Tariq Gibran wrote:
Yes, I know that's what all the press reads. I suppose I'm curious what CMOSIS actually contributes though. Their website looks fairly sparse. I guess I'm just curious if they just optimize an available, off the shelf sensor/ basic design.
CMOSIS was founded in November 2007 as a fabless CMOS image sensor vendor providing in-house design, characterization, testing and qualification facilities for research, development and volume production.
So they are designers; someone else produced the chip.
I read elsewhere that some of the founders hailed from a company that designed the Kodak SLR/n sensor.
I'm very pleasantly surprised. I was afraid it would be cr@p. It's not.
The sensor is a mystery, but I guess the background of those guys who designed it
is kind of reassuring it won't s@ck.
I like the way it looks. I love the way I can put other lenses on it, a Contax -> M adapter
and I'm all set for my 125 CV. The EVF could be better. I love the grip, I think it's great!
Of course it's a Leica, no way I'm getting it right away. Too many things can go wrong
and probably will go wrong. So I'm gonna wait a couple of months.
But I will definitely get one. I invested heavily in M glass a few months ago
and I also have 3 or 4 really great R lenses including the 28ver2 and the 60 Macro.
This is my next camera. With a NEX being my backup. And RX1 for fun
I wonder how quickly someone will come up with a macro adapter, M -> M -
just reducing the focus distance...
So there had to be a screw up somewhere. AA filter? After all the BS about how the Leica lenses need the highest resolution and no AA to show their true sharpness and which I agree with, in fact, now they add an AA filter? This is the deal killer for me. Maybe a used M9 would be better until Leica people come back to their senses and make a model without AA filter.
Wow.. I am impressed !!! I am really pleased that Leica have listened to customers! Everything on my wish list and more
I have my pre order in place I think the video will find another niche market, as did the 5DII when the HD video really took off for Canon. I do have a need for video at times, so this will be great.
edwardkaraa wrote:
So there had to be a screw up somewhere. AA filter? After all the BS about how the Leica lenses need the highest resolution and no AA to show their true sharpness and which I agree with, in fact, now they add an AA filter? This is the deal killer for me. Maybe a used M9 would be better until Leica people come back to their senses and make a model without AA filter.
why? as long as it doesn't effect the performance with wide angle lenses is the difference in per pixel sharpness that important to you on a 24mp sensor? i bet it still outresolves the m9.
So they say it officially that there is AA filter? Or is it just some internet rumor? Doesn't make sense to me that they will do everything to ensure absolute sharpness and then slap a AA filter on it.
As thesuede has indicated many times in the past, there isn't really a resolution advantage to removing the AA filter, although it has been en vogue lately. The bigget advantage is in dealing with light rays at the edge of the sensor, so, if Leica figure out a way around that, they may have included an AA, but who knows?
If its really high quality AA filter (which for 10k should be) then it shouldnt be an issue. And anyway its not 18 mpix but 24 mpix (so resolution at worst case scenario should be pretty much same). CMOSIS isnt Kodak or Sony, so their sensors especially if they are co-developed with Leica might be actually quite reasonably priced so Leica could spend a lot more on CFA/AA and other stuff.
That DR sounds promising and 14 bit if used properly is great.
So far except price Im pretty optimistic about this camera. We will see I think.
The New M CMOSIS sensor has a Bayer patterned filter in order to deliver color. The MONOCHROM has no such Bayer filter array and therefore has no AA filter (To eliminate moiré artifacts) and reduce resolution––especially in off-axis wide angle domains.
The big promise (Until an as-yet unseen weakness arrives) of the Fuji X-Trans is that there is no Bayer filter array––replaced instead by fewer R and B channels spaced at wider locations.
The M9 isn't a stellar tool in color so the hope here is a change in sensor architecture will regain a modicum of critical respect for the M.
It's fairly simple with the CMOSIS boys––they deliver a wider dynamic range with a thin but still present AA filter (According to patent information at CMOSIS).
As for the flat "Pixel architecture"––I've taken Leica's wording at it's core meaning: Flat means flat––No micro lithographic wedding cake "Lenses".
Laundry
It will come out soon enough when the M's proof images arrive for the Elmarit M 28 f/2.8 ASPH and the biggie––the Super Elmar 21 f/3.4 ASPH. Images from those will tell the whole truth about sensor performance on wides.