My post wasn't about make it or break it during Photokina.
We all know that modern Photokina has become a vehicle for announcements that are really TBD at a later time.
It's more about the mediocre tone that a lot of the world seems to be stuck in and the fact that anything qualifies as news and just saying something gives every company or person their 15 minutes in the sun.
Doesn't it make all of us wonder if the resource spent on Mamiya went to Rollei instead, what kind of camera system we would really have?
I'm sorry if it ruffles feathers but on the DF + but slightly better autofocus and a Leaf shutter lens to me doesn't really qualify for major breaking news that warrants e-mails flooding our mailboxes.
Not when the Hasselblad H has had this for a long time.
I'm glad (honestly) that that guy loves his DF camera, but somewhere down deep doesn't it just slightly make him po'ed that another DF is on the horizion that looks, acts and works just like the last, but is considered "new".
Keep in mind it was dealers and reps that repeatedly "hinted' at a new Mamiya and I think it was a basic assumption this would be the time.
Regardless . . .
I wasn't wild about the days of buying $30,000 digital backs, but am less enamored when the major news news during the world's biggest photo show is about exotic skin covered rebadged Sonys, slightly better focus Mamiyas and "finally" a reliable way to quickly check focus on a Leica.
If your working in the commercial arts, pushing forward and not trying to be Jimmy Buffett playing Margartiville for the 90,000 time, you know that it's going to take a lot of effort to sell an idea that is more than what was done before.
The cameras and equipment we had yesterday and have today will do what was done before, but how about tomorrow. How about something we haven't even dreamed of yet.
The only reason to make a photo, a drawing, a motion picture, a musical composition is to get people to stop look/and or listen.
Sure, the cameras and tech of the past allow for great creativity and no camera will "make you creative", but some cameras can stop you in your tracks, if they won't go to floor level, or jam, or won't focus.
There is more innovation in the I-phone camera than most professional cameras and honestly your typical Apple employee knows more about their product than some dealers.
Today i looked at an S-2 and the Leica guy, who was ancient, when I asked about tethering said, "I know nothing of computers, don't want to". On that I walked, though it seems like one hell of a camera.
I can't imagine how well the Leica S would sell if there was real stock, real information, tethering, live view and better repair/rental service.
Anyway when it comes to innovation, somewhere, somehow we're kinda stuck in 2006.
How about touch screen autofocusing, anti shake video and wi-fi not to only a dedicated ad-hoc system but wi-fi to anyplace in the world and how about that coming from professional systems, not just consumer phones.
How about autofocus that will track a face across a frame, (realiabily) in still and motion. How about a combination file at 5k that has the sharpness of a still and also plays in motion?
How about something I and others just haven't thought that we needed yet?
How about something that is real news.
IMO