Originally posted by stevebrot They get an AF mount including communication spec for a Foveon-sensor FF camera as a bid to survive in the camera business...and yes, a clear license for L-mount lenses without need to reverse-engineer the mount.
Steve
Interesting point. Makes me think about Leica as a camera company. Very old company, very fine reputation, but very expensive equipment to buy. I don't know how they're doing in the digital age, but the cost of Leica camera bodies and Leica lenses is of course very expensive. The quality is indisputable, but the customer base who can afford the new equipment, need to be comfortably well off.
What does Leica get out of all this ? Licensing fees for their lens mount I would think. Back in the '80's Leica was involved in an agreement with Minolta and the wonderful little Minolta/ Leica CL and lenses were the result. I wonder if they look at broadening their customer base, by joint developing a lower cost camera with one of their partners ?
I wonder what other benefits, financial, etc. ...would accrue to Leica...as a result of this L Mount alliance ?