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Leica Adapters for SD9 / SD9 manipulations

dirk

DPRF-Founder
Administrator
...
I have never offered a mount replacement kit for the SD9 , (The one for the SD14 will not fit the SD9 ) but I am considering making a few ones to explore the interest of the numerous SD9 owners that feel like you and me , that there was a loss of Image Quality with the introduction of microlenses.

What do you think ? What does everybody think about this . ?

Also , when the SD14 really go down in price I will attempt to remove the Microlenses and install the infrared filter right at the sensor , like the SD9 does.

I would like everybody that has an interest in these ideas to either post here or send me an email

Thanks .Luis



Hallo

I find this idea interesting. Let's open a specific thread for this, so that it does not loose focus. Wait a minute. I will copy this in a new thread just for this...

Best wishes

o.k., I copied it here now...
 
So here is my opinion:

A. Market potential

I have never used the SD9. AFAIK there are pro and cons. I read in our forums from you and others, that the image quality of the SD9 would be slightly better then the SD14 just because there are no microlenses like it is in the SD14 the case.

On the other hand I read also many times, that it is more difficult to achieve good/correct exposure with the Sd9 compared to the SD14. Ebery buyer of an SD9 will consider these 2 points.

Third the SD9 is not available new anymore. Only used on ebay. So this is something which has to be considered by Luis to make the investment financially not a desaster for Luis. Any kind of adapters will have less volume as i.e. SD14 dapters would have.


B. Technical restrictions

Here I have no clou. Luis said:

Also , when the SD14 really go down in price I will attempt to remove the Microlenses and install the infrared filter right at the sensor , like the SD9 does.
I can not really imagine this, because I do not know how the SD9 looks internally compared to the SD14. Is there a way to show this in a kind of demonstration/ comparison image how this would look like? I.e. Internal part of SD9 vs. SD14?

Best wishes
 
Just to let you guys know, I am following this thread with great interest.

You see, if I were to procure an SD9, I would have a solution to its battery problem as I have a set of CRV-3 batteries in my SD10. :)

Sincere regards. Jim R.
 
Just to let you guys know, I am following this thread with great interest.

You see, if I were to procure an SD9, I would have a solution to its battery problem as I have a set of CRV-3 batteries in my SD10. :)

Sincere regards. Jim R.

Hi Jim,

how did you do that?
 
Hi Dirk,

You might not know??!

The SD9/10 models are powered by a battery drawer! This drawer can be fed either with four AA (Mignon) - batteries (or AA NIMH-accumulators) or with the CRV-3 accumulators, Jim mentioned above.

There is no further conversion necessary ... just fit them and enjoy!

Another way of solving the "energy problem" is going for high quality AA-cells. That is what I do!

See you with nice pictures

klaus
 
So here is my opinion:

A. Market potential

I have never used the SD9. AFAIK there are pro and cons. I read in our forums from you and others, that the image quality of the SD9 would be slightly better then the SD14 just because there are no microlenses like it is in the SD14 the case.

On the other hand I read also many times, that it is more difficult to achieve good/correct exposure with the Sd9 compared to the SD14. Ebery buyer of an SD9 will consider these 2 points.

Third the SD9 is not available new anymore. Only used on ebay. So this is something which has to be considered by Luis to make the investment financially not a desaster for Luis. Any kind of adapters will have less volume as i.e. SD14 dapters would have.


B. Technical restrictions

Here I have no clou. Luis said:

I can not really imagine this, because I do not know how the SD9 looks internally compared to the SD14. Is there a way to show this in a kind of demonstration/ comparison image how this would look like? I.e. Internal part of SD9 vs. SD14?

Best wishes

The quality superiority of the images made by by the SD9 is by now well recognized. In part this is due to the absence of Microlenses ( Sharper , More Micro Contrast , less color aberration ) , but also because of its larger Photosites size and (Hopefully my opinion would not offend anyone) because when the SD9 was manufactured the Sensor manufacturing was under full American control with strict adherence not only to american standards of Quality Control , but to a personalized supervision of Carver Mead ,Chairman and Founder of Foveon Corporation in Silicon Valley.

Newer models reengineered in Japan have successfully increased the Pixel Count and the Low Light response of the sensor , as the Customer Base wanted, but at the expense of its Unique Pixel characteristics , that have become more "Bayer" in their "Look".

The unique Foveon "Look" is still there , but not as 3 dimensional as in the original SD9 . If you are a "Purist" or a very demanding artist , you would consider this a significant loss , as there are other ways of increasing the Pixel Size ,without sacrificing those precious qualities.

The SD9 image quality is not "Slightly" better , it is a lot better , specially when paired to Leica-R lenses as you can see in this image:
View attachment 2195

Please see it at a larger size here; http://gallery.leica-users.org/d/143186-2/IMG18235cropped1200.jpg

Sigmacumlaude IS now offering Mount Replacement kits for SD9-10 , as well as SD14-15 . It is the new DS1 the one that has become questionable as a potential market but chances are that the SD15 Mount Replacement kit would fit , perhaps with small modifications.

If anyone is willing to collaborate with me in exploring the possibilities of making a Mount for the SD1 and willing to remove and send me the original mount for analysis and measurements I would make a mount free of charge. For more info please get in touch with me at luis@sigmacumlaude.com


Regarding a comment that I made previously about removing the Microlenses from the new sensors this was explored and posted in our forum long time ago .

I have wanted to present that report here, but I was discouraged due to the fact that this is an Image Intensive report , of high magnification views of the Foveon sensor Microlenses , and my ability to post images in this forum WAS REMOVED BY THE MODERATOR long time ago , crippling the usefulness of my posts.

However for those that would like to see it in its full Grafic form ,please visit :
http://sigmacumlaude.com/sigmacumlaude/yetanotherforum/default.aspx?g=posts&t=22


Sigmacumlaude is now also present in Facebook at:

SIGMA CUM LAUDE Group. (General photographic chat .)
Sigmacumlaude Atelier (Art , Black and White and tutorials)


Luis
SIGMA CUM LAUDE
Please click here to visit our new Forum
--
http://photo.net/photos/Luis-A-Guevara
http://www.pbase.com/luis_a_guevara/galleries
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/LUIS+A+GUEVARA/
http://www.summiluxart.com/
http://www.sigmacumlaude.com/
 

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