Re: R8 Autofocus Hypothesis

[captyng@vtx.ch (Gerard Captijn)]

Leica has been discussing with Kyocera (Contax) regarding the feasibility of
an AX construction type of autofocus for the Leica R series, during the
early development stages of the Contax AX. Leica decided afterwards that the
movable film plane was not what they wanted for their R cameras and directed
their autofocus efforts in another direction.

This lends some credibility to the suggestion that the R8 could be a first
version of a future autofocus R9. The unexplained gold contacts in the
camera would be another indicator. 

Gerard Captijn,
Geneva, Switzerland.
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>>Mike Blanchot, Leica rep in So Cal, said Leica toyed with Contax style
>>AF a decade ago, but decided that moving the film plane rather than
>>the internal element that normally controls focus, made conpromises in
>>the image quality that were unacceptable to Leitz.
>>
>>Is this logical??  If it is, consider how a view camera focuses.
>
>While the film plane/front moves to focus a view camera, lets not lose
>sight of the fact that 35mm lens quality must be considerably better than
>that of large format to compensate for the increased enlargement needed in
>35. It may be that film plane focusing does compromise quality too much.
>
>OTOH Contax doesn't seem to think so, nor did the David White Company,
>among others.
>
>kw
>
>----
>Ken Wilcox                                Carolyn's Personal Touch Portraits
>Davison Middle School                  preferred---> <wilcox@umcc.umich.edu>
>600 Dayton, Davison, MI 48423
><kwilcox@genesee.freenet.org> 
>
>
>
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