The $6,995 Leica M9 is available for pre-order at B&H. You’re probably excited. I would be too if I had the cash to buy the 18MP digital rangefinder. Just look at it; you know you want it. Forget that down payment on a house. You should buy this camera instead. It will probably hold its value better. [B&H via Leica Rumors]
Leica loves to produce ultra special editions of its high-end cameras. The latest example is this $14k Hermes edition of the M7. Yes, $14,000 dollars for a film-based camera.
Have you ever wondered what pictures look like from a camera that costs more than many cars? I have. I know there are a lot of professionals out there that view DSLRs like the Canon 5D and Nikon D700 as entry-level because they have flashes that cost more than those cameras. Well, DPReview got a hold of the $26,000 Leica S2 and just posted some sample pictures, but don’t expect to be blown away.
So we’ve known that something was coming, but we weren’t sure exactly what. We still don’t know for certain what Nikon is up to on the 15th, but that whole is looking better and better. It’s not a huge surprise really, since the new Leica’s have really been in the news lately.
Finally. It seems like there have been a dozen leaks about the Leica M9 and X1 the last couple of weeks, but they are finally announced. It’s too bad that the leaks killed all the fun and announced everything already though.
The new M9, which should be available this week, features a very similar body as the M8, but now rocks a 18MP full frame CCD sensor along new button placement for quick access to important settings. Plus, it has new micro lens that should help with performance at the edges of the frame and further justify the £4,850 inc VAT ($8,000 USD) price.
Looks like someone let some more Leica assets go live a bit early. The M9 had its own leak earlier today, and now some more details are out there, this time about the lower-end X1. I’m happy to say the leak exonerates me in my doubt of the previous leak, in which I thought the X1 looked janky.
Leica has a big event scheduled for this Wednesday where the M9 was likely going to be announced. But it just so happens that Apple also has a presser booked for the same day, along with a bunch of companies at the audio video expo, CEDIA. So it’s probably best for Leica that a Photography Bay tipster sent the site an official-looking brochure that lists all the specs of unannounced M9.
mmhmmm. Leica’s got our number. That’s for sure. We love ourselves some retro rangefinders and it looks like the next two Leica digicams will follow that style. These pics came from two Flickr pages that were eventually pulled. If the specs listed turn out to be correct, a lot of shutterbugs are going to max out their credit cards on day one. We’ll probably find out more on September 9 – that is if Apple doesn’t gobble up all our attention with its September 9th event. [Gizmodo and Leica Rumors]
Photo Gallery by Picturesurf
While Biggs is at the iPod event in San Francisco, I’ll be here in NYC live blogging the Leica event. Oh, there’s going to be a live webcast of the event? Hm. Should I stay or should I go now?
[Update: Look closely, could that be the rumored Leica M9 they're handling there?]
If the only thing keeping you from getting a Leica was the non-interactive buying process, then you’re in luck. Leica’s new “à la carte” service lets you configure a new Leica from scratch, changing everything from the paint finish to the viewfinder magnification.
Of course, there’s no way to skimp and get a “bare bones” Leica for some special unadvertised price; the first thing you have to choose is between the M7 and MP, both of which cost $4560 to begin with. After that, it’s all frosting.
Leica is firing back over the criticism they’ve received lately about the price of their new flagship digital SLR, the S2. Internet pundits have rather, shall we say, catty about the price based on a rough glance at the specs, and Leica’s VP of marketing says that’s just not fair.
Remember that Leica S2 we heard about the other day? It’s kind of like a medium-format camera stuffed into a chubby SLR body, but since it’s Leica, it works out better than it sounds. However, since it’s Leica, it also costs a bundle — more than I guessed when the camera got previewed.
I won’t tease you with it, here it is: sixteen… hundred… times ten… pounds sterling.
For those pros out there working in print, medium format is king. Portable yet powerful, they can be deployed anywhere. With large but not crowded sensors, they provide excellent sharpness and color fidelity with reasonable exposure times. Of course, they do cost upwards of twenty grand. Leica’s S2 is an evolution of the medium format: a medium-format sensor in a DSLR body, a sort of spiritual big brother to the Sigma DP2, which has a DSLR sensor in a point-and-shoot-esque body.
Unlike the DP2, however, the S2 isn’t likely to suffer from its change of form; Leica is too good for that. It’s still not in production, but a few prototypes were available for handling at a recent Foto Care event in New York.
Leica has a stranglehold on the the hearts and minds of photographers everywhere. Even if the professionals call it a “dentist’s camera,” as in a camera that is popular with folks with too much money and not many photography chops, there’s something about that little red dot that is as iconic as the black and white of a Speedmaster or the clean lines of a Ferrari GTO. It’s something that survived the ravages of time relatively unscathed – perhaps worn down by evolution and advancement but still, at least to the part of the brain that desires comfort in the permanence of the material, the same.
Oh, look, another limited edition Leica that none of you will ever be able to afford. (I’ll never afford one either, so don’t despair.) It’s the result of some sort of partnership between Leica and Hermès. (Fun fact: Hermès makes a cologne I use. I hope that gets picked up by Techmeme.)
Again, if I had any amount of money to my name, the first thing I’d buy would be a pair of alligator shoes. The second thing I’d buy? Probably a Leica, just because. But would I get this one, this “safari edition”? Not sure—that white one looks pretty mean. Or maybe I’d get a really old one!
As I just said in out little chat room, brought to you by Campfire, if I won the lotto, the first, and possibly only, tech thing I’d buy would be that special edition Leica. I’d have no idea how to properly use it, of course, but I’d be willing to fly out to Germany and have the Leica folks teach me how to use it. It would only cost me ¥880,000, or just shy of $9,000.
Better get a good look at this camera. You’ll never ever own one. Not that we would endorse spending more than $10 large on a camera even if it’s a special edition Leica M8. Oh, and the Audi R8 in the background is nice too. I’ll take two of both please. One more pic after the jump.
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Me, “Biggs, yo. Buy me this. Love ya.”
UP FOR SALE E.LEITZ WETZLAR (LEICA) ORIGINAL LUFTWAFFE ARTILLERY RANGEFINDER. USED AT THE SOUTHERN RUSSIAN FRONT IN 1942. 100% WORKS, NO CRUCKS ON THE LENZES. COMES WITH AN ORIGINAL WOOD AND METAL MILITARY BOX, SIGN ON THE SIDE E.LEITZ WETZLAR. THERE IS ABOUT 10-16 SMALLER PIECES COMES WITH THE RANGEFINDER,- BUT NOT SURE IF THE WHOLE ITEMS IS A COMPLIET PACKADGE (SET)- SMALL ELECTRICAL CABLE IS MISSING FOR SURE. I PUT LUFTWAFFE IN THE DESCRIPTION, BECOUSE THEY USE TO COMUNICATE AND SUPORT LUFTWAFFE AIRPLANES FROM THE GROUND, ASWELL AS ARTILLERY FIRE.
A couple more pics after the jump.
Sebastião Salgado (time.com & Wikipedia) has photographed some of the world’s most impoverished citizens. His photographs, while visually stunning, are often eye-opening for another reason. Perhaps by using cameras presented to him by Leica will improve your budding photography skills. Too bad the set is more expensive than a Tesla Roadster.
