Leica True Sense Imaging, maker of CCD's for the M-E and M Monochrom, now ON Semiconductor

The look from the monochrome is unique, and the uniformity of the sensor is amazing.

You can always get an M8 for color.

I firmly believe the sensor issue will be resolved. Truesense was held by an equity firm, now they are in the hands of a much larger semiconductor company. A lot of reputations ride on fixing this problem, Leica, Schott, and ON Technology.
 
The look from the monochrome is unique, and the uniformity of the sensor is amazing.

You can always get an M8 for color.

I firmly believe the sensor issue will be resolved. Truesense was held by an equity firm, now they are in the hands of a much larger semiconductor company. A lot of reputations ride on fixing this problem, Leica, Schott, and ON Technology.

I'm more than hopeful that Leica will solve this situation. I'm actually trying to figure out how to keep my M-E and have the Monochrom. I've been shooting some indoor musician stuff at a local club where B&W will suffice. The different color lighting there does not do well with color images. Another photographer shoots there on occasion and has recently upgraded to the Canon 7D Mark II. I thought that camera was supposed to have better ISO but looking at what he has posted with that camera.....let's just say or I just won't say anything.

So I end up shooting at 800 ISO with my Luxes and 1600 ISO with my 75 Cron and then process them in B&W a lot of the time. I'd love to give the Monochrom a try in that venue as it would be nice to freeze the musicians hands while playing their instruments and not have to worry about ISO.

BTW, others that may respond with you should get the Sony A7S please don't. I have no intentions of framing a photo thru a TV screen again or having as many buttons and options that my TV remote has. The only three buttons I use on it are ON/OFF, Volume and Channel selection. ; ).
 
I checked- the data sheet for the S8612 glass is dated "Status June 2009". That data sheet carried the warning requiring the use of protective coatings, and that the surface could change over time. The date of this data sheet and introduction of the Leica M9- are very close. The transmission in the visible area of the spectrum is higher than the other glasses available in this group.


SCHOTT | Glass Made of Ideas

BG-18 and BG-42 are less efficient in transmitting visible light, but do not carry the warning regarding humidity. {EDIT} The BG-42 does not carry a warning in the Data Sheet, but I found a warning about it in a different location. BG-42 is in the same group for humidity induced corrosion as is S8612. The same publication states that BG-18 more resilient to humidity. {end edit} I get the feeling the optical engineers went on the basis of the transmission curves, and figured that coatings would last much longer than they actually do. BG-18 cuts out more IR than does BG-42, but it's close.

As for the Leica forum- Admin asked that people have patience, and that Leica will come out with an announcement.

Understand that designing a sensor for a rangefinder camera is "complicated" by the need to keep the sensor stack very thin to accommodate high angles of incidence. The KAF-1600 used the integral IR filter as it was made to work with an existing film camera, worked with the N8008s. Kodak's decision to use the integral IR cut filter for the DCS200 was made to fit the sensor in an off-the-shelf film camera, ie- no room for a separate IR cut filter within the camera. I wanted a full-spectrum camera, Kodak revised the cover glass. It did not take long to get the end product- which as far as I know, is the first IR camera in the Kodak line-up.


[edit/added] The S8612 cover glass has been around before the M9 and KAF-18500. It was used in the Fillfactory CMOS sensor for the SLR/n, and later kept by Cypress when they bought out Fillfactory. The SLR/n was built on a modified Nikon F80 chassis.

http://media.digikey.com/PDF/Data Sheets/Cypress PDFs/CYII4Sx014KAA-GxC.pdf
 
It's nice to know that I can use the M9 and M Monochrom for a long time, and if the sensor develops problems- it will be replaced.

But... Looking at the transmission curve of the S8612 for visible, wow. I hope mine never develops a problem. QUANTUM EFFICIENCY, Baby.
 
Using a cover glass that does not corrode is the easiest way to solve the problem. Coming up with a new coating or "sandwich" for the S8612, could increase reliability over the current version of the sensor. I would use a different glass. I'm sure that Leica will come up with a more reliable filter to minimize cost of replacing sensors more than once.
 
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