but I am not keen to serve that quantity of data from my server. I wonder if FM could be persuaded to host it...

I have it downloaded as PDF, 507 pages from the start until Jan.30-2006. Most early photos missing. Some 110 mb.

Mine goes 1309 pages from start to March 16, 2006

Thanks to all who have responded - I don't actually own an R9-DMR, but followed the thread and discussions with great interest because they actually went beyond the camera itself and into the processing, the lenses and the real essence of photography. I followed it every day, and was somewhat disappointed the day it disappeared.

brainiac wrote:
Why was it discontinued?

They sold all they made. They were made by Imacon, which is now part of Hasselblad. Probably not likely Hasselblad would make Leica some more DMR