Two product ideas you are invited to steal and profit from

[Karim D. Ghantous]

One goal I want to reach in the longer term is to start a lens company. One product I want to make is a set of M mount anamorphic lenses. However, this is something that I'd be very happy to see someone else create. I'd rather see it happen soon than wait until I am able to produce them. So, go for it.

The second idea is actually simple and won't take long to bring to market: transparent body caps. Why would anyone want a transparent body cap? I'm so glad you asked! If you're travelling with a camera, an airport security agent might want to take off the body cap to make sure nothing is hidden. If the body cap is transparent, the agent is less likely to want to remove it. You could also make transparent rear caps, too.

 

[Phil Holland]

One goal I want to reach in the longer term is to start a lens company. One product I want to make is a set of M mount anamorphic lenses. However, this is something that I'd be very happy to see someone else create. I'd rather see it happen soon than wait until I am able to produce them. So, go for it.

The second idea is actually simple and won't take long to bring to market: transparent body caps. Why would anyone want a transparent body cap? I'm so glad you asked! If you're travelling with a camera, an airport security agent might want to take off the body cap to make sure nothing is hidden. If the body cap is transparent, the agent is less likely to want to remove it. You could also make transparent rear caps, too.

Opinionated reply incoming.

1. There was a time, which was a neato time, when anamorphic and still photography were friends. It was brief and was commercially unsuccessful however. Which was a shame as three more lenses were planned during that time. That said, until Leica puts a concerted effort into video features into M-Mount bodies, not a great thing to aim for. I do a fair share of anamorphic still work via adapting PL glass mainly, and I do own the whole range of Iscorama's releases, I can say safely the M-Mount isn't exactly the best for this purpose. I mean really none of the still mounts are if that even matters. Very, very small market at the moment.

2. You can already get clear caps ($4) and can even make them if desired. But it's a very terrible idea. If I ever get stopped for that specific concern, they allow me to remove the cap as well as the caps on lenses to look through them. Mainly to avoid risk of damaging the gear and being liable for such things being damaged. Don't know if in my 25 years of globe trotting that I've ever really had an issue on this front with all sorts of cameras.

 

[Karim D. Ghantous]

I obviously didn't search hard enough about those body caps! If I can think of it, it has probably been done.

Fair point about the anamorphics. And there is no way Leica will include video in the M. I'm one of the many people who wrote memos to Leica to tell them that the M should have no video at all.

 

[Phil Holland]

Fair point about the anamorphics. And there is no way Leica will include video in the M. I'm one of the many people who wrote memos to Leica to tell them that the M should have no video at all.

I'll say something I probably shouldn't online, but it's my sincere opinion, particularly next year, that Leica needs to evaluate what an M body is.

My personal thoughts are:
- Create a traditional Leica M12 advancing on what the M11 has.
- Create a not-so-traditional Leica M12e (or whatever nomenclature) with a built in EVF as well as video centric features.

Based on the market and broad swash of opinions the duality of splitting the line to an actual rangefinder and giving a decent portion of their audience what they want with the EVF is a smart move. They already have powerful video features in the SL series and even prior Ms before it, it's 2023 however. I will plainly say that the M series body isn't exactly designed to be a workhorse motion picture camera, hell my interest in it is to remain a stills centric body, but if they omit a proper integrated EVF at this point even after all the non-interchangeable Q models, they are overlooking something fairly glaring.

And yes, I am aware they offer an add-on EVF option. Saw Sigma do the same thing. Saw several situations where people abandoned both options because that concept alone missed the mark. Rangefinders are nice, but we need to ground ourselves a bit as to why they are far from the desired tool for most professional work.

Keep to the body design and form factor. The new revisions on the base of the camera were very welcomed by all. It's time to button up the rest of the shirt.

X-Factor being adding in body stabilization, but that one can likely be omitted for most in this case, but there's buzz about the want there. It's just a hard position because of the space needed in camera to do that and I'm unsure if the actual optics themselves would physically work to Leica standards to provide that feature.

The wiggle here is making the L and M lines too close, which I can see being an issue, but those are also somewhat different worlds. Maybe the solution is a more M-like L in that case, but hard to say.

I am a big Leica support, owner, and fan even. And I understand they aren't ruled by market share or growth too much, but it's very hard to look at even other niche system now and ponder as to why certain things haven't transpired now.

 

[Karim D. Ghantous]

My personal thoughts are:
- Create a traditional Leica M12 advancing on what the M11 has.
- Create a not-so-traditional Leica M12e (or whatever nomenclature) with a built in EVF as well as video centric features.

I have no doubt that many people would totally love this M12e. The Q series cameras sell like gangbusters, after all. (IMHO the Q isn't market ready yet - the Q3 will be the one that truly delivers). So maybe a Q system, if not the M with EVF. That way they can introduce the leaf shutter, which no longer has the advantage it once had for silence. But still, it has its place. Also AF.

I sent Leica a memo about recording distance information to the metadata via the RF cam. Who knows if they actually see the obvious utility of such a feature.

It's fair to say that Leica is a future-oriented company. The M must adhere to strict tradition. But the SL and Q do not. Leica will never again make the mistake of saying something like "nobody needs AF." I want to see even more dynamism going forward, however. I also want to see practical features like frame averaging, focus bracketing, and a few more useful things.