While I would not want to rely on a solution that converts mechanical RF cam position into electronic information about focus distance for use as a critical focus aid, an advantage it would have over the traditional mechanical RF mechanism would be the potential ability for the user to 'dial in' focus corrections akin to mechanical RF calibration. And a correction for each lens could be saved in-camera and automatically activated based on the 6-bit code. BUT, this is an unnecessarily complex solution. The simplest solution is to take focus information directly off the sensor.
I’ve brought up this calibration idea before. I agree it would be complex but if they did this with a hybrid OVF/EVF it would be a killer feature. Best of all worlds.
I don’t see anyone else picking up on this as a good thing so maybe we I’m way off base!
Yeah, I think it would be cool, but it would be mechanically more complex than 'just' an EVF and focus/depth information taken from PD pixels on the sensor. If PD focus information is sufficient for a virtual RF patch then reading lens focus position off the cam would be overkill.
At least for me, and perhaps others, after many headaches with mechanical M system calibration, the more that can be done electronically, without mechanical parts, the better. Just imagine if they used the a1's stacked sensor. It theoretically wouldn't need a physical shutter either. So, without the complex opt-mechanical rangefinder and without a physical shutter, it would really just be a very nicely made box that houses a sensor, solid state storage, fancy electronics and viewfinder optics. So much less to go out of calibration and so much less that would require service support. But it being a Leica, there will certainly be early bugs of some sort...
That all said, I don't think I would like it better than the traditional M optical viewfinder experience... it'll just be somewhat different, with different strengths and weaknesses.
Mar 26, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Previous versions of rscheffler's message #16781787 « Leica M EV1 »
Just imagine if they used the a1's stacked sensor. It theoretically wouldn't need a physical shutter either. So, without the complex opt-mechanical rangefinder and without a physical shutter, it would really just be a very nicely made box that houses a sensor, solid state storage, fancy electronics and viewfinder optics. So much less to go out of calibration and so much less that would require service support. But it being a Leica, there will certainly be early bugs of some sort...