Digital BW, The Print

I too would have liked a digital M, but gave up hope several years ago 
and bought into the digital Nikon SLR world (to keep using my 
accumulation of Nikon lenses.)  There was considerable discussion on 
some of the Leica forums I used to visit (before I sold all my Leica, 
Nikon, Minox and Rollei film gear) that covered the technological in 
feasibility of successfully (i.e., usefully) mounting a digital sensor 
in a Leica-dimensioned body, given the current state of the art.  Epson 
made (still makes?) a digital rangefinder with a Leica mount but with a 
reduced-size sensor (smaller than 24x36mm) and so the delightful size of 
an M6 with a 35mm Summicron doesn't get you the same wide angle of view 
in the Epson that your get with film Leica.  The consensus of the 
technically knowledgeable  at the time was that the laws of physics 
simply precluded the production of digital sensors in 24x36 size that 
would work with existing Leica lenses at the lens-to-film distances used 
in the Leica rangefinders.  Sigh.

As for the obsolescence point, remember that a camera that takes fine 
pix today will take just as fine pix next year, even if there's a 
"better" model available next year.  Better models are announced 
continually in the digital world (who knows when, if ever, that will 
end) and by the time they're actually available in stores there 
frequently are at least rumors of even better models right around the 
corner.  Again, if it would be a good tool today, it will be a good tool 
tomorrow.  I paid full list for my Nikon D100 when it came out, and now 
I could buy it for half (if it's even still available) but I've had 
several years of wonderful use from it so far, and have no intentions of 
replacing it in the near future as it does what I need it to do.

I kept all of my film gear for more than a year after I got my D100, and 
after not taking a single frame of film in that time decided to let it 
go.  I was surprised that it didn't bother me in the least to let it go 
(I had had one of them, a Leica IIIc, since the 1950s) and I have not 
missed it in the years since.  I had a fair bit of Leica gear, including 
an M6 with 7 lenses (2 of them for the Visoflex - hard core!) and loved 
both having and using it, but the ease of MY getting better results with 
digital made it easy to let go.  I used to go through about 250 rolls of 
B&W film a year (and about 1 roll of color every 2 years) and did all my 
own developing and printing.  I now take MORE images digitally each 
year, "process" them much more quickly (a dozen or more contact sheets 
of a weekend's shooting hung up to dry within an hour or two of sitting 
down at the computer, and most of that time the software is compiling 
the contacts while I'm reading email) and create better looking (to ME) 
prints faster and easier than I ever did in a wet darkroom.

Of course, YMMV.

Cheers,
Kip

garethjolly wrote, in part:

>Thanks everyone
>
>A couple of things
>
>- like a few others on the list, obsolescence is an issue for me.  I'd
>like the technology to stabilise before investing.  Top end digital is
>also very expensive compared to top end 35mm
>
>- I use a Leica M7 (and recently also an Xpan).  I'd like to get a
>digilux, but at the moment, it's spec.s are well off the pace (5
>megapixel).  Actually, ideally, I'd like a digital M where I could use
>my existing lens.  To be honest, I wouldn't go back to an SLR.  The
>Leica Ms are beautiful camera's to use and suit my style of photography
>
>- I love darkroom printing - both from an aesthetic point of view and
>simply as a relaxant.  Scanning film gives me the best of both worlds
>for the moment.
><snip>
>