10
LFI DMR /2006
TECHNOLOGY
R SYSTEM
Using the supplied tool, one then
loosens the latch of the film back and
installs the digital back in its place.
The sensor comes with a protective cap.
It should only be removed just before
closing the back to prevent dust from
getting onto the sensor. Just like the
motor drive, the next step would
be to remove the battery component and
connect the power supply unit. Once
the memory card and the battery have
been inserted, the digital Leica R is
ready to shoot. Re-equipping the camera
for film would then simply happen the
other way around. With practice, the
whole manoeuvre takes no more than
30 seconds, quick enough to make a
second camera body for a switch-over
to film unnecessary.
INNER VALUES
At the heart of the digital camera system
we have the image sensor, which was
developed by Kodak following Leica’s
specifications. The key condition, to
force the sensor into the unaltered,
24-by-26-mm film window of the R8 or
R9, required the development of a new
sensor concept. Since the chip had to
contain the connecting wires and a few
circuits, the light-sensitive area measures
only 26.4 by 17.6 millimetres; in other
words, the sensor is forced to produce a
crop enlargement of the 35 mm picture.
In digital operation, the lens focal length
is consequently multiplied by a 1.37
factor (rule of thumb: one third more) to
attain the same view angle as one would
attain with film.
What is rarely seen is that the
enlarged crop section does change the
perspective, but not the lens’s depth-of-
field range. If, in digital operation, one
wants to reach the same depth of field as
Once the film back unit and battery
box of the R9 have been removed, the
conversion into a digital camera is a
matter of seconds: first, the digital back
is hinged onto the camera, then the
protective cap of the sensor is removed,
the back is shut closed and finally
the power supply unit with the battery
and motor is inserted from below
21045_E_0615_DMRR_System.QXD 14.06.2006 18:39 Uhr Seite 10