I find myself wanting a more traditional camera but I will never afford the Leica M9. Voightländer are making a dedicated manual m43 lens, hopefully the'll make more. How about a m43 camera dedicated to go along with the manual lenses? The optical, hybrid or EVF viewfinder might be a problem. I would gladly accept an optical hybrid even if it's just able to switch between 25mm, 45mm and 140mm. The aperture ring at the base of the lens mount on the front of the camera has already been discussed and I think it's an excellent idea. On top of the camera I want a hot shoe, ISO-dial, Shutter speed-dial and the standard mode-wheel. I'm really hoping that Voightländer will make some sort of camera to go along with their manual lens.
won't happen..... specialized camera for manual only use has very little market. Leica, zeiss, and Voigtlander sales are minuscule compared to the market for autofocus cameras. What you describe is close to the Epson RD1 (I had one).... it was a disaster of a project even though the Rd1 itself was a good camera. btw... the RD1 body was built on a Voigtlander design
You can use your M43 camera in the manual focus mode. Voigtländer makes a manual focus lens with an M43 mount, a 25mm f/.95. With an adapter you can use lenses form other manufacturers in manual focus, as long as they have an aperture ring. I use Nikon MF & AF lenses on my G2 that I got for a 35mm Nikon camera years ago. When I was shopping for a digital camera I decided not to get a Nikon because it would weigh almost double what my G2 does. So I gave up auto focus for portability and I have no regrets.
Voigtlander hasn't gotten into the digital camera business at all, and Mr. K. has said he's not interested. If you stick with Leica-mount lenses, there's other digital bodies (like the M8) and a whole bunch of film bodies from various manufacturers that you can use.
Can't really get any information from any manufactures, which is fully understandable. Voightländer says that they won't be getting into the m43 camera body race in the near future. When asked they said, and i quote; "We will present some very interesting new products within this year" No plans for any cameras though.
