Leica News & Rumors

Leica X1 Black Embossed Ostrich Limited Edition

LR admin — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 19:23:57 +0000

After the first limited edition “Le Mans”, Leica will release a new X1 limited edition in Japan with black leather embossed ostrich. Only 80 pieces will be produced and the price will be around 230,000 yen or USD 2,400:

DCwatch via Fotoactualidad

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Leica announces second North American road show

LR admin — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 18:09:13 +0000

Update: sign up for the North American road show will begin Friday, September 10th, 2010.

After a successful first round, today Leica announced a second North American road show.

Press release:

LEICA CAMERA ANNOUNCES SECOND NORTH AMERICAN ROAD SHOW

Leica will host M-System and X1 Camera experiential seminars in 20 North American Cities

Allendale, NJ (September 1, 2010) – Leica Camera, Inc. is pleased to announce its second Leica North American Road Show, bringing 29 workshops to 20 North American cities starting on October 5, 2010 in Toronto, Canada and concluding on December 11, 2010 in Tampa/St. Pete, Florida. Product specialists from Leica will be traveling across the United States and Canada to increase participants’ knowledge and familiarity with the Leica M-System and X1 Camera through a series of experiential shooting workshops.

“For the second Road Show, we are excited to again feature Leica M-System workshops and also introduce new Leica X1 Camera Events,” says Christian Erhardt, Vice President of Marketing at Leica Camera, Inc. “Professional as well as amateur photographers who enjoy the best and finest will equally benefit from this hands-on experience. Each participant will have access to knowledgeable Leica photographers who will deepen their photographic abilities and enhance their shooting experience.”

First and foremost, the experiential seminars will provide photographers with the opportunity to shoot with the M-System or X1 camera in real life situations. Topics covered during the Leica M-System and X1 Camera Events will include camera and lens orientation; troubleshooting and maintenance; understanding the digital imaging process; configuring your computer; organizing and storing your images; Adobe Lightroom introduction; color management introduction and methods to produce better work in less time. Two-hour on-location field trials at each of the workshops will further enhance the experience.

M-System Event participants will have the opportunity to become intimately familiar with the acclaimed M9, the world’s smallest full-frame digital rangefinder camera and the M-System, including Leica’s newest lenses, the 18mm/f3.8, 50mm/f0.95 and the 24mm/f3.8.

During the Leica X1 shooting events, participants will experience the revolutionary Leica X1, the world’s only compact digital camera that delivers pro-caliber DSLR image quality by utilizing a large 12.2 megapixel sensor and the exemplary Elmarit 24mm f/2.8 ASPH lens.

The M-System Event will cost $149 per participant while the X1 Camera Event will cost $49 per participant. M-System Event Participants will receive a voucher equal to workshop fee and X1 Camera Event participants will receive a $99 voucher. These vouchers can be used towards the purchase of a brand new M-System product or X1 Camera from a North American Dealer.

For additional information and to sign up, please visit www.leica-camera.us/news.

City	M-System Events	X1 Events
Atlanta, GA	October 16, 2010
Austin, TX	December 2, 2010
Boston, MA	November 3, 2010
Chicago, IL	October 12, 2010
Denver, CO	November 6, 2010
Honolulu, HI	November 17, 2010	November 18, 2010
Los Angeles, CA	November 20, 2010	November 21, 2010
Miami, FL	December 7, 2010
Montreal, Canada	October 8, 2010
New York, NY	October 14, 2010	October 15, 2010
Orlando, FL	December 9, 2010
Philadelphia, PA	October 7, 2010
Phoenix, AZ	November 16, 2010
Portland, OR	November 18, 2010
San Francisco, CA	October 19, 2010
	November 12, 2010	November 13, 2010
Seattle, WA	November 10, 2010
Tampa/St. Pete, FL		December 11, 2010
Toronto, Canada	October 5, 2010	October 6, 2010
Vancouver, Canada	October 21, 2010	October 22, 2010
Washington, DC	November 11, 2010	November 12, 2010

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Leica acknowledges development of new system camera (R-solution)

LR admin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 21:52:43 +0000

Echenique.com published a letter sent by Leica to a customer regarding the future of the Leica R lenses:

“We are fully aware that you like to use your valuable R lenses on a digital Leica body in a adequate way. This need has been integrated into the development of new camera systems. We kindly ask for your understanding that we cannot make a more precise statement or detailed information concerning new developments or possible market introduction dates.”

