21megapixels not enough? Leica comes up with 37 megapixels S2

Leica has apparently released notice of its revived S system, coming with the S2. This new SLR style Leica will have a 30x45mm sensor with 37 megapixels, giving it medium format resolution in a body that's "midsized" between a compact like the 5D or D700 and the pro bodies like the 1D series or D series. The body is also weathersealed and has a 3" LCD monitor. It's supposedly going to come with 9 different S lenses.

wow, is that for real? looks promising.... and expensive.... i guess we'll find out tomorrow

This looks spectacular; Leica glass etc, etc. Focal plane or leaf shutter - brilliant. Now I want a housing for this for my pool stuff!!!!!

Grouped this together so it looks nicer... and the L-word camera sure does look nice.

Too bad it doesn't do video.

Can even the best Leica glass take advantage of that much resolution?

The cost per megapixel probably isn't very attractive.

I know this is heresy, but how much better can it really be?

Remember when digital watches came out? No cheap digital watch could ever keep time as accurately as a fine Swiss mechanical movement. Could it?

The cost per megapixel probably isn't very attractive.

Except for prestige buyers.

I know this is heresy, but how much better can it really be?

56% more surface area, so a little over 1/2 stop better assuming equal technology. It has pixels about the same size as the A900.

Since this is a underwater forum , what lenses will they have that are interesting underwater? We know of a 20mm and a 100mm macro equivalent. Is that enough? It is for certain Hasselblad users.

I wonder if they will provide better than 8 bit raw this time?

I wonder if they will provide better than 8 bit raw this time?

Ouch

20 thousand pounds, body only. Better rush in your pre-orders.

Well it was always going to be a marginal player any ways. It may have come at the wrong phase of the economic cycle to be a status buy. I do know one guy who is eager for a topside bigger format SLR. It seems tailor made for location shooters who want MF resolution with the weather sealing. I wonder if the lenses will be the same? Underwater, there may be some use. The leaf shutter does allow faster flash sync speeds so it'll be a boon for catching fast action. The good news is that unless custom made by Philippe Starck, the housing will definitely be cheaper than the camera.

An object of desire has no price. A Hassy H3DII-31 goes for £9500 so I guess they'll have to drop prices sooner than later.

Craig, how about we let our fave mafioso aussie go play with this one underwater?

I'm sure for him it will get paid for in a single job. All it takes is a grouper shot and a few pics of the backs of divers on a shark feed.

If he gets one, we can look forward to a solid titanium housing complete with 60 pound wings to fix the bouyancy problem.

I'm sure for him it will get paid for in a single job. All it takes is a grouper shot and a few pics of the backs of divers on a shark feed.

 

If he gets one, we can look forward to a solid titanium housing complete with 60 pound wings to fix the bouyancy problem.

You guys are brutal!

Optimized for fashion work. Doesn't sound like an idea camera for UW.

With the rumors of a medium format Nikon, is Lecia trying to beat them to the punch?

Have you seen the butt-ugly ergonomic nightmare they call the back of the camera? I guess if you charge enough you don't have to consider human factors.

Have you seen the butt-ugly ergonomic nightmare they call the back of the camera? I guess if you charge enough you don't have to consider human factors.

Very Teutonic; maybe meant to look minimilist, but I agree, still butt-ugly

'It is a statement of Leica’s continuing pre-eminence in the world of imaging that goes back nearly 100 years. Perhaps that is why our top executives in Germany have compared the announcement of the Leica S2 to the debut of the first Leica, the legendary model A in 1925. That seminal camera did nothing less than redefine 35mm photography in the 20th century and we believe that the Leica S2 may well do the same for DSLR photography in the 21st.' - a little presumptuous I think.

20 thousand pounds, body only. Better rush in your pre-orders.

I was going to until I saw the shipping charges and tax, outrageous.

Here is the official website:

http://www.s.leica-camera.com/

I like the minimalist approach and the dialed shutter speed. The 4 button menu design looks like it's gameboy quick ,which means it's faster than flicking dials. It's uncluttered and clean. Maybe I'm just dig retro-minimalism. After going through Nikon and Canon, I sorta like uncomplicated looks. There's even anatomical finger indents. The viewfinder looks big and uncluttered. The LCD is the joke at 420k pixels when everyone else is over 900k. Flash sync at up to 1/4000 is great for studio work and I wouldn't have minded having 1/1000 underwater earlier this year.

I've never heard anyone call a softkey design "quick", much less one where the softkey labels are so poorly aligned with the buttons, and the gameboy analogy is a poor one. Gameboys are far different devices having far different control needs, they have much different users, and the control layout is hardly the same. Notice how poorly utilized the screen is because of the softkey approach. Not only is the screen poor by its lower cost competition's standards, you can't use it as effectively. It looks like it came from the 80's which it did.

That's not the big issue though, it's just ugly and old, the big thing is how few controls are made directly available on the body. That may look "cool" until you realize every one of those functions is now deleted or relegated to the menu system. Of course, when you spend that kind of money you are obligated to like it so I don't expect to hear many complaints. Since it's Leica, it's not about making the image easier to get anyway so I suppose they could just delete those pesky functions, like autofocus, that need control. Imagine how minimalist it could look if they deleted the viewfinder? Hell, Apple even deleted the power button. It didn't make anything better but it sure looked cleaner.

The high speed shutter is lens-dependent. If they intended to put a high-speed leaf shutter in every lens they wouldn't have put a conventional one in the body. I'm sure their autofocus fisheye zoom will have one though.

Wow the back is ugly. It looks like something from 1972. This is a camera for someone in a mid-life crisis.