Leica M8 uses Kodak sensor

Leica has release the Digital Rangefinder M8 and is using a 10 megapixel CCD sensor specially developed by Kodak. This is what has been said about the new sensor:

"The notably low-noise CCD image sensor has been rigorously optimized for the special features of the Leica M lens system and offers a resolution of 10.3 million pixels.

CCD technology generates less noise than any other type of sensor and was therefore chosen as the image sensor for the LEICA M8. The speed settings of ISO 160 through to 2500 permit pictures with a greater wealth of detail than can be achieved with analog film.

The special design of the viewfinder camera with no mirror box allows the typically compact and flat shape of the LEICA M to be retained, but leads to a higher angle for entry of light beams into the sensor. Comprehensive measures have been taken so that the picture quality demanded by Leica is nevertheless achieved. The special modification of the image sensor with a micro-lens offset avoids any annoying vignetting in the corners of the picture. A particularly thin cover glass, reduced to only 0.5mm, prevents the usual undesirable refraction of light when light rays strike at an angle. High-contrast, sharp and exactly true color reproduction right into the corners of the picture is the result of these efforts.

Leica deliberately rejected a Moiré filter, which filters out fine details of the picture, so as to fully exploit the high resolution of the Leica M lens. Any Moiré fringes that occur are instead eliminated during digital signal processing within the camera.

“Whilst a focal length extension factor of 1.5 is normal for many manufacturers, the LEICA M8 uses a CCD image sensor with 18 x 27 mm recording area“says Rainer Bültert, Product Manager for the M System at Leica Camera AG: “The small focal length extension factor of 1.33 enables creative freedom even in digital Leica M photography by using selective image sharpness with an open aperture“.

The factor of 1.33 means that the equivalent focal length of the lens is shifted slightly by about one focal length step towards a telescopic focal length. So a 21 mm lens has an equivalent focal length of 28 mm. The lens range of the Leica M system is extended with the introduction of the LEICA M8 by two wide-angle lenses in the range from 16 to 28 mm focal length; these lenses are available for use on both analog and digital cameras. The new lenses are characterized by the typical Leica exceptionally high optical performance, even at fully open aperture."