In that letter, Leica clearly states that another DSLR type R solution is out of the question. As previously reported, this new camera system is expected to be a full frame mirrorless solution that will take R lenses in addition to a set of new lenses. Announcement is expected at Photokina .

The First Leixpo 2011 – The Leica Event You Don’t Want to Miss

LR admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 01:17:18 +0000

Press Release:

The First Leixpo 2011 – The Leica Event You Don’t Want to Miss.

West Palm Beach, FL (August 29th, 2010) – The first Leixpo event will take place on February 12th, 2011 from 9:00 am till 7:00 pm. at the Palm Beach Photographic Centre located in downtown West Palm Beach. The facility has over 26,000 sq. ft. of classrooms, museum, studio, store and more and will be able to handle a large number of exhibitors and visitors.

Leixpo is an annual event that will feature numerous product manufacturers that cater to the Leica community. The event will bring Leica enthusiasts together and introduce them to the magical world of Leica photography, exchange ideas with peers and be part of a community of Leica users. Details about the participating exhibitors will be available at a later date. Tickets can be purchased at the door before the event for the price of $10. In addition to the main yearly Leixpo event, the Palm Beach Photographic Centre has a series of Leica related meetups during the year on various topics.

About Leixpo and the Palm Beach Photographic Centre:

For more information about Leixpo visit http://leixpo.com.

The Palm Beach Photographic Centre (http://www.workshop.org) is a non-profit visual arts organization dedicated to the enrichment of life through exhibitions, community programs, workshops and other educational activities that promote the arts of photography and digital imaging.

The Centre’s programming is divided into five sections:
• Year-round museum and gallery exhibitions
• Master photography and digital imaging workshops
• The annual five-day international FOTOfusion® festival
• Year-round community education programs FOTObasics+, FOTOinsights Lecture Series, FOTOcamp for children, and the Picture My World community outreach program for at-risk youth
• Travel Workshops
Each year the Centre offers over 300 photography and digital imaging workshops with world-renowned photographers and digital imaging artists such as Vincent Versace, Robert Farber, Laurence Gartel, Douglas Kirkland, Lewis Kemper, and Ross Whitaker, and many others. Our learning environment is electric. Under the tutelage of professionals committed to sharing their skills and encouraging the growth of others, participants can develop creative potential, expand their vision, and master a broad range of photographic and digital imaging applications. Centre workshops are different than most others in that we stress the creative, visionary process. We encourage an open forum for ideas. After years of professional immersion, our instructors communicate the intuitive and intangible so vital to personal expression.

Contact:

Palm Beach Photography Centre: art@workshop.org

Leixpo

Palm Beach Photography Centre and Leixpo.com are not affiliated with Leica Camera AG.

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Lightroom 3.2 released with Leica S2 support

LR admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 01:15:31 +0000

Lightroom 3.2 is now available with improved color and noise profiles for the Leica S2.

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Leica has not stopped making film cameras (rerun)

LR admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:31:51 +0000

I am not sure why, but several websites are covering again the article from the Japanese magazine Asahi Camera (June 20th issue) which states that Leica has stopped producing film cameras. As I mentioned two months ago, this statement probably got lost in translation. Here is again the official answer I got from Christian Erhardt (Vice President of Marketing Photographic Division, Leica Camera USA) two months ago:

“Your questions comes timely, in fact just earlier this week I was in our factory where I saw the production of Leica’s M product lines. While we do not have a constant production of certain lenses and cameras, we have the ability to produce batches of those products. For example: Certain exotic lenses & cameras are produced in batches to be able to produce an economically feasible number of products.

In this case the M analog production line is just next to Leica’s M9 production line to which we have shifted our focus to better manage the backlog and reduce the wait for our customers.

