First Leica Digital

[pevelg]

Seen this on engadget:

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/12/101214-leica-01.jpg
http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/14/visualized-leicas-first-digital-camera/

Sources here:

http://blog.iso50.com/22245/leicas-first-digital-camera/
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/find/newsLetter/Leica-S1.jsp

[Frank Petronio]

I remember the brochure but never saw one. I think they made another model too, can't recall its name but it was only a 6/18mb model.

The old files from the scanning backs are really quite nice, my friend still uses a Better Light on his 4x5. Thanks to the forgiving size, they don't require the fancy digital-only lenses that the new medium format backs tend to require.

[SimonSawSunlight]

the S1 was a real state of the art concept. have you seen a more adequate reportage or street shooting camera? :D

[kully]

I saw one of these being used in the Birmingham museum in the late 90's, all I remember is it seeming utterly futuristic, expensive and thinking... this digital thing is so... bourgeois.

[pevelg]

185 second exposure time!!!

[Brian Sweeney]

It was a Scanning CCD, not a full-frame imaging camera. I have this in a Pop Photo from the Mid 90s or so. But now we know why Leica came out with the S2, this camera was the S1.

I worked with a Digital Imager in 1981 that used a two scanning arrays, and another in 1983. 240x4000 pixels per images, two-frames-per-second. It stored to 28-track tape. The tape drive was huge.

[photony texas]

A camera collector friend has a S1 and we are going to try using it as soon as he works out a cable and software issue. I hope to have some photos shot with it in about a month to post on RFF. He also has a rare accessory the Tilt Shift adaptor so this could be FUN...