As you might be well aware from the past, we have always stated that as long as it makes sense for Leica Camera AG to produce M analog cameras we will do so. At this time we are reaching our targeted numbers for M analog cameras and do well with the offering of Leica M a la Carte cameras. Just recently Leica Camera AG offered a special Leica M7 Hermes Camera. This camera was quickly sold out and is a sought after collectors camera.

At this time I have no indication that the Leica M analog cameras will be taken out of Leica’s product offering.”

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iPhone 4 turns into a Leica M9

LR admin — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:19:53 +0000

First, there was that comment from Steve Jobs that the iPhone 4 looked like “a beautiful old Leica camera”. It did not take long to see the first iPhone-Leica modification and now flickr member joey_joey_joey has an even better implementation, this time the iPhone 4 turns into a Leica M9 (probably also by using a Griffin Reveal case update: actually, those are stickers):

a nice touch is the Leica M9 wallpaper on the iPhone screen:

Via Petapixel

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Submit your questions to Leica

LR admin — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 15:30:37 +0000

l-camera-forum (registration required) will be organizing a meeting with Leica’s product managers during Photokina and you can submit your questions here.The results and hopefully the transcript of the meeting will be later published on the forum.

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Leica Camera AG has a new CEO

LR admin — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 03:04:54 +0000

Financial Times Deutschland (in German | in English) reports that Leica has changed their CEO again (seventh change in ten years). The new CEO is Adolf Alfred Schopf, 53 (update: here is the official press release with the correct name of the new CEO).

The article has also some other interesting information:

Patrick Thomas, the head of the French luxury goods group Hermès is on the Board of Directors of Leica Camera.
Hermès has a 49% stake in the Japanese subsidiary of Leica.

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New Voigtlander 75mm 1.8 lens with M mount

LR admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 12:52:01 +0000

This new Voigtlander 75mm 1.8 lens has a true Heliar design with a cemented doublet in the middle instead of a single element (6 elements in 3 groups), and the lens hood reverses for storage. The size of the lens is between the Leica 75mm Summicron and 75mm Summilux. Here are the details:

Lens construction: 3 groups of 6 elements
Aperture range: 1.8-16
Aperture Blades: 10
Close focus: 0.9m
Weight: 427 gms
Length and diameter: 73.8mm x 57.9mm
Hood: Optional vented type
Filter size: 52mm
Available mid Sept 2010
Expected price of $795.00 AUD

Via Mainlinephoto and Cosina Japan

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Leica’s 1st quarter financial results (fiscal year 2010/2011)

LR admin — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 17:31:09 +0000

Leica’s financial results for the 1st quarter of fiscal year 2010/2011 are out:

“Leica Camera Group has closed the first quarter with sales amounting to € 56,176,000 (previous year: € 29,096,000). The net result of the Group for the reporting period has improved by € 16,249,000 to a net income of € 9,426,000 (previous year: net loss of € 6,823,000), due, inter alia, to higher contribution margins.”

R&D expenses and head count is also up:

“Expenditure for research and development in the first quarter of the fiscal year came to € 3,526,000 (previous year: € 2,515,000); the number of employees in the Leica Camera Group rose from 1,068 in the prior year to 1,083.”

And the future looks even better:

“For fiscal 2010/2011 the Company’s Board of Management expects further sales increases and, in conjunction with these, an EBIT result in the double-digit Euro million range.”

Source

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Rumor: Leica M9 Titan by the end of the year

LR admin — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 17:42:10 +0000

The rumor is that a new Leica M9 Titan will be released by the end of the year, most probably as a limited edition. It is possible that this would be the M9 related announcement at Photokina . The Leica M9 Titan will be sold as a kit with a lens (not sure which one) for the price of €18,000 (vat tax incl). I am told that the body will be made of real Titanium (which could explain the price tag) and not just “Ti plated” like this M6 Titan I found on eBay:

Another small p&s camera from Leica is also expected for Photokina, probably the Leica D-Lux 5.

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New: ReallyRightStuff L-Plate for Leica S2

LR admin — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 18:11:27 +0000

ReallyRightStuff are now shipping their new L-Plate for Leica S2 (model BS2-L):

Dimensions:

Height 2.8″/77mm
Weight 4.2oz/115g

Are you a Leica and Apple fan? This one is for you

LR admin — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:39:19 +0000

I did not really like the first attempt to add faux leather to you iPhone in order to make it look like a classic Leica camera, but this new DIY “solution” is actually cool – you basically insert a picture of Leica camera on the back of your iPhone by using a Griffin Reveal case:

Macrumors via Gizmodo

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The first Leica X1 limited edition “Le Mans”

LR admin — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 04:30:51 +0000

I don’t think this is part of what Leica has prepared for Photokina, but this is definitely the first Leica X1 limited edition “Le Mans”:

The first Leica X1 limited edition "Le Mans"

The Leica X1 limited edition “Le Mans” will sale for €1690 with case or €1590 without a case. A total of 50 pieces will be available. See more pictures @ Leicastoreparis (in English).

The l-camera-forum has also this picture of a Leica X1 with a silver lens (the original X1 has a black lens) – maybe this is one of the early prototypes?

Few months ago a black Leica X1 showed up on a German TV show.

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The new version of the Leica Lens Compendium book coming soon

LR admin — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 17:20:16 +0000

Erwin Puts announced today on his blog that the new version of the Leica Lens Compendium book will be coming soon:

“My new version of the Leica Lens Compendium is almost ready. The first introductory chapter can be downloaded free in the download area. The book covers the history of the company from 1849 to 2010 and focuses on cameras from the Ur-Leica to the S2 and M9 and all lenses from the original Elmax to the most recent M lens. The focus is on the rangefinder lineage.

The printed version will be a one time only print run on subscription only. Details will be give later.”

the old version of the Leica Lens Compendium

The previous version is hard to find and currently sells for around $600 on Amazon and for even more on eBay.

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Leica M9 in stock at Amazon (regular price)

LR admin — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 00:58:07 +0000

Amazon currently has two black and three steel grey Leica M9 in stock for a regular price:

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Photo attractiveness by camera make and class

LR admin — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 15:30:37 +0000

An interesting camera ranking made by Okcupid – they let people vote on different picture profiles and came out with some interesting results: Leica point and shoot cameras came on second place after Panasonic m4/3 and ahead of Canon, Pentax, Nikon and Sony DSLR.

My explanation/guess – they probably included the Leica M8/M9 models in that point and shoot category.

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Leica X1 is the first compact camera included in the recommended list for submissions to Getty Images

LR admin — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 17:13:48 +0000

Update: Getty has confirmed to BJP that the Leica X1 is in fact approved for submissions to their image library.

Leica X1 just made the list of “recommended for submissions to Getty Images” cameras . You can see the full list here. In addition to the Leica X1, the M8, M8.2 and M9 are also included (S2 falls in the medium format category and is automatically included).

Via AP

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Leica M9 firmware version 1.138 is out

LR admin — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 13:36:36 +0000

Leica M9 firmware version 1.138 can now be downloaded from Leica’s website. Here is the list of improvements:

Camera Performance:

Improved compatibility of SDHC cards. Nevertheless, we recommend our customers the “Extreme III” cards from the leading brand “SanDisk”.
Improved Auto White Balance in conditions with power saving lamps and tungsten light.

Notice:
The choice of SD and SDHC cards in the market is already very big and is constantly growing. Therefore,
Leica Camera AG is not able to do comprehensive compatibility- and quality testing with all available
cards in the market. We recommend leading brands such as “SanDisk”. Using other card types, will not
damage camera or card, but as especially “no name” cards do not respect the full SD or SDHC standards,
Leica Camera AG cannot warranty full function with those cards.

Bug fixes:

Saving user profiles has been improved (changing from one profile to another did sometimes cause problems)
Time display in “American” format corrected.
Auto power off bug fixed (camera did turn off automatically while using the Play Mode or scrolling through the menu).